Community Service Center- Eugene and North Central Lane County

Transcription

1 Community Service Center- Eugene and North Central Lane County Lane County will award funding to one Eugene-based community service center which provides assistance for low income households primarily residing in Eugene and North Central Lane County. Funding for this Eugene-based community service center is anticipated to be $417,520 annually based on funding availability. EWEB, LIHEAP, OEA, OLGA, CSBG, CDBG, ESG, LIRHF and HSC are the program funding sources. The community service center should act as a service hub for low-income households and provide the following services: Emergency Basic Needs: Basic needs services may include, but are not limited to, emergency shelter, food pantry services, clothing, hygiene supplies, computer access and transportation assistance. Basic needs services also include linkage services to help provide households access to resources necessary for long-term wellbeing and may include but are not limited to: primary healthcare, substance abuse services, mental health services, employment and training services, legal services, credit repair services and renter education services. This also includes assistance with access to mainstream benefits through case management to assist households to identify eligible benefit programs and to coordinate the application process for eligible benefit programs. Applicable benefit programs may include, but are not limited to, SSI, SSDI, veterans programs, food stamps and healthcare coverage. Homeless Prevention Services: Homeless prevention services are provided to help prevent households from becoming homeless, where the household has an income at or below 30% AMI and who are at imminent risk of homelessness or are fleeing/attempting to flee domestic violence. Homeless prevention services offer a range of assistance including case management, housing search and placement services, short and medium term rental assistance, landlord/tenant mediation, tenant legal services, financial literacy/credit repair services and assistance with rental application fees, security deposits, last month s rent, utility deposits, utility payments and moving costs Front Door for Lane County s Coordinated Entry System: The access center will act as a front door for the Lane County Coordinated Entry System. Coordinated Entry System front doors will provide screening, assessment and referral services for

2 households accessing housing programs in the homeless assistance system. Energy Assistance- The purpose of energy assistance programs is to provide energy assistance eligibility screening appointments and energy education to income eligible households to offset home energy costs, especially in the winter. Households are served on a first-come, first-served basis with the exception of crisis payment households which are provided immediate access. More details on energy program requirements can be found in the RFP Resource Manual. The community service center awarded funding will offer the following energy assistance programs: Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) $651,000 in energy assistance funds available for distribution, up to $91,140 in energy assistance funds available for program delivery and up to $6,510 in energy assistance funds available for program admin; EWEB Customer Care (ECC) $483,000 in energy assistance funds available for distribution, up to $67,620in energy assistance funds available for program delivery and up to $4,830 in energy assistance funds available for program admin; Oregon Energy Assistance (OEA) $21,800 in energy assistance funds available for distribution, up to $3,052 in energy assistance funds available for program delivery and up to $218 in energy assistance funds available for program admin; and Oregon Low-Income Gas Assistance (OLGA) $34,000 in energy assistance funds available for distribution, up to $4,844 in energy assistance funds available for program delivery and up to $346 in energy assistance funds available for program admin. Lane County will pay the organization up to a maximum of 15 percent of the energy assistance funds authorized for disbursal by the organization (14 percent for program delivery and 1 percent for program administrative costs). This 15 percent sum will be separate from and in addition to the funds authorized for disbursal by the organization. The organization will be paid on a cost-reimbursement basis. The organization must provide back-up documentation as proof to how the requested amount was derived. Other energy assistance programs may become available and may be included in awarded contracts. Existing Lane County contracts with agencies providing energy assistance will continue through Sept 30, Energy assistance services provided through

