Submit to Youth & Young Adults Reporting
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Submit to ENOUGH Initiative Vendors for Capacity Building Training Series

Montgomery County Collaboration Council (MCCC)
    Through state statute, the State of Maryland requires the creation of a Local Management Board (LMB) in each jurisdiction to coordinate the planning and delivery of State-funded services to children, youth, and families. The Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families, Inc. (MCCC) is designated by the Montgomery County Council to be the Local Management Board for Montgomery County, Maryland. Thus, MCCC functions as a quasi-public nonprofit organization, with a 21-member Board of Directors appointed by the County Executive and confirmed by the County Council. Additional information about MCCC can be found at www.collaborationcouncil.org. 

As the County’s LMB, MCCC plays a significant role in convening local government agencies, community-based organizations, and community members to work in collaboration to promote the well-being of communities. Guided by its Integrity Framework, a major priority for MCCC is to ensure that community members most impacted by racial disparities and related barriers are included in identifying challenges and developing comprehensive solutions. Given the important intermediary role we play between the County government, community-based organizations, and grassroots communities, our long-term goal is to catalyze transformative, community-centered systems change both within our own organization, and across multiple County government agencies - many of whom serve on our Board of Directors. 


Engaging Neighborhoods, Organizations, Unions, Governments, and Households Initiative (ENOUGH)
     The ENOUGH initiative focuses on communities that have been disproportionately impacted by decades of disinvestment and harmful public policies that often systematized and reinforced race-based discrimination, limited wealth creation, and blocked pathways to economic mobility. The initiative is a state-led, place-based strategy to create poverty fighting opportunities driven by communities' lived experience and expertise, data and cross-sector partnerships.  

Open Solicitation
     The Collaboration Council, which serves as the Local Management Board (LMB) in Montgomery County, will leverage its local infrastructure, partnerships, and expertise to build the capacity of high poverty communities and community-based organizations to work in partnership to design and implement strategies that increase economic mobility and reduce child poverty in support of the ENOUGH Initiative. The Collaboration Council is seeking proposals from qualified individuals and organizations to design and deliver a series of in-person capacity-building training sessions for community members and organizations.   
 

Applicants must be able to develop and deliver a progressive training series focused on skills building on the topic of Equitable Partnership Development. Trainings should cover specific themes and skills detailed below: 

  • Understanding the Value of Partnerships - Training focus: Where you fit and who else is present and active in your community ecosystem; Your value and contribution to your community; Barriers and facilitators of equitable partnerships; Communicating effectively for strong collaborations 
  • Co-creating Trust-Based Partnerships - Training focus: Consensus and shared values for success; Conflict management; Sharing space and power with partners with varying levels of resources 
  • Implementing Equitable Partnerships - Training focus: How to screen prospective partners; How to formalize partnerships (engaging in Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) and contract conversations); How to manage the relationship, move the work forward, and evaluate the impact 

The training curriculum will be informed by a work group comprised of MCCC staff, community partners, and select government officials. The training series should strengthen participant skills and capacity to initiate, lead, and participate in collaborative, cross-sector partnerships, and grant opportunities focused on nurturing children, healthy, economically secure families, and/or safe and thriving communities. 

Participants completing the cohort-based Equitable Partnership Development training should leave with practical knowledge, accessible resources, and culturally appropriate tools to be able to inform sustainable changes internally within their organizations/spaces of influence and advance positive changes externally in the communities where they organize, work, deliver/receive services, and build relationships. 

The Governor’s Office for Children funded this project under award number LMBC-2025-0016.

Final decisions are expected to be made in May.

Please submit any questions about this opportunity via email to procurement@collaborationcouncil.org by Wednesday, April 16, 2025 at 5pm EST. All questions received and responses will be posted online here by 5 pm on Monday, April 21, 2025.
 

Terms of Use

Budget 

The budget for proposals should incorporate training design, including coordinating input with cross-sector work group members, preparation, training delivery, with practicum component, and evaluation. The timeframe for training delivery is between June-September 2025. Given the aggressive timeline and expectations for this effort, we recognize that some adjustments may be needed.  The total budget range for this work is $20,000-$30,000. 

Vendor List 

Qualified applicants will be selected for the Open Solicitation Vendor List and remain on the list for a two-year period. 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. 

Eligibility Requirements 

Eligible applicants can be a nonprofit organization, for-profit corporation, or sole proprietorship, though they are required to be community-oriented with roots in the DC metropolitan area and a history of providing services and programming that improve community well-being. Eligible applicants must also show proof of good standing (i.e. in Maryland, good standing status is found on the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation website). Qualified applicants should meet the following: 

Minimum Qualifications 

  • Understanding of capacity, power, access and resource realities that disproportionately burden under-resourced, frontline and BIPOC community members and community-based organizations. 
  • Demonstrable experience designing and delivering a time-bound, cohort-based training curriculum that allows participants to practice skills and obtain ‘real-time’ feedback. 
  • Background and experience in curriculum design and facilitation for grassroots community members and organizations using a popular education approach. 
  • The ability to effectively work with a group comprised of MCCC staff representatives, community partners, and select government officials, to inform and refine the training curriculum, including coordinating and facilitating work group meetings and the overall design process. 
  • Knowledge and understanding of Montgomery County, Maryland -- applicants must have demonstrable experience doing similar work in the County and/or D.C. metropolitan area. 

