The Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Child Deaths is funded by the County of Sacramento,

City of Sacramento and First 5 Sacramento, and is managed by The Center.

Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Child Deaths: Black Child Legacy Campaign

Request for Proposals 2018 Strategy Implementation Evaluation

www.shfcenter.org/sjvhealthfund

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APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS AND CRITERIA READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS AND CRITERIA CAREFULLY

THE FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

In March 2015, the Steering Committee on Reduction

of African American Child Deaths (RAACD) created a

strategic plan, African American Children Matter: What

We Must Do Now, that outlined five priority strategies

to transform public systems and foster meaningful

community engagement for the purpose of reducing

the persistent disparity in the rates at which African

American children in Sacramento County die relative

to all other children.

The Center announces the opportunity to submit

proposals for an evaluation of the implementation of

the RAACD strategies. The contract period is May 2018

through April 2020. Up to $125,000 over the two-year

period is available for the project.

BACKGROUND

In April 2013, the Sacramento Blue Ribbon Commission

Report on Disproportionate African American Child Deaths

presented data documenting 20 years of disproportionate

African American child mortality in Sacramento County,

recommended the adoption of the goal of reducing African

American child deaths by at least 10% to 20% by 2020,

outlined potential approaches to achieving the goal and

established the RAACD Steering Committee.1 The report

identified four causes of death that have the most

disproportionate impact on African American children in

Sacramento County. Those causes are: (1) infant sleep-

related deaths, (2) perinatal conditions, (3) child abuse and

neglect (CAN) homicides, and (4) third-party homicides.

It also highlighted the neighborhoods with the most

disproportionate number of African American child deaths

in the county. The seven neighborhoods that have become

the focus of the RAACD efforts include:

• Arden-Arcade

• Del Paso Heights/North Sacramento

• Fruitridge/Stockton Boulevard

• Meadowview

• North Highlands/Foothill Farms

• Oak Park

• Valley Hi

Following an intensive community process driven by

core values of collaboration, community engagement,

commitment, accountability, innovation, sustainability and

service, the Steering Committee created a strategic plan in

March 2015, African American Children Matter: What We Must

1 The Blue Ribbon Commission report, RAACD strategic and implementation plans, and other documents and resources can be found at http://www.shfcenter.org/raacd.

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Do Now, outlining the following five priority strategies to

transform public systems and foster meaningful community

engagement:

• Advocacy and Policy

• Equitable Investment and Systematic Impact

• Coordinated Systems of Support

• Data-driven Accountability and Collective Impact

• Communications and Information Systems

In June 2015, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors

voted to approve $1.5 million annually for five years to

support putting the strategic plan into action. This funding

commitment complements existing investments by the

county’s First 5 Sacramento Commission and public health,

human services, child welfare and probation departments.

The funding from the Board of Supervisors is structured

to focus on engaging community and building and

strengthening the community infrastructure to quickly

mobilize around the reduction of the four causes of death.

In 2016, the City of Sacramento joined the initiative,

committing $750,000 in the first year.

In the past 18 months, there has been considerable

progress on each of the priority strategies identified in the

strategic plan and further detailed in a September 2015

implementation plan, which describes the activities needed

to meet the goals of reducing the four primary causes of

disproportionality in African American child death rates:

• Coordinated Systems of Support is at the heart of the

effort. Seven Community Incubator Leads (CILs) have

been selected to coordinate and implement services

and communications at the neighborhood level. They

are respected institutions within their communities

and responsible for strengthening community

infrastructure so that changes created by the initiative

are sustainable. The CILs are supported by a variety of

technical assistance resources. In addition, they house

the Multi-Disciplinary Teams made up of county and

community service providers.

• Advocacy and Policy is the focus of the Community

Leadership Roundtable, comprised of residents in the

seven neighborhoods who have received training and

support as first responders to community crises and

evaluators of the quality of CIL implementation.

• Equitable Investment and Systematic Impact is

intended to be implemented through an Interagency

Children’s Policy Council (ICPC). While the ICPC has

not been formed, many instances of coordination

across public agencies have been observed. For

example, the Departments of Human Assistance

and Health and Human Services have cooperated in

convening county staff who are stationed in each of

the CILs.

• Data-driven Accountability and Collective Impact has

been implemented through quality assessments of

and with the CILs, analyses of secondary data to

track African American child deaths and the

disparities between rates of African American child

deaths and those of all other children in Sacramento

County, progress reports submitted by the CILs and

community-based participatory action research.

• Communications and Information Systems has

successfully branded the community-driven work as

the Black Child Legacy Campaign, which has served

as an inspiring and unifying name for the work.

