Florida ECCS Health Integration Prenatal to Three Program Request for Proposal

2021-2022

Proposal Deadline: October 26, 2021

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FLORIDA EARLY CHILDHOOD COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEMS (ECCS) HEALTH INTEGRATION PRENATAL TO THREE PROGRAM

The Florida Association of Healthy Start Coalitions, Inc. (FAHSC) is requesting proposals to support the Florida Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems(ECCS): Health Integration Prenatal-to-Three Program.  The purpose of this program is to build integrated maternal and early childhood systems of care that are equitable, sustainable, comprehensive, and inclusive of the health system, and that promote early developmental health and family well-being and increase family-centered access to care and engagement of the prenatal-to-3-year-old (P–3) population.  A maternal and early childhood system of care brings together health, early care and education, child welfare, and other human services and family support program partners—as well as community leaders, families, and other stakeholders—to achieve agreed-upon goals for thriving children and families.  The P–3 period is a particularly critical period of early child development and parent-driven change.  The ECCS program will advance intergenerational health equity and expand state capacity to reach and engage families during this critical period.

The goals for the ECCS program are to:

1. Increase state-level infrastructure and capacity to develop and/or strengthen statewide maternal and early childhood systems of care;
2. Increase coordination and alignment between maternal and child health (MCH) and other statewide systems that impact young children and families to advance a common vision for early developmental health and family well-being;
3. Increase the capacity of health systems to deliver and effectively connect families to a continuum of services that promote early developmental health and family well-being, beginning prenatally;
4. Identify and implement policy and financing strategies that support the funding and sustainability of multigenerational, preventive services and systems for the P–3 population; and
5. Increase state-level capacity to advance equitable and improved access to services for underserved P–3 populations.

ECCS goals and objectives aim to increase statewide access to integrated, effective, culturally appropriate, evidence-based early developmental health and family well-being promotion, prevention, and early intervention practices and services during the prenatal and early childhood period.  Earlier family engagement in high-quality comprehensive services supports long-term family protective factors, reductions in risks to health and development, and improvements in indicators of health and well-being.

The Need

Many families experience significant adversity during the P–3 period or experience significant challenges in providing the safe, nurturing, and engaging environments that young children need to thrive—this contributes to widening disparities and inequities in childhood development, school readiness and achievement, and lifelong health.  While multigenerational approaches focused on prevention and coordinated services have proven to be effective, existing infrastructure has often been fragmented or lacking the leadership and coordination capacity necessary to reach families equitably and early.  Systems leadership, improvement, and coordination capacity are necessary to achieve population level improvements in early developmental health and family well-being. However, these efforts are time-intensive and often not sufficiently funded.  ECCS provides funding to strengthen critical systems capacity.

The Florida Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS): Health Integration Prenatal-to-Three Program will align with HRSA MCHB’s Accelerating Upstream Together strategic agenda, with actions that focus on the following approaches to achieving program goals and objectives.

1. Accelerate Progress and Impact by focusing on health systems integration into early childhood systems, equity, policy and financing strategies, and scaling of family-centered, multigenerational interventions and supports.
2. Move Upstream by focusing on the P–3 period, and shifting state systems towards universal, multigenerational promotion of early developmental and family health and well-being.
3. Brings Systems Together by emphasizing intentional, goal-oriented partnerships, greater coordination among initiatives, and a stronger connection of the health care system to broader early childhood systems.  Family and community leadership and partnership are at the foundation of achieving health equity.

PROPOSALS

FAHSC is seeking a consultant to support implementation of the Florida Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS): Health Integration Prenatal-to-Three Program by performing an assets & gaps analysis and producing an assets & gaps analysis report.

Funding

Up to $20,000

Purpose and Activities

Conduct a comprehensive asset and gap analysis using a multiple-step process.  First, a detailed crosswalk will be completed of existing needs assessments (Title V, PDG, CAPTA, MIECHV) focusing on the P-3 population.  Needs identified as impacting specific racial and ethnic groups will be highlighted to identify opportunities for addressing equity and health disparities.  A cross-sector inventory will be compiled of existing state programs and initiatives serving families during pregnancy and in the first three years postpartum.  Federal and state funding streams, as well as eligibility requirements and related program policies, will be mapped to determine gaps, assets, and opportunities for leveraging and braiding resources.  Parent voice will be reflected in this analysis through methods such as focus groups, interviews, and/or surveys.  The results of the systems assets and gap analysis will form the basis of an expanded state ECCS Action Plan (Objective 3) and development of an early childhood data dashboard for tracking P-3 outcomes across sectors and programs.

