Funding Opportunities

FY2013 Bidders Conference and RFP Questions

 April 13 at 4:00 is the deadline.  Both the PAPER copy and the ELECTRONIC copy must be received by that time.

All questions and information from this Bidder’s Conference will be available at www.jcempowerment.org.  Any additional questions must be submitted to Laurie Nash in writing.  Those questions and answers will be posted online each week.  April 6 is the last day to submit questions.

Agencies will submit only one application for funds per agency and include all programs.  Agencies should, however, separate different programs within the application and provide separate budgets.

Separate contracts will be issued for programs from each funding stream.  For example, one agency might have one contract for Preschool programs, another contract for Parent Education and Family Support programs, and another contract for Early Childhood programs.

Please note all of the appendices.  The contract pages will be included in all contracts and providers must agree to all of those items.

Be sure to reference Tool G(A) – Appendix 1 Early Childhood Funding Parameters and Limitations and Tool G(B) – Appendix 2 School Ready Funding Parameters and Limitations for appropriate use of these funds.

Early Childhood Funding, described in Tool G(A), is federal funding.

 School Ready Funding, described in Tool G(B), is state funding.

 Empowerment/Early Childhood Iowa funding is allocated each year by the Iowa legislature and approved by the Governor.  Funding to local ECI Areas is determined by a population-based formula.  At this time, the amount of funding available for the Johnson County Empowerment/ECI Area is unknown.  Even if statewide ECI funding remains stable, local funding may vary depending upon population shifts across the state.

As a result of a recent needs survey conducted in our community, the Result Areas and Priorities have been adjusted to reflect recent community input.

There are now 3 main Result Areas:  1. Secure and Nurturing Early Education Environments; 2. Safe and Nurturing Families, and 3. Children Ready to Succeed in School.

Priorities within those areas are still consistent with the former priorities, though not identical.

Secure and Nurturing Early Education Environments includes accessibility of quality early education, quality in early education, availability of quality early education, and a new one of increase parent and community demand/expectations for high-quality early education.  The Local Indicator of percent of kindergarten students who attend preschool is based on Department of Education data that is gathered by parent report during kindergarten registration.  Preschool, therefore, is not specifically defined.  The Local Indicator measuring early education environments meeting quality standards is limited due to the quality standards for which county-wide data is being collected and reported.

Safe and Nurturing Families includes child abuse prevention, direct support to families, linking families with services, and facilitating screening and follow-up for early identification of child needs.  For additional information about Toxic Childhood Stress, see page

Children Ready to Succeed in School also includes early identification and follow-up of developmental concerns and linking families with needed services.  It also includes supporting preventive health services and facilitating connections among schools, early childhood providers, and families.

When deciding into which Result Area your program fits, consider the method of program delivery.  For example, programs targeting screening within families might consider Safe and Nurturing Families, while programs targeting screening in early education might consider Children Ready to Succeed in School.

Not every program will impact a Local Indicator.  Local Indicators are those measures that can be measured for the population county-wide.  There are some priorities for which there is currently no county-wide indicator data being measured or collected.

SERVICES

It is recommended to choose one Result Area and one or two Priorities for a program to address.  It is also recommended to choose one or two Local Indicators for a program to address.  Programs to not have to directly measure local indicators within their programs, but instead measure changes that will impact local indicators.  For example, creating an additional 20 quality early childhood education spaces will increase the availability of quality early education and is likely to impact the number of kindergarteners with preschool experience.

Programs that deliver services to individuals and/or are family-specific must be for families with children age 0-5, at or below 200% of poverty, and reside in Johnson County.

Group-based programs must be appropriate, available and accessible to families at or below 200% of poverty, with children age 0-5 and residing in Johnson County.  Families that do not have a child age 0-5 will not be included in any reporting and evaluation.

 All programs must report ALL ECI Statewide Performance Measures: Inputs, Outputs, & Quality/Efficiency Measures for that type of service (i.e. Direct Service, Indirect Service, Family Support).

All programs must report ALL ECI Statewide Outcome Measures for that category of service (e.g. literacy, improved early learning environments, family support, etc.).

