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2021-2023 Request for Proposal

Community Impact Partner Fund

Education

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Our mission: Unite the caring power of communities to invest in effective solutions that improve people’s lives.

United Way of East Central Iowa invites non-profit organizations to apply for a competitive

grant opportunity. This grant provides funding for programming that aligns with United

Way’s three pillars; Education, Financial Stability and Health. Each pillar has goals rooted

in an understanding of community conditions, supported by purposeful interventions, and

attained through a collaborative process.

This is a renewable three-year grant process, with funding and performance reviewed and renewed annually during the cycle.

As we work to build thriving communities,

we are aware we can’t do it alone; no one

can. That’s why we partner with community

stakeholders, organizations, donors, and

area nonprofits to pull together the

resources needed to support individuals and

families during some of their greatest

challenges. We invest in programs that are

necessary to build a thriving community.

Introduction

Building a

Thriving Community

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UWECI is committed to create lasting change with measurable improvements for people

in Iowa, Jones, Linn, Benton and Cedar counties. As a convener, collaborator, activator

and connector for change, our vision is to create thriving communities where individuals

have access to education, financial stability, and health in order to provide for self-

sufficiency and a high quality of life.

• Convene: The community around shared goals

• Collaborate: To obtain and share information and design solutions

• Activate: To set knowledge into action and mobilize our resources

• Connect: UWECI’s mission to all our work

Thriving communities are built when available resources meet needs. We focus on equity,

diversity and inclusion, collaboration and care coordination. Approaches that include as

addressing multi-generational problems, being trauma informed and being innovative are

essential to make the greatest impact in changing people’s lives and strengthening

communities.

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Components of Thriving Communities

Element Purpose How it helps

Diversity & Inclusion

To appreciate & respect the diverse communities and bring together unique individuals.

Effectively addresses key social issues facing communities.

Collaboration & Care Coordination

To enhance potential for integration and improvement of services to meet the needs of the community.

Develops solutions and connects resources to create a thriving community. Addresses challenges to develop solutions to changing communities.

Multi-Generational Services

To support whole families with education, economic support, social capital, and health needs.

Builds resiliency in our families and supports skill building to break the cycle of poverty.

Trauma-Informed Care

To promote trauma-informed care services throughout communities.

Creates strategies to prevent or address ACEs in communities. Promotes healing and recovery with the community.

Community Innovation

To enhance the efficiency of intervention strategies used by community members and agencies working together.

Create capacity building and infrastructure development throughout communities.

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United Way of East Central Iowa presents an intersecting set of investment areas where

programs can contribute to significant outcomes. These areas create conditions for lasting

change by bridging critical gaps, enhancing programs, building awareness, and fostering

collaboration. United Way’s funded partners are key in making an impact in communities.

These programs and services provide expansive work and critical collaboration needed to

meet our community goals. In addition, it is not just the services provided, but how

services are provided, that makes a critical difference. Our partners work to meet people’s

needs on a day-to-day basis and make a difference in the quality of people’s lives in order

to create thriving communities.

The Impact of Our Partners

More Healthy People • Access to timely and appropriate health care • Healthy independent community living for older

adults and people with disabilities • Social-emotional and physical well being • Education and prevention

More Financially Stable People • The ability to pursue education, employment, and

training that grows income • Develop skills to increase or retain employment,

stabilization of housing and income • Resiliency through education and empowerment • Availability and access safety net services to address

critical needs

More Kids on Track to Succeed in School, Work, & Life • Caregiver engagement and support • Social-emotional health during out of school time • Exploration and preparation for success after school • Quality early childcare and education

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• Use a strength-based approach that draws upon the strengths, resourcefulness, and resiliency of people and communities in its policies, practice and strategies.

• Intentionally incorporate evidence-based programming, best practices from the field, and community input in their programming.

• Demonstrate they are consistently learning best practices and are incorporating methods to encourage a growth mindset.

• Demonstrate cultural competence, as evidenced by practices that reflect respect for and understanding of specific cultural nuances among those served.

• Demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement by identifying areas for improvement, through on-going data collection and analysis that informs practice change.

• Demonstrate a higher level of coordination and collaboration by encompassing strategies to serve populations on varying levels of need and intensity.

UWECI Seeks to Fund Organizations

That Demonstrate the Following:

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To be eligible for United Way funding through the Community Impact Partner

Fund, organizations must demonstrate they are able to meet all the following

requirements. The entity must:

• Be an entity that operates for charitable purposes in the area of health and human

services;

• Be incorporated and actively conducting business for at least two years at the time of

application and serving residents of one of the five counties in United Way of East

Central Iowa’s service area (Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Jones, Linn);

• Be governed by an active, nonsectarian, voluntary board of directors or its equivalent,

consisting of members of the general community;

• Maintain at least one half-time FTE staff (20 hours per week);

• Receive a positive review by United Way Accountability Review Team;

• Submit all application materials complete and on time.