Consultant’s needs assessment gap analysis and cross-sector inventory should include the following established programs to include a representative sample.

1. Home visiting programs (with a priority on FL MIECHV-funded sites);
2. Healthy Start Coalitions and federal Healthy Start programs, if available;
3. Early Learning Coalitions;
4. Children’s Services Councils, if available, or other local funders;
5. Early Steps and, if available, other early intervention programs;
6. Maternal and child health care providers (OBs, pediatricians, clinics, FQHCs);
7. Infant mental health providers;
8. Help Me Grow, if available; and,
9. Local childcare providers.

Applicant Requirements

In order for a consultant to be considered for the Florida Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems(ECCS): Health Integration Prenatal-to-Three Program consultant, the consultant must clearly demonstrate the following capacities:

1. An “Accelerating Upstream Approach” which includes by the following:
   1. Experience in collecting, analyzing, and compiling data.
   2. Ability to assess and articulate program implementation in terms of process; identify assets; identify program/services gaps; present these programs/findings to parent groups; adapt/confirm findings to include parent perspective.
   3. A history and knowledge of assessing maternal and infant health, education and home visiting programs, policy, and regulatory issues.
   4. Experience in engaging parents and neighborhood residents as leaders, “owners” and implementers of policy transformation efforts.
   5. Strong organizational and leadership capacity.

• A clear focus on the education, health, and development of children between the ages of 0-3.  Priority will be given to consultants with experience working to address maternal and child health, early childhood education and maternal and child health systems analysis as well as social-emotional development programs serving young children.

• A focus on systems/program policy.  TheECCS Impact Project is not about implementing a new program but enhancing the programs and services that already exist within the early childhood system.  The consultant’s gap analysis work will assess organizational culture, and policies and procedures across organizations to support analysis of barriers to needed services by children and families.

• Adoption of a racial equity lens.  The consultant will demonstrate experience working with the following topics.
  • How organizational culture and policies may impede racial equity efforts.
  • Identifying and addressing racial disparities.
  • Convening forums which include explicit conversations about race and implicit bias.
  • Leading discussions and posing challenging questions.

Use of Grant Funds

Allowable and unallowable expenditures are delineated in Federal Public Laws, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA), and Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).  See also the HRSA Grants Policy Statement.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION

The deadline for submission of proposals is October 26, 2021. All proposals should be submitted electronically in pdf format to Monya Newmyer, MNewmyer@fahsc.org.  Please include “ECCS RFP RESPONSE” in the subject line of your email submission. Email must be sent with read receipt requested.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ZOOM MEETING

A technical assistance Zoom meeting will be held on October 6, 2021 at 10:30am Eastern time to review this proposal and respond to questions.  A Q&A document will be posted on the FAHSC website after the webinar at https://www.HealthyStartFlorida.com/

To join the TA Zoom meeting:

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZItc-igqDkjH9dSAczaKkDEx0sY-jR7prCT

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

TIMELINE SUMMARY

APPLICATION REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS

All submissions will be reviewed and scored by an independent panel of reviewers with expertise in early childhood and place-based initiatives. Review criteria and points are summarized below.

Criteria	Maximum Points
Research, Data Collection and Analysis Experience	15
Program Implementation Analysis Experience	15
Maternal and Early Childhood Programs Knowledge	10
Maternal and Early Childhood Systems Assessment Experience	10
Focus Group Leadership Experience	10
Health and Education Equity Experience	10
	70

The Florida Association of Healthy Start Coalitions reserves the right to reject any and all submissions, and to request changes based on the expert reviewers’ recommendations prior to final selection.

Questions?

Questions submitted in response to FAHSC’s positing of the RFP for the ECCS P-3 Program will be answered on the page below.

View Questions and Answers