 

EARLY EDUCATION

Must be working toward or possess NAEYC, NAFCC, Head Start Performance Standards, verified IQPPS, QRS 3, 4, or 5; Environmental Rating Scale average 5 and none less than 2.

All Early Education programs providing direct service to children must report all Statewide Performance Measures for Direct Service and Outcome Measures for Early Care & Education.

All Early Education programs addressing quality must report all Statewide Performance Measures for Indirect Service and Outcome Measures for the appropriate category.

Early Education programs addressing accessibility may fall into either Direct or Indirect Services.  If you are unsure of the appropriate category, please contact Laurie Nash in writing with your questions.
 PRESCHOOL SR FUNDING– Tool CC – Appendix 3

All Preschool Support Funded programs are required to report all of the applicable items from Tool CC (Appendix 3) and the Statewide Performance Measures and Outcome Measures (Appendix 7).  This includes assessing children’s development and growth.

 Preschool programs are not required to utilize one specific curriculum but all preschool programs are required to utilize a curriculum which is evidence-based or research-based and developmentally appropriate.  Examples can be found in Tool CC (Appendix 3).

Preschool programs are not required to utilize one specific screening/assessment tool but all preschool programs are required to determine children at age-appropriate levels through the use of a reliable, published tool.  Examples can be found in Tool CC (Appendix 3).

Programs eligible to receive DHS wraparound funds must apply for DHS wraparound funds for any eligible program.  Agencies must notify Empowerment of the status of that grant application.  IF DHS funds are awarded, the agency will not receive Empowerment funds for those same services.

Programs must be actively working with their local school districts to secure Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program for Four-Year-Olds.

Agencies are welcome and encouraged to apply for funding to administer a School Ready Scholarships-type program.  The program must meet all of the requirements found in Tool CC and must report all Statewide Performance Measures for Direct Services and Outcome Measures for Early Care and Education.  If funds are used for program administration, the program must also report all Statewide Performance Measures for Indirect Services and Outcome Measures for Preschool Scholarship Coordination.

 Programs utilizing Preschool Support funding for other services such as health, dental, literacy, transportation, or others must show that the need for preschool scholarships has been met.

PARENT EDUCATION AND FAMILY SUPPORT SR FUNDING – Tool FF – Appendix 4

 The Family Support Program is part of this RFP.  Agencies wishing to provide home visitation services must apply for that service.  As with applications for other programs, agencies should assess the need in the community, their agency’s capacity to meet that need, and then develop a request for funds based on that information.  Home visitation components will continue to be reimbursed at a rate of $80 per completed visit and $30 per missed visit.  You may adjust program design to best meet family needs while maintaining best practice standards (e.g. minimum of 2 visits per month per family) and research- and evidence-based practice and curricula.

All parent education and family support funded programs (including home visitation and group-based programs) are required to report specific results to Empowerment, see Tool FF (Appendix 4) and Statewide Performance Measures and Outcome Measures (Appendix 7).  All programs must report Statewide Performance Measures for Direct Services and Outcome Measures for Family Support.

There are specific forms and evaluation tools that PEFS programs are required to utilize for data collection and outcome reporting; see Tool FF (Appendix 4).  In the past, JCE Board and Work Group members have also recommended utilizing some sort of parent-report evaluation as well, though this is not required.

Home Visitation programs must use the Life Skills Progression-Modified as an evaluation instrument.

Group-based programs must use the Protective Factors Survey as an evaluation instrument.

Group programs should be a minimum of 6 weeks in duration.  See Tool FF.

While the state has specific eligibility requirements for home visitation programs, the JCE Board has more limited eligibility requirements.  All families participating in home visitation programs funded through JCE must have incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.

Home visitation programs must be working toward or possess the Iowa Family Support Credential.

If Centralized Intake is part of an application, then all Statewide Performance Measures for Indirect Services and Outcome Measures for Indirect Services and Centralized Intake must be reported.