All applicants must read, agree to sign, and meet all applicable provisions of the partner

agency agreement and standards including Accountability Review requirements. If an

entity is currently funded by United Way, they must follow all Partner Agency Standards

and Reporting Requirements at the time of submitting their new application.

Applicants who do not meet all but do meet most of the requirements are still encouraged

to apply. For additional expectations for being a United Way of East Central Partner

please refer to:

uweci.org/partnerresources

Eligibility

Requirements

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Proposals will be evaluated using the following criteria, which will inform United

Way’s investment decisions:

• Evidence of Need for Service

o Demonstrate a strong fit with the goals of the Focus Area and a strong connection between community need and proposed strategies.

• Evidence of success/performance measures achieved in prior cycle

o Demonstrate strong performance in improving the well-being of

client populations aligned with the desired community outcome.

• Evidence of Coordination and Collaboration

o Integrate promising and best practices, and leverage resources and

collaborative opportunities. The organization has demonstrated value in the

community and develops relationships to effect community change.

• Research and/or evaluation supports the service delivery model

o Program Improvement and Staffing: Organizations should demonstrate use

of validated assessment tools designed to evaluate program quality, identify

staff training needs, and create customized action plans to enhance

programming.

• Alignment with one or more priority population

o Demonstrate an understanding of client populations and communities you

serve, their challenges used to help client achieve positive outcomes.

• Accountability and Review

o The organization must be in good financial standing, have staff and resource

capacity to successfully apply for funding, regularly report on outcomes, and

work with UWECI to improve issue area and community outcomes.

Proposal

Review Criteria

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Thriving communities exist when children have access to high quality, well-rounded

learning opportunities. It is essential that a child and family are supported by their

community through holistic educational opportunities, services, and programs. It is

particularly important for children to meet developmental benchmarks during the first

years or life in order to build strong relationships, resilience, and healthy lives to succeed

in school, work, and life.

United Way focuses on literacy as a goal because if a child is not reading proficiently by

the end of third grade, they are four times more likely not to graduate high school on time.

If this child grows up in a low-income household, they are 13 times more likely not to

graduate high school on time when compared to higher-income, proficient peers.1 Those

that do not graduate from high school generally earn much less than those with a high

school diploma or college degree. Professor Robert D. Putnam estimates this loss of

earning, combined with loss of economic growth and tax revenue equal to $13,900. 2

Iowa Department

of Education. Bureau of Information and Analysis Services. (2013-2018) 3rd graders meeting benchmark.

Even though reading proficiency is the milestone for academic success, indicators that

lead to success by third grade do not begin in third grade. Many children struggle as they

enter school, with one out of every two low-income children in United Way’s five county

area not having key literacy skills as they enter Kindergarten.3 Even with the best

schools that can provide strong services, many children already start behind before they

even have a chance to set foot in a school.

Education

Priorities

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Research shows that children from economically disadvantaged families can be up to

two years behind in language development.4 This may be because children of low-

income families hear less than ⅓ the amount of words that children of high-income

families hear; this equates to a gap of 30-million-words by the time the two groups of

children are four.5 Such disparities without intervention then can follow children through

school, as research has shown, 44 of 50 students who were poor readers at the end of

first grade remained poor readers at the end of fourth grade.5

This and other data show we must implement literacy interventions as early as possible.

Interventions in early childhood would work to reduce the 30-million-word gap between

low- and high-income families, and interventions in early school years can work to help

low-income students catch up to their peers before it is too late.

We know that if communities provide support to children and their families by ensuring access to resources necessary to become proficient readers, then all students will be more likely to succeed in high school, college, and in their careers.

Child development, parenting, positive youth engagement, building hope, and improving

literacy are pivotal factors that contribute to the success of proficient 3rd grade readers.

Children whose families experience negative economic, social, emotional, and community

relationships are at an increased risk of impaired learning. Creating interventions to

mitigate adversity or grow protective factors could alter the life trajectory of that child by

creating opportunities to thrive in their community.

1 D. J. Hernandez, “Double Jeopardy: How Third-Grade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School

Graduation,” The Annie E. Casey Foundation; Center for Demographic Analysis, [New York: University at Albany,

Foundation for Child Development], 2012.

² R. Putnam, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis (New York: Simon & Schuster Press, 2015), 232

3Nicholas Zill and Jerry West, Entering Kindergarten: A Portrait of American Children When They Begin School:

Findings from The Condition of Education 2000 (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2001).

