THE DEADLINE TO RESPOND TO THIS RFP HAS BEEN EXTENDED!  RFP responses are now due by 5pm on Friday, May 20th, 2022

Request for Proposals: Community Engagement and Research Services

Background and Purpose

Established in 1994, the Chatham County Partnership for Children (CCPC) is a public, private
non- profit organization, which administers Smart Start funds and services for children ages birth
through five and their families in Chatham County, North Carolina. Smart Start is North
Carolina’s statewide, award-winning early childhood initiative. Effective January 1, 2016, Chatham
County Partnership for Children merged with the former nonprofit, Child Care Networks, and
now serves as the lead Resource and Referral Agency for Region 13 (a 5-county region including
Chatham, Lee, Harnett, Johnston, and Wayne Counties). CCPC also serves as the contractor for
the NC Pre- Kindergarten Program in Chatham County and is a Sponsoring Organization with
the Child Care and Adult Food Program (CACFP) supporting child care facilities in 12 NC
counties.

The mission of CCPC is to work with our community partners and families to ensure that all
children enter school healthy and ready to succeed. Governed by a 16-member Board of
Directors, the Partnership primarily focuses its services on children birth to age 5 (kindergarten
entry) who live in Chatham County.

Chatham County Partnership for Children desires to study and better understand the attitudes,
perspectives, and barriers to accessing early childhood education in Chatham County. To that
end, the Partnership has undertaken to conduct a multi-faceted Comprehensive Community
Assessment to identify the key challenges, opportunities, and barriers facing families, caregivers,
and teachers of children ages birth to 5 years. The end goal will be to create a comprehensive,
data informed Early Childhood Action Plan (ECAP) and long-term financing model for
investment in early childhood education and services for children birth to kindergarten in
Chatham County. The framework for the ECAP will follow the recently adopted NC Early
Childhood Action Plan.

Our vision is to better inform policy leaders and their decisions the structure of and investments
in the early childhood service support system. We desire a process which elevates the
perspectives of parents and caregivers of young children ages birth to 5 years, before the age of
Kindergarten. We also value the input and perspectives of the direct services providers serving
families with young children.

The purpose of this RFP is to engage a specialized consultant to conduct community
engagement process that explores and documents current needs, perspectives and visions for
childcare and child wellness in Chatham County, while also fostering community dialog. We
expect this process to be inclusive of a diverse cross section of key constituents including
families, caregivers, and early educators of children age birth to 5 years (kindergarten age).
We are seeking a research-based approach to community engagement and visioning that utilizes
interviews, documentary film, quantitative analysis and a structured public input process.

 

Compensation

The Chatham County Partnership for Children will compensate the organization or individual on
an agreed upon schedule throughout the contract period.

for the work is expected to be in the range of $25,000 to $50,000.

 

Responding to the RFP

Proposed Timeline for the process: April 2022-December 2022
(See attached detailed timeline)

 

Individuals/organizations responding to the RFP should provide the following:

1) Describe your background and qualifications to complete the work.

  • Knowledge, expertise, and experience in the design and execution of
    comprehensive community needs assessments and strategic plans
  • Expertise and experience integrating qualitative and quantitative data from data from
    public sources and local stakeholders

2) PROPOSED SERVICES
Provide a detailed description of your proposed process and key deliverables as well as
limits on expectations for your services. Please also answer these questions: How will you
approach the work? What makes your approach uniquely suited for our purposes? What
do you require from the Partnership for Children and study participants?
Please be sure to address:

  • Your process for working with clients and partners to create engagement and
    support for the assessment process
  • Your approach to identify data sources and developing data presentation
  • Your plans for providing support and technical assistance to the Partnership
    throughout their process

3) Cost Proposal
Please ensure that your cost proposal identifies key deliverables and a payment schedule.
An initial payment/advance may be requested as part of the payment schedule.

THE DEADLINE TO RESPOND TO THIS RFP HAS BEEN EXTENDED!  RFP responses are now due by 5pm on Friday, May 20th, 2022 and are to be submitted electronically only to:
Elizabeth Anderson, Program Director
elizabeth@chathamkids.org

Questions and inquiries may be submitted between March 8 and March 25, 2022 ,
to Genevieve Megginson, Executive Director, genevieve@chathamkids.org (email preferred),
or at(919) 542-7449, ext. 124