Open Solicitation for Community Justice Co-Creation Initiative

Release date: September 18th, 2023

Purpose and Goal

Montgomery County is dedicated to advancing community-led planning in collaboration with local government. This shift aims to empower frontline community members to identify fundamental issues and develop comprehensive solutions to promote racial equity, health, high quality of life, and inclusive climate resilience.  Utilizing as their guiding framework the Spectrum of Community Engagement to Ownership developed by Facilitating Power, the Montgomery County government and the Montgomery County Collaboration Council are organizing a space for the community to create new norms, attitudes, practices, and processes so that impacted communities are adequately supported and positioned to co-define the problems affecting them and co-design solutions for long-term viability. 

Initiative Name

Community Justice Co-Creation Initiative

Program Description

The Community Justice Co-Creation Initiative presents an opportunity for community-driven empowerment toward practical solutions. Its vision is to establish an anti-racist, climate-resilient region where every individual not only survives, but thrives.

This transformative journey necessitates collaboration, experimentation, resource sharing, vulnerability, and trust. The County Government, the Collaboration Council, and community organizations and members have jointly endeavored to co-create a sustainable community infrastructure for climate resilience and community justice. This initiative will involve community leaders collaborating with their communities to conceive and co-create comprehensive health, equity, and high-quality life solutions, contributing to a resilient, climate-ready region for all.

Timeline

Community-based organizations and community leaders will receive compensation for their expertise as co-creators and co-learners of the process. This commitment extends throughout the fiscal year until June 2024, with a flexible timeline guided by the pace of trust-building.

Compensation

Compensation will vary according to the level of responsibility and time commitment of each partner. We will compensate organizations at a minimum of $50/hour. This project will require an investment of at least 6 hours/month from the organization. Still, the final details of the CBO's scope of work, including the anticipated level of effort, will be developed in partnership with the Montgomery County government and the Collaboration Council. Regardless of the level, Community-Based Organization (CBO) co-creators will act as a bridge to represent frontline community members and encourage their active leadership in this transformative work.  

Contractor Competencies

Core team members are pivotal in co-creating and designing the Community Justice Initiative. They should:

• represent grassroots, base-building entities working within historically and/or currently marginalized communities
• be able to mobilize and engage their communities in addressing the climate crisis facing frontline communities. 
• have a strong orientation towards co-learning and popular education
• have a willingness to collaborate with local government
• have a deep awareness of the climate crisis and its connections to lived experiences, as well as profound empathy and an ability to identify root cause

Review Process

Submissions will undergo review by DEP staff, the Collaboration Council, and community partners. Co-creators will be selected based on their alignment with the initiative's goals and principles.

Deadline

Submissions will be reviewed, and co-creators will be selected on a rolling basis.

The Collaboration Council seeks Letters of Interest from organizations and qualified individuals to serve as a pre-approved pool of potential out-of-school time vendors to serve middle school students at a particular school or schools within the Excel Beyond the Bell Middle School out-of-school time system. Vendors are strongly encouraged to consider operating at more than one location. Qualified applicants will be selected for the Open Solicitation Vendor List and remain on the list for a period of three years. Selection for the Open Solicitation Vendor List is not a commitment by the Collaboration Council to contract with each vendor for these services. The Open Solicitation process allows the Collaboration Council the flexibility to secure specific services on a short-term or continuing basis from vendors who meet pre-established requirements.

Mission & Purpose 

EBB’s Mission is to provide quality afterschool opportunities while allowing sufficient time for youth to explore new interests and build relationships leading to a sense of belonging. Excel Beyond the Bell enables middle school students to succeed and thrive by providing high quality, coordinated out-of-school time programs that promote positive social development. 

EBB’s purpose is to provide opportunities to middle school youth for exposure and engagement to a variety of experiences in a safe and supportive environment so that every student will have the social and emotional skills to be successful. 

EBB Youth Focused Outcomes: The EBB partnership collective has identified the following five outcomes our program will lead youth people to through the activities facilitated by our contracted providers.

• Safety: Participant feels safe at home, at school/in program, and in his or her neighborhood
• Constructive Use of Time - Youth Programs: Participants participate two or more times per week in cocurricular school activities or structure community programs for children
• Positive Identity - Personal Power: Participant feel he or she has some influence over things that happen in her or his life.
• Boundaries and Expectations - Adult Role Models: Parent(s) and other adults in the participants family, as well as, non-family adults, model positive, responsible behavior.
• Support: Caring School/Program Climate - Relationships with teachers/program staff and peers provide a caring, encouraging environment.

Programming Timeline: 

Open Solicitation for Participation: Ongoing

EBB Programming is provided across various MCPS middle school campuses during the school year. Programming is not provided during Spring, Winter or Summer Breaks. The programming year is split into two sessions - Session 1 (Fall) and Session 2 (Spring) and contracts are administered per session.

The following criteria will be considered in determining eligibility for a contract award and award amount:

1. Demonstrated and authentic connections to the proposed target community for programming

2. Program approaches and models rooted in Positive Youth Development and effective community engagement principles

3. Number of youth/families to be served,

4. Level of services, e.g., frequency, duration, and length of session,

5. Program focus and scope,

6. Geographic location of the program

7. Reasonableness of budget/cost items

8. Programming needs of EBB campuses and;

9. Alignment with the EBB Youth Focused Outcomes

Eligible Providers can be: 

• Nonprofit organizations with certification of their 501c3 status  
• Individual proprietors with a license to do business in the state of MD (information about registering as a small business may be found at: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dgs-lbp/home.html/index.html 
• For-profit organizations 

Contracted Provider Expectations:

During an active contracting year in EBB, providers are required to: 

• Demonstrate and use a positive youth development approach 
• Participate in free training, networking and coaching provided through the Collaboration Council
• Maintain a 1:10 staff to student ratio and accept up to 25 participants in each class.
• Prioritize consistent and intentional professional development and supervision of all program staff
• Assist in participant recruitment at each school location through active involvement in school events
• Submit timely monthly fiscal reports and invoices 
• Identify and utilize strategies to include and meet the needs of all young people, including those who are newcomers, English language learners and youth with special needs.
• Deliver one or more out-of-school time programs that focus on one or more of the following areas: 

  STEM - Mentoring  - Language and Culture - Cooking and Nutrition - Workplace and Career Exploration - Creative and Performing Arts - Leadership and Civic Engagement - Fitness and Physical Activity - Other
 

To learn more about the history and background of EBB, please visit: www.excelbeyondthebell.org