<http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001035.pdf>

4 B. Hart and T.R. Risley, Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children

(Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company, 1995).

5 Juel, Journal of Educational Psychology 1988 Volume 80(4): 437-447.

In order to achieve our education goal, the following must be true:

• Families must have access to quality childcare that provides developmental

opportunities in addition to a safe environment.

• Children need to enter kindergarten developmentally and social-emotionally on

track with their peers.

• Parents are the most important teachers for children and need skills to support

their child’s development, be financially stable, and have a network of other

adults to help provide the best possible outcomes for their children.

• Hope, along with other social-emotional skills, must be nurtured through

mentoring and positive relationships within a child’s family, school, and

community. These help youth learn to set goals and make decisions that lead to

good career decisions.

• Children need to be engaged in their school and community, fostering positive

relationships with adults to build resilience in times of adversity.

• Children need to be reading proficiently by 3rd grade to prepare for success as

they advance through their academic career.

Child Development

• Increase protective factors that contribute to long-term health by increasing

access, education, screening, and care coordination to reduce health barriers.

Protective factors include:

• parental and youth resilience

• social connections

• knowledge of parenting and youth development

• concrete support in times of need

• social–emotional and cognitive competence of youth

Parenting

• Parents of young children will demonstrate knowledge and skills to promote successful development and grow protective factors. .

Supporting Engagement and Building Hope

• Youth have relationship supports and positive social-emotional skills to set and achieve their future goals.

• Youth have support to succeed academically and are proactively engaged in their schoolwork and community.

Improving Literacy

• Parents have skills to teach their children how to read and students have the reading skills to succeed in school.

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Goal: By 2030, increase the number of proficient 3rd graders to 95%.

UWECI recognizes the importance of collecting and utilizing data to help us in our

impact efforts and in articulating how the work you do translates into a valuable return

on investment and a positive impact within our communities.

Education measures should come from the list below that correspond with the area or

program focus you are applying for. Please select at least but not limited to one, area of

measurement from each objective.

Acknowledging that you may already collect data and report on other outcome

measures not included in our list, you may report up to three (3) additional measures of

your own if you so desire.

Kindergarten Ready

How much did we do?

• # of children in program

• # of programs offered for support

• # of parents supported by programs

• # of children screened How well did we do it?

• % growth in cognitive development

• % growth in physical development

• % growth in motor development

• % growth in socio-emotional learning

Is anyone better off?

• # of children who received additional support based on screening/assessment,

• # of parents who improve or maintained parenting knowledge or skills

• # of parents who have improved parenting knowledge and skills regarding

literacy with their children

• #of children with improved skills or developmental growth

Is anyone better off?

• % of children assessed to be ready for kindergarten,

• % parents who report positive interactions with children

• % of youth who increased their reading proficiency

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Increasing social emotional learning

How much did we do?

• # of students in programs

• # of programs

• # students who participate in enrichment activities

How well did we do it?

• # attended program consistently

Is anyone better off?

• # of children who reported having a trusting relationship with adults,

• # who maintained or improved social-emotional skills

Is anyone better off?

• % who demonstrate growth in social-emotional skills

• % who report they have strengthened their family relationships

**All applicants are required to report on demographic information. Demographic information includes age, race/ethnicity, household, income level, county and city.

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Program Information Evidence of need of Service

1. Please describe how you determine that participants experience better

outcomes by participating in your program, compared to people who are

not in your program:

a. How the program examined local data and engaged with people who have

relevant experience and expertise, including members of the population of

concern, in selecting the strategy and developing approaches to

implementing it based on local conditions and assets.

b. What is the root systemic issue(s) that your program addresses?

c. Please describe what part of the continuum of service (prevention, crisis,

education, treatment etc.) your program is best suited to address and how

it interacts with other strategies on other levels of the continuum.

Evidence of Success/Performance Achievement in prior Cycles

2. What evidence can you provide of the effectiveness of your strategy (please cite

research, evidence-based best practices, and other evidence-based work that

strongly supports your strategies)?

3. Describe the Quality Assurance or Quality Improvement methods employed and

their uses within your organization

a. What’s changed in our environment that’s impacted the service and how

have you coped with those changes?

Evidence of Coordination and Collaboration

4. Please describe any system-level or community-level collaborations of cross-

sector partners.

a. How does the program align with local efforts related to issues in the

community? How does your work complement community work?

b. How does your strategy continue to engage the community and clients in

meaningful ways and demonstrate a diversity of stakeholders including

client perspectives?