3 contracts resulting from this RFP will begin October 1, Agency A summary of your agency s mission and how the community service center programming for low income households fits within your agency s mission. Program Program Plan: Please use the program plan provided and insert projected numbers requested. Please provide a detailed description of the access center services, which includes: 1. If this is a new or existing program. 2. A description of all community service center services. i. Emergency Basic Needs ii. Homeless Prevention iii. Front door for the Lane County Coordinated Entry System iv. Energy Services: for energy services, please include the following: A description of your agency s experience providing multiple energy assistance services and programs to low-income households. Describe the programs offered and the services offered, including energy education and utility liaison assistance. Include programs not funded by Lane County, annual funding amounts and number of households served. Also include a description of your agency s plan to seasonally increase FTE in the fall and winter when there is a large volume of client telephone calls, office visits and appointments. Describe cross training of permanent staff, ability to re-assign existing staff seasonally and use and training of seasonal or temporary staff. 3. A description of efforts and methods used to ensure the community service center and its services are accessible in terms of location, affordability, physical access, bus and parking access, cultural and lingual accessibility and hours of operation. How will agency reach out to underserved populations? For energy services, please provide a description of your agency s phone lines and phone messaging service capacity. Describe in detail how your agency will assure there will be a voice mail or phone messaging system that will reliably accommodate a high volume of calls and phone messages. 4. A description of the community service center s quality assurance practices and how the center will ensure program outcomes are achieved. 5. A description of agency partnerships and linkage services you will leverage to help provide households access to resources necessary for long-term wellbeing.

4 Budget A Community Service Center budget that shows the full cost of operating the program and includes all other program revenue that will be dedicated to the program. Please use the budget templates provided. A budget narrative, which includes: 1. Describe how funds will be utilized to meet the minimum overall program contribution and ESG match. 2. A listing of staff, including titles, utilized in the program, the specific duties of each staff person as it relates to the budget and the methodology for determining the amount of FTE charged to the program budget for each staff person. 3. An explanation of all non-staff related program expenses. 4. A listing, including amount, of all other revenue sources. 5. A listing of in-kind contributions. *Program Contribution = 15% of agency funds toward the total overall budget (not including energy), in this case a minimum of $42,185. For more details see Directions tab on Excel worksheet. ESG match is 25% of ESG funds received in the Homeless Prevention budget, a minimum of $13,429. Evaluation Criteria: If a single proposal is received for an individual service description, Robin Scott, Program Services Coordinator, will review and score the proposal based on the criteria described in the individual service description. If the proposal receives a score of 70% or higher, the proposal will be recommended for selection. If the proposal does not receive a score of 70% or higher, Lane County will issue a new Request for Proposal for that individual service. If multiple proposals are received, the members of the RFP selection committee will review proposals and score them based on the criteria described in this document. The RFP selection committee may only use the material submitted in the proposal for the evaluation process. If the proposal is forwarded to the RFP selection committee, each member will individually assign a score to each question. The weight or degree of importance, associated with each criterion is printed beneath each question. For each criterion, a scale of values ranging from 0 to 10 is provided, where 0 reflects failure with respect to the criterion and 10 denotes excellence. Each item will be scored, and the value will be multiplied by the weight for that criterion. Total scores will be calculated by summing the scores assigned by each committee member and dividing by the number of committee members to get an average total score. The proposal that receives the

5 highest average total score will be recommended for selection. Agency 1. Does the community service center programming fit within the agency s mission? Does the agency demonstrate adequate experience providing services for low income households? Program 2. Does the proposal include and clearly describe all required categories of service? Is service delivery consistent with best practices? Does the proposal clearly describe any partnerships leveraged to provide the required service categories? Maximum number of points = 30 Score: x 3 = 3. Does the proposal clearly describe the methods used to ensure the community service center is accessible in terms of location, affordability, physical access, cultural and lingual accessibility, bus and parking access and hours of operation? Does the proposal outline how the agency will reach out to underserved populations? 4. Does the proposal clearly describe the program s quality assurance practices? Does the proposal clearly demonstrate how outcome goals will be achieved?

6 5. Does the proposal clearly describe how the community service center will serve as a front door for the Lane County Coordinated Entry System? 6. How strong is the agency s experience providing a variety of energy assistance programs and services? 7. To what extent does the agency have the capacity to provide appropriate levels of staffing to meet the seasonal demands of energy assistance programs? 8. To what extent does the agency have the facility and infrastructure to meet the needs of energy assistance programs? Budget 9. Does the budget and FTE support the staff duties described in the narrative? Does the budget support the non-staff related program expenses? Maximum number of points = 30 Score: x 3 = 10. Is the budget section complete and does the narrative include a plan to meet

7 the required ESG and overall program match? Total points possible = 180