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT – Tool II – Appendix 5

 All programs to improve the quality of early care, health, and education programs with School Ready must follow the requirements of Tool II.  Note that listed activities are simply examples and are not exclusive of other programs.  In the past, JCE has used this source to fund support for Community Empowerment Area/ECI Area coordination (the last example on Tool II).

All Quality Improvement programs must report all Statewide Performance Measures for Indirect Services and Outcome Measures for the appropriate category (i.e. child care nurse consultant, child care consultant, emotional/behavioral services, improved early learning environments, professional development, quality improvement for QRS).

 
GENERAL AID/OTHER SCHOOL READY

 If a program doesn’t fit into a category above, it will likely fall under General Aid/Other School Ready.  There are required Statewide Performance Measures and Outcome Measures for these programs.  If you are unsure how to categorize your program, contact Laurie Nash in writing with a brief program description.

Other programs might include health, car seat, dental, literacy, prenatal/postnatal, transportation, crisis/emergency care, hawk-i outreach, public awareness including child/health fair, or resource libraries.  See Appendix 7 for required Performance and Outcome Measures.

 

RFP FORMAT

The format in the RFP must be used, including the Summary Table and Budget Justification.

Please use page numbers!  It makes it so much easier for reviewers.

There is no requirement for margins or line spacing, but font must be Times New Roman 12.

It is not necessary to prioritize programs.  This is strictly optional and just to provide some provider input to assist JCE Board with prioritizing and decision-making.  Agencies do not risk losing lower priority programs if the Board scores those programs high.  All decisions will be based on Board priorities and decisions, but in the case of equal board consideration, agency input will be considered.

If an agency is listing programs in priority order, be sure to identify them as Priority 1, Priority 2, etc.

There is no page limit on attachments, but remember that with too many attachments reviewers may not have time to look at all of them.  All attachments should be at the end of the proposal, after the budget pages.

 

SUMMARY TABLE

The RFP says the page limit is one-half page maximum for each program.  Programs will be penalized for going over 1 page per program.  It is not necessary to include the Section heading (i.e. Section I. Outcome Statement and Summary Table) but it is necessary to include the outcome statement and the column headers in the Summary Table.

You may adjust the width of the columns in the Summary Table as appropriate.

Result Areas are:  Secure and Nurturing Early Education Environments; Safe and Nurturing Families, and Children Ready to Succeed in School.

Priorities include: Increase the accessibility of quality early education by addressing….   Items that are found under the Result Areas.

Goals should be specific and measurable and will be further described in the Goals and Objectives section of the narrative.  What change is expected for participants?  Overall Example:  Laurie will take less time to get out the door in the morning.

Services are what you will do and will be further described in the Program Description section of the narrative.  Overall Example:  provide 4 time-management classes and a daily planner to Laurie.

Performance Measures, Measurement Tools, and Specific Measures to be reported should be specific and measurable and will be further described in the Program Goals and Objectives section of the narrative.  How will you measure the change for participants?  How will that be reported?   Be sure to include into which Statewide Required Performance Measure category your program fits (i.e. Direct, Indirect, Family Support) and into which Outcome Measure category your program fits (e.g. Literacy, hawk-i Outreach, etc.).  You do not need to list each of the statewide measures, but be sure to note if you will be reporting any additional measures for this program.  Also note which measurement tools will be used to measure the state requirements.  Overall Example:  time it takes Laurie to get out the door in the morning will be measured in minutes using a stopwatch.

Baseline Data and Goals for Outputs and Outcomes should be specific and utilize actual numbers.  This is further described in the Goals and Objectives section of the narrative.  Overall Example:  baseline is that it takes Laurie 45 minutes to get out the door in the morning.  The goal is that it will take Laurie 30 minutes to get out the door in the morning.

 

NARRATIVE

Qualifications should include agency, key staff, financial, and involvement with JCE.  Full job descriptions can be included as attachments.

Need for program should, as much as possible, address the local Johnson County need.  Provide specific data where available and appropriate.  It should be clear how this program is uniquely suited to address that need.  Need information can include agency information such as waiting lists, etc.