Preferred Criteria 

  • Experience facilitating conversations and skill-building across power divides. 
  • Familiarity with or understanding of equitable community engagement, associated best practices, and promising models from other jurisdictions. 

You can view the questions and answers related to this opportunity in the attached PDF.

ENOUGH-Capacity-Building-Vendors-QA.pdf

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Submit to ENOUGH Initiative Capacity Building Grant Application

Montgomery County Collaboration Council (MCCC) 

Through state statute, the State of Maryland requires the creation of a Local Management Board (LMB) in each jurisdiction to coordinate the planning and delivery of State-funded services to children, youth, and families. The Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families, Inc. (MCCC) is designated by the Montgomery County Council to be the Local Management Board for Montgomery County, Maryland. Thus, MCCC functions as a quasi-public nonprofit organization, with a 21-member Board of Directors appointed by the County Executive and confirmed by the County Council. Additional information about MCCC can be found at www.collaborationcouncil.org. 

As the County’s LMB, MCCC plays a significant role in convening local government agencies, community-based organizations, and community members to work in collaboration to promote the well-being of communities. Guided by its Integrity Framework, a major priority for MCCC is to ensure that community members most impacted by racial disparities and related barriers are included in identifying challenges and developing comprehensive solutions. Given the important intermediary role we play between the County government, community-based organizations, and grassroots communities, our long-term goal is to catalyze transformative, community-centered systems change both within our own organization, and across multiple County government agencies - many of whom serve on our board of directors. 

Engaging Neighborhoods, Organizations, Unions, Governments, and Households Initiative (ENOUGH) 

The ENOUGH initiative focuses on communities that have been disproportionately impacted by decades of disinvestment and harmful public policies that often systematized and reinforced race-based discrimination, limited wealth creation, and blocked pathways to economic mobility. The initiative is a state-led, place-based strategy to create poverty fighting opportunities driven by communities' lived experience and expertise, data and cross-sector partnerships.  

Capacity Building Grant Application 

The Collaboration Council, which serves as the Local Management Board (LMB) in Montgomery County, will leverage its local infrastructure, partnerships, and expertise to build the capacity of high poverty communities and community-based organizations to work in partnership to design and implement strategies that increase economic mobility and reduce child poverty in support of the ENOUGH Initiative.   

The Collaboration Council is seeking applications from community organizations based in neighborhoods around Montgomery County, MD that have a childhood poverty rate of 20% or more and have faced historic underinvestment in the areas of education, health, workforce, housing, and community safety for a capacity building grant opportunity. The goal of this opportunity is to support community organizations in focus neighborhoods with capacity building funding to strengthen their place-based partnerships, particularly with nonprofits, government agencies, local schools, and impacted community members. There is the possibility of up to 7 total awards at $25,000 each under this grant opportunity. 

Successful applicants will also participate in a training cohort to strengthen their skills and capacity to initiate, lead, and participate in collaborative, cross-sector partnerships that also involve and include community members. Further, the training is expected to support participants in their pursuit of funding and related opportunities focused on nurturing children, healthy, economically secure families, and safe and thriving communities. Participants completing the training should leave with practical knowledge, accessible resources, and culturally appropriate tools to be able to inform sustainable changes internally within their organizations/spaces of influence and advance positive changes externally in the communities where they organize, work, deliver/receive services, and build relationships. 

The Governor’s Office for Children funded this project under award number LMBC-2025-0016.

Decisions are expected to be made in May.

Please submit any questions about this opportunity via email to procurement@collaborationcouncil.org by Wednesday, April 16, 2025 at 5pm EST. All questions received and responses will be posted online here by 5 pm on Monday, April 21, 2025. 


Terms of Use

Successful applicants are expected to: 

  • Participate in a capacity building training cohort for the duration of the grant period, June-Sept 2025, by attending all course offerings; and 
  • Demonstrate, using grant funds, a steadfast commitment to valuing the expertise of community members directly involved in/affected by your organization’s work. *For example, MCCC’s current practice is to pay community members a stipend of $50/hour for their contributions to our efforts. 

You can view the questions and answers related to this opportunity in the attached PDF.

ENOUGH-Capacity-Building-Applications-QA.pdf

Submit to Excel Beyond the Bell Program Open Solicitation

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: 

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

Montgomery County Collaboration Council