RFP #2023-01 Children’s Mental Health

RFP #2023-01
Community-Led and Community-Operated Mental Health Supports
for Children and Families

CLOSED ON JULY 26! The Escambia Children’s Trust (ECT) is pleased to release this Request for Proposals to create or expand Informal Mental Health Supports offered by community-led and community-operated organizations. “Informal Mental Health Supports” are defined as non-medical supports for mental health provided by trusted peers, friends and family, religious leaders, support groups, or other non-health professionals.

We are looking for new or piloted projects from direct-service organizations that will help address the far-reaching challenge of stress, anxiety, depression or other mental health issues in children, youth, and their families. Agencies must propose Informal Mental Health Supports initiatives that tackle specific issues and address unmet needs in targeted geographies AND demographic groups, with the overall goals of:

• Increasing the availability of preventive and proactive supports that children, youth, or families can use for mental health and well-being 
• Increasing the capacity of child-serving service systems (e.g., child welfare, juvenile justice system) on trauma-informed practices and providing smooth pathways to more formal services 
• Building knowledge of trauma-informed support and communication for parents, caregivers, and individuals close to children and youth 
• Improving equity in mental health and reducing health disparities through improving equitable access to services for parents, caregivers, and children that are culturally and linguistically responsive to the needs of the populations of focus 
• Increasing early intervention so children and youth with, or at high risk for, behavioral health conditions can access services before conditions escalate and require higher-level care 
• Supporting the resilience of children and youth by mitigating the adverse effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) (adverse effects could include brain development, emotional health, and behavioral health, among other conditions) 
• Reducing both stigma and crises

REVIEW COMMITTEE MEETING ON AUGUST 21

• Link to August 21, 2023 Zoom Recording
• Review Committee scores (Excel download)

INFORMATION SESSION RECORDING

• Link to June 21, 2023 Zoom Recording
• Information Session slideshow

FRIDAY OFFICE HOURS (completed)

• June 30 office hours recording
• July 7 office hours recording
• July 14 office hours recording
• July 21 office hours recording (final recording)

• Office Hours Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/91881032468
  Meeting ID: 918 8103 2468
• ECT staff will host four “RFP open office hours” sessions.
• These will take place via Zoom on the following Fridays at 12 pm: June 30, July 7, July 14 and July 21.
• Anyone interested in the RFP and in submitting a Proposal may drop in at any time to ask questions.
• Attendance at the office hours is strongly encouraged. We ask that you watch the June 21 Information Session before attending office hours.
• Preliminary answers will be provided orally for questions asked during office hours. Final, definitive answers will be posted in writing in the Q&A for this RFP (see next section) for the benefit of all to see.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

• The Q&A page is HERE and will be updated daily through July 22.
• Please direct all questions concerning this RFP to the project lead, Dr. Kimberly Krupa, at info@EscambiaChildrensTrust.org. 
• All questions will become part of the public record.

INSTRUCTIONS TO APPLY

• **Please note: We encourage proposal submissions after the Question & Answer period ends and final answers are posted. Consider delaying submission of your final application in order to take advantage of the opportunity to learn from other applicants’ questions as well as ECT’s formal responses. In previous solicitations, we have received 50-100 unique questions!
• Application instructions: The entire application process is online. Click HERE to view the detailed, step-by-step application instructions.
• Application login page: Click HERE to login to the online application portal through SAMIS (ECT’s Services Activities and Management Information System).
• Full solictiation – Word: The entire RFP can be downloaded and viewed in a Word file HERE.
• Full solicitation – PDF: You can view the PDF file HERE.
• Scoring criteria: The scoring criteria can be viewed HERE.

IMPORTANT RFP DEADLINES