Goals and objectives should explain further the Goals of Program; Performance Measures, Measurement Tools, and Specific Measurements; and Baseline Data and Goals for Outputs and Outcomes from the Summary Table.  It is not necessary to list each of the statewide requirements as long as you identify the specific category into which this program fits and identify evaluation tools to be used.  Identify any performance measures to be reported in addition to the state requirements.  Programs do not have to report any more than the state requirements.

Program description describes the services/activities to be provided.  Be specific in terms of service numbers (visits, groups, slots, etc.) and participant numbers (5 kids, 10 families, 6 providers).  Note the general audience and eligibility criteria.  Specifically identify how these activities are expected to impact the Result Area and Priority.  Identify all curricula to be used.  Note how accessibility will be addressed.  Specify uses of food, incentives, transportation, and materials/equipment.

 

BUDGETS

Be sure budgets are very clear in terms of specific programs.

Be sure to complete Detail Chart A and Detail Chart B.

The Budget Justification is new.

Direct Costs are funds utilized to pay for the cost of the direct programming to children and families.

Indirect costs are funds utilized to pay for the administrative costs of being able to offer the program.

Examples of Direct Costs:     program staff salaries and benefits
curricular materials for program implementation
room rental for the program itself, such as a meeting room
materials provided to families
supports for families to participate, including child care, food,
and transportation for families to attend events

Examples of Indirect Costs:      staff to supervise program staff
staff to write reports and generate bills
facilities costs, such as telephone and rent for staff office
space

Administration is a percentage of the total Direct Costs.  Reasonable administrative costs are generally defined as up to 8% of total direct expenditure request.

Indirect Services are line item details of the expenses identified above.

You may request EITHER Administration OR Indirect Services.

If the funding is to be used as a match for other grant funds, JCE must first be notified of this intent.  Early Childhood (federal) funds can not be used to match other federal funds.

Priority consideration is given to programs that have secured other funds equaling 5% or more of the total Empowerment/ECI funds requested.

For home visitation programs, the budget should include a line item under Program Costs that identifies the number of visits at $80 per visit and the total request.

 

BUDGET JUSTIFICATION

Specify items in the budget.  For example, is mileage for staff to travel to families, staff to transport families to class, reimbursement to families for travel expenses?

Describe how this fits with and will complement other funding sources.  For example, other funds are used for staff and JCE funds are used for materials.

Describe how items are calculated.  For example, identify the rate of mileage reimbursement, rate of child care reimbursement, items included in staff training (travel, lodging, registration).

If Indirect Services funding is requested, specify each line item and describe its relationship to the direct services of the program, agency operation, etc.

 

Additional Information

Toxic Childhood Stress

Information about Toxic Childhood Stress can be found in the article “Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults.  The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study” by VJ Felitti, RF Anda, D Nordenbert, et al in American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 1998; 14(4):245-258.  A link to this and other articles are found on the Johnson County Empowerment website.

Toxic stress results from intense adverse experiences that may be sustained over a long period of time – weeks, months or even years.  Children are unable to effectively manage this type of stress by themselves.  As a result, the stress response system gets activated for a prolonged amount of time.  This type of stress can disrupt early brain development, compromise the functioning of important biological systems, and lead to long-term health problems.  It can lead to permanent changes in the development of the brain.  The negative effects of toxic stress can be lessened with the support of caring adults.  Appropriate support and intervention can help in returning the stress response system back to its normal baseline.  (The National Scientific Council on the Developing Child)

Toxic Childhood Stress may include exposure to adverse childhood experiences such as abuse (emotional, physical, sexual), neglect (emotional, physical), and/or household dysfunction (domestic violence, household mental illness, household substance abuse, incarcerated household members, parental separation or divorce).  As the number of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) a person experiences increases, the risk of many adverse health outcomes also increases.  In adolescence, this includes teen pregnancy, suicide attempts, early initiation of smoking, sexual activity, and illicit drug use.

Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults.  The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study.

http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797%2898%2900017-8/fulltext

The Lifelong Effects of Early Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/129/1/e232.full.html

The Effects of Childhood Stress on Health Across the Lifespan.

http://health-equity.pitt.edu/932/