The Escambia Children’s Trust yesterday published a draft Request for Proposals (RFP) and launched a public comment portal that will allow feedback on the draft.
“May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and this week is Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week,” said Tammy Greer, ECT executive director. “There is no better time than now to release this new RFP to the community, and get input from parents, families, providers, community leaders, and those struggling to find the help they need, so that we can make the final document the best it can be.”
The draft RFP, entitled “Community-Led and Community-Operated Mental Health Supports for Children and Families,” is open for public feedback through May 31. All comments submitted via the online portal will become part of the public record and will be used to refine the final RFP before it is released to proposers in June 2023.
The draft does incorporate the Pockets of Poverty maps developed by the UWF Haas Center and does target the 32501 and 32505 zip codes and the Century area.
What does “Community-led” mean? The RFP explains:
Community-Led/Community-Operated: An approach that: is accountable to the vision and priorities set by a community; puts the people most affected by the work in the lead; ensures diverse representation in planning and decision-making; mobilizes the community’s own resources; and uses feedback to improve. (Sources: GlobalGiving; you can find the Community-Led checklist here)
The landing page for the draft RFP and public comment portal is available here: https://escambiachildrenstrust.org/rfp-2023-01-childrens-mental-health-rfp/.