5. How does the program go beyond funding direct services to create change in

organizations, associations, systems, services and neighborhood?

a. What tools, methods, best practices and analysis are you utilizing to

ensure collaboration and coordination is impacting your clients?

Agency and Program Information

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Research and or Evaluation supports the service delivery model

6. Please describe the measurement tool you are using including the source of the

tool and the method of choosing this tool. Please also provide any reliability and

validity information you have on the measurement you will be using to collect

your data.

7. Please clearly describe your methodology for calculating indicator measurements

including timing and frequency of measurement.

8. How will you use the outcome data you report to make meaningful adaptations to

your practices, measures, and use of resources?

Alignment with one or more priority populations

9. Describe the client populations and communities you serve, and the challenges

associated with serving these populations and communities.

10. Using data or other supporting information, describe how your program is part of

the solution to addressing their barriers.

a. Describe your outreach techniques used to attract clients (including referral

networks, client engagement, advertising, etc.).

b. Describe your criteria and/or eligibility guidelines used for serving your

targeted population. Please provide a description of the assessment process

used to determine client needs including when you engage in a needs

assessment and how the assessment is completed.

c. Describe how your program incorporate a client-centered and culturally

competent perspective (e.g. has defined policy practices, staff trainings, etc.)

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Impact Strategy Budget Form

Please complete an Impact Strategy Budget Form using the MS Excel form on the

UWECI website. UWECI should not be the only source of income reflected on the

impact strategy budget. The Impact Strategy Budget should reflect all sources of

income and related expenses required to implement the strategy being proposed.

Budget figures should coincide with the grant cycle (July 1-June 30 fiscal year). Funding

requested from UWECI should not exceed 70% of the total strategy budget.

Do not change any line item titles in the budget form.

Impact Strategy Budget Narrative

Provide an explanation that gives additional information about the Impact

Strategy Budget line items including:

• Line item variance greater than $10,000 or greater than 10% between budget

years. Please reference the line item(s) and provide an explanation.

• Complete the schedules as appropriate

• Budget deficits of any size require both an explanation and an anticipated

resolution

• Describe key financial opportunities and threats that may affect your strategy

budget in the next three years.

Please reference the applicable line item number and description for each explanation

provided. For example:

Line item 10-Salaries: The variance is a result of a 1 FTE staff position that was not

filled for five months.

Funding Request Justification Form

Please complete a Funding Request Justification Form using the MS Excel form on the

UWECI website. This form shall serve as the primary tool to set context for funding

being requested. Agencies may modify the form to suit their need, however all

information requested must be addressed. If the proposal is requesting funding to

support activities that align with two or more intermediate outcomes, please

complete a “Funding Request Justification Form” for each intermediate outcome.

Financial

Review

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Funding Request Narrative for Intermediate Outcome:

Provide additional information that sets context for the funding requested, including but

not limited to:

• Provide and explain how the agency’s general administrative rate (%) is

calculated and applied to services provided.

• Revenue streams that support this strategy and funding restrictions they may

impose.

Leveraged or Matching Funds

Describe the source and amount of dollars that you do or would be able to leverage or

matching funds you would be eligible to receive if you are awarded UWECI funds.

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LATE OR INCOMPLETE SUBMISSIONS

WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR FUNDING.

Contact Information If you have any questions, please contact:

Karey Chase, Senior Manager, Community Investment

karey.chase@uweci.org

319-398-5372 ext. 828

Accessing the RFP Forms Agencies can find all necessary forms on the UWECI web site:

uweci.org/funding

• Letter of Intent is due by October 18th, 2019, emailed to

karey.chase@uweci.org.

• An invitation to apply will be sent from UWECI by November 1st, 2019.

Directions for submitting the RFP on Clear Impact will be given at that time.

Submission

Requirements

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• All RFP materials must be submitted electronically by January 14th, 2020 at

Noon via Clear Impact.

• In order to be considered, each Funding Proposal should include the items

on checklist in the next page

Checklist Submission Method Completed

Letter of Intent karey.chase@uweci.org

Funding Proposal including:

• Cover Page

• Narrative

• Impact Strategy Budget

• Funding Request Justification Form

• Program Process Map

Clear Impact

Logic model Clear Impact

Current roster of organization’s Board of Directors with their affiliations

Clear Impact

Affidavit of non-discrimination Clear Impact

Counterterrorism compliance form Clear Impact

Current partners: Submit Accountability Review documents on your regular schedule

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New applicants only:

1. 501(C)(3) Designation Letter

2. Current Bylaws

3. Audit or Independent

Financial Review

4. IRS Form 990 5. Board approved annual budget

with accompanying narrative

Clear Impact