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RAACD Strategy Evaluation

The Center is seeking an experienced team to conduct an

evaluation of the implementation of the RAACD strategies.

Evaluation findings will be used to:

• Inform decisions about next steps in implementing the

strategies

• Document the elements of success and the challenges

for Sacramento policymakers, community leaders and

other stakeholders

• Provide information for other jurisdictions to consider

when replicating the strategies

• Document the extent and nature of public system

and community transformation related to the RAACD

strategies to inform other community-based initiatives

and replication of the approach

The overarching evaluation questions are:

• In what ways and to what extent has each strategy

been implemented?

• What are the challenges to and facilitators of

implementation success?

• How, if at all, are the RAACD strategies influencing

public systems and their relationships with

community organizations?

• How, if at all, are the RAACD strategies strengthening

communities in ways that are likely to reduce

African American child deaths and sustain lower rates

of African American child deaths into the future (e.g.,

increased CIL capacity, reduction of risk factors for the

four causes of death, improved utilization of services)?

To guide The Center in its ongoing work with the RAACD

Steering Committee and management of the Black Child

Legacy Campaign, regular updates on the evaluation findings

will be expected. At a minimum, The Center expects reports

of key findings at least every six months using modes of

presentation to meet the needs of the multiple audiences,

including the County Board of Supervisors, community

leaders and others. Annual reports also will be required.

Evaluation Guidelines

The Center believes that its community partners are experts

in their community and the issues being addressed.

The Center believes in engaging its community partners in

meaningful ways (beyond data sources) in the planning and

implementation of research and evaluation.

The Center uses the professional standards articulated in

documents such as the American Evaluation Association’s

Statement on the Importance of Cultural Competency in

Evaluation and Guiding Principles for Evaluators and the

Joint Committee’s Standards for Program Evaluation.

Budget and Timeframe

The duration of this contract is 24 months from May 2018

through April 2020. The total budget should not exceed

$125,000, inclusive of travel and expenses.

Proposers may submit budgets in one of two ways. The

budget may be based on an all-inclusive hourly rate for each

staff person. In this case, the budget must list staff, number

of hours and hourly rate for each activity. Other costs, such

as travel, should be listed separately. The second option is to

submit a detailed budget listing personnel (FTE, salary and

fringe), operating costs (travel, materials, other), and indirect

costs (up to 15% of direct costs).

The budget narrative should provide a clear description of how

the budget supports the proposed activities.

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Eligibility and Qualifications

Eligible applicants are research institutions, universities,

colleges, policy centers, private and nonprofit consulting

firms and other entities or individuals qualified to propose.

Applicant teams must demonstrate the following

characteristics:

1. Commitment to racial and health equity

2. Expertise in and experience with the evaluation of

complex, multi-strategy initiatives, including sampling,

data collection and analysis of data

3. Expertise in and experience with culturally responsive

evaluation

4. Knowledge of Sacramento neighborhoods and the

cultural humility and competence to work effectively

with the African American residents of those

neighborhoods

5. Knowledge of Sacramento city and county public

systems and programs that work with children,

families and communities

6. Understanding of the social determinants of health

and community-based approaches to public health

7. Experience presenting findings in multiple formats

that appeal to a variety of audiences

Experience with community engagement and organizing is

strongly preferred.

Working with The Center

The Center recognizes that evaluation activities require time

and effort on the part of the Black Child Legacy Campaign’s

community partners and will work with both the community

partners and the evaluation team to minimize the burden

while maximizing the benefit of the evaluation to all.

The Center will provide support in connecting the evaluation

team to the RAACD Steering Community and the Black Child

Legacy Campaign’s community partners and facilitating the

development of strong relationships.

The Center has a collaborative approach to working with

external evaluators and researchers. This involves regular

communications to coordinate interactions with community

partners, discuss evaluation activities, solve challenges

encountered during the course of the evaluation, and

generally work together so that the project is carried out

successfully and yields useful and credible results.

Selection Criteria and Process

Responses to this RFP must be submitted through the

online application process. We recommend looking at the

questions listed on the application before beginning to

write your proposal.

Proposals submitted by the deadline and meeting the

application guidelines will be evaluated based on consistency

of proposed plans with the specifications outlined in this RFP,

including the qualifications of the staff, completeness with

regard to the required elements and feasibility of the

proposed plans. The most competitive proposals will include:

1. Evidence that proposed staff meets or exceeds the

qualifications listed above

2. Evaluation methods that are responsive to the

evaluation questions and purposes

3. Strong work products demonstrating expertise in

reporting evaluation findings

4. A budget that is appropriate for the plans and timeline

Applicants who submit the proposals that are most highly

ranked based on the selection criteria will be invited for

an interview with the review team, which will include

representatives of the community partners and The

Center staff.

The final selection will be based on the results of the

interviews and approval of The Center.

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Application Timeline

Proposals are submitted by responding to a series of

questions on the application found on The Center’s

online grants portal: https://www.GrantRequest.com/

SID_5509?SA=SNA&FID=35074 To be considered, your

application must be submitted via the online grants portal

by 1 p.m. (PST) on March 12, 2018. Submission guidelines

follow. Proposals received after the due date/time will not

be reviewed. Submission before the deadline date is advised

in case you experience technical difficulties with submitting

your application through the portal. Please plan accordingly

as we may not be able to respond to your requests for help

on the deadline date.

February 14, 2018 Release of RFP

March 12, 2018 Proposals due by 1 p.m. (Pacific Standard Time)

March 19, 2018 Invitations to participate

in finalist interviews

March 23 and April 3, 2018 Finalist interviews (hold these dates)

April 4, 2018 Contract decision

April 12, 2018 Deadline for appeal

April 23, 2018 Appeal decision

May 2018 Contract signed

Appeal Process

The Center has established the following appeal process for

this Request for Proposals (RFP).

Any applicant wishing to appeal disqualification in either

part of the screening process or the proposed award

recommendation(s) must submit a written letter of appeal.

Submit such a letter by the date shown in the RFP timeline.

Any appeal shall be limited to the following grounds:

• The Center failed to include in the Request for

Proposals a clear, precise description of the format

that proposals shall follow and elements they shall

contain or the criteria to be used in screening and

evaluating proposals, or the date on which proposals

are due; and/or

• Proposals were not evaluated and/or

recommendation(s) for award were not made in the

following manner:

• All proposals were reviewed to determine

which ones met the screening criteria specified

in the RFP; and/or

• All proposals meeting the screening

requirements were submitted to a Review

Committee, which evaluated the proposals

using the criteria specified in the RFP; and/or

• The proposer(s) judged best qualified by the

Review Committee was recommended to the

Steering Committee for award; and/or

• The Center correctly applied the standards

for reviewing the format requirements or

evaluating the proposals as specified in

the RFP.

The written letter of appeal of the proposed award(s)

must reference the title of this RFP and be submitted to:

appeals@shfcenter.org.

Appeal letters must be received at the above e-mail address

by the date shown in the RFP timeline. Oral appeals will not

be accepted. It is the proposer’s responsibility to ensure

receipt of delivery to the above e-mail address by the date

specified in the timetable. Appeals will not be accepted after

the deadline specified. Appeal letters must clearly explain

the failure of The Center to follow the rules of the RFP as

discussed above.

All written appeals shall be investigated by The Center,

which shall make a finding regarding any appeal by the date

shown in the RFP timeline.

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Important Application Guidelines

Access the RAACD Strategy Evaluation application at: https://

www.GrantRequest.com/SID_5509?SA=SNA&FID=35074

• To help us process your proposal, please follow these

submission guidelines:

• We encourage you to open the online application and

review the questions before beginning to prepare a

proposal.

• New users of the portal will need to create an account

as the first step in the application process.

• We encourage you to submit your proposal before the

deadline date in case you need help with any of the

guidelines below.

• The deadline for submission of proposals is no later

than 1 p.m. PST on March 12, 2018.

• For optimal functionality, please use Internet Explorer

as your web browser for the portal.

• Respond to all fields. Required fields are marked

with an *.

• Upload all documents listed under “Application

Attachments Checklist” below.

• On the portal, you may click “Save & Finish Later.”

You will receive an e-mail with a link to return to your

in-progress application.

• You may only submit your application once. Be sure

your application is complete and accurate, including

required documents, before submitting it.

APPLICATION ATTACHMENTS CHECKLIST

Proposed budget for the full 24-month contract

period, May 2018 through April 2020 – upload a

budget as a PDF file following the guidelines provided

above. The total budget should not exceed $125,000,

inclusive of travel and expenses.

Proposed budget narrative for the full 24-month

contract period – upload a narrative as a PDF file that

explains your proposed expenditures. In no more than

two pages, describe the bases for the costs presented

in the proposal.

Evaluation plan – Upload a plan of no more than six

pages that describes how the evaluation will be carried

out, including likely methods choices and data sources,

analytical approaches, reporting plans and a rough

timeline.

Brief (no more than two pages per person) resumes of

all those who would be part of the evaluation team.

Two to three reports or other work products

demonstrating your experience and expertise in

presenting evaluation results in a variety of formats.

Send questions about this

RFP and the

application process to

raacd@shfcenter.org

with the subject line:

RAACD Eval Question