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CARING COMMUNITY REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) |
Contract Period: October 1, 2010 - September 30, 2011 |
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| Highland Valley Elder Services (HVES), Inc., a federally designated Area Agency on Aging (AAA), and state designated Aging Services Access Point (ASAP), works in twenty-four communities in Hampshire and Hampden counties. Our mandate as an AAA is to promote a comprehensive and coordinated local service delivery system of resources for elders and their families. Our designation as an ASAP directs us to give elders and their families access to resources for home and community based long term care. Our mission is to assist People Taking Charge of Their Lives and Communities for Quality Long Living. | |
PROCUREMENT |
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| This Caring Community Request for Proposals (RFP) seeks bidders interested in continuing to build “Caring Communities” in pursuit of the above mission and mandates. We are seeking proposals from individuals, Councils on Aging, local governments, civic groups, schools, libraries, human service agencies, faith-based groups, arts organizations, resident/tenant associations, businesses and any other civically engaged entities with whom we can partner to expand the region’s capacity to support citizens of all ages and particularly, elders and family caregivers in Quality Long Living. | |
| The current economic climate has produced challenges for everyone in the human service field. The expected continuation of these challenges for the foreseeable future places enhanced pressure on every available service and assistance offered to those in need. In HVES' role as a AAA, we seek to reflect the needs of our service area and the elders who reside there as post or our ever evolving "area plan: and service menu. | |
| This past Spring, HVES sought input from a wide variety of consumers, partners, collaborators and grantees to help identify service priorities for elders and, in turn, focus decisions on those services that are seen as most impactful by elders themselves. | |
| This effort identified three areas of heightened prioirty for grant funding: Transportation (i.e., Point to Point, non Fixed Route, and Unscheduled), In Home Services (ie.e, Companionship, Homemaking, Light Chore, Shopping), Outreach (ie.e, Newsletters, Websites, Outreach Workers). | |
| Caring Community Build grant applications that seek to address one or more of these priority areas may receive additional consideration. | |
PHILOSOPHY |
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| All care is local. 80% of elder care has traditionally been, and continues to be, delivered by spouses, children, neighbors and relatives. Our formal system delivers the remaining 20%. We seek to commit State and Federal funds and programming resources so that local elders and their families, caring citizens and local communities will discover and sustain their own strengths, talents and solutions to identify and meet elders' needs with the assistance of the formal system. We do this by building a network of Caring Communities. | |
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| Highland Valley’s overarching philosophy of civic engagement is embodied in two key values: “It is not just what we do individually, it is what we all do together that creates Quality Long Living and sustains caring communities.” and, "the agency does its best work as an agent helping people with what they want and what they have to offer." | |
| Emerging from the agency's faith in elders and the people who provide elder care, the idea is to integrate the 'circles of caring" that already exists around elders, inviting people, organizations and businesses to band together as they strike up relationships that make a difference in their lives and communities. | |
| Highland Valley's philosophy to serve as an "agent" for community caring is at the core and offers practical models to help elders and ther families Take Charge of Their Lives for Quality Long Living. | |
| This RFP seeks to further expand activities at the local level and link people who need help to the people and programs available to help them. Highland Valley's philosophy of civic engagement embraces the evolving concept of creating "livable communities". To be truly "livable", a community must recognize and support all of its citizens, including elders. Highland Valley seeks to promote greater access to informal (friends, neighbors, community based agencies, each other) and formal (organizations, businesses, local government, regional planning agencies) resources in elder's own town and to give them tools with which to build and sustain Caring Communities. These communities often already exist in the form of elder residences, public housing, planned communities and naturally occurring retirement communites (NORC). Highland Valley seeks to do this by building, supporting and cultivating local and regional service delivery infrastructures to build and sustain caring capacity over time. | |
| Please see Appendix I to view the Caring Community Handbook. |
What Is A Caring Community? ◆ A Caring Community begins with interested individuals who are connected to each other for mutual help and hospitality. Care works best and is most sustainable when supported on a local level. A Caring Community can result when concerned citizens join together through an infrastructure that encourages participation so as to identify and build upon care that already exists. |
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| Caring Community Builders function on a street, neighborhood, community-wide or regional level and take responsibility to encourage community-based solutions for those in need of services. Caring Community Builders, who cannot meet needs within their own network, can work with builders in the regional network to assist in matching offers to needs. | |
The emphasis of Caring Community Build grants is to foster the design, development and implementation of program initiatives that engage elders, their families and caregivers with individuals and organizations from the community in building sustainable services, supports and infrastructures to encourage Quality Long Living as envisioned by elders and caregivers themselves. |
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| Caring Community Build grants should promote daily activity, social engagement and participation in community life within the structure of their living setting with the long term objective of sustainable engagement, interaction and infrastructure. Multi-generational programs, support groups, trainings, seminars and other organizing activities that encourage community residents of any age to engage in Building Caring Communities while promoting the diversity and richness within the reality of each community are encouraged. |
| Highland Valley welcomes applications that foster access and awareness, especially of those who may be under-served and/or face particular barriers. This includes people caring for others such as those facing dementia, families of long term care facility residents, children caring for parents, spouses supporting each other, grandparents caring for grandchildren, recent immigrants, non-English speakers, LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender), rural, and low income elders. |
All applicants should regard these federal funds as "ome time" monies to expand Caring Community capacities and not as funding for continuing formal programming. A designation for funding is not in any way a commitment beyond the term of the fiscal year and/or the terms of the grant. |
How does Highland Valley Partner with Caring Community Builders? |
| Highland Valley provides ongoing monitoring and assistance to support the success of its partners in this Caring Community initiative by: |
| 1. Working directly with Caring Community Builders to implement, support and sustain elder directed Caring Community Council infrastructures. |
| 2. Providing outreach, marketing and online collaboration and clearinghouse tools to promote the community development work for the growing network of Caring Community Builders. |
| 3. Delivering Home Care Resources to the individuals in the communities of our Caring Community Builders. Such resources include in-home assessments, advice and counsel, resource and referral information, purchased services, and consultations to elders, their families and employers. |
| 4. Partnering with Caring Community Builders to match individualized care needs of referred citizens with the combined resources of Highland Valley and member Caring Communities to increase capacity for citizens to age in place. |
CRITERIA FOR SELECTION |
| Funds will be awarded on a competitive basis taking into consideration the overall quality of the application and initiative in addressing needs of elders and their families. |
| A Community Advisory Council provides input on the priorities and applications to be funded. The following criteria will be used to evaluate the applications. |
Criteria |
Weight |
| 1. Does the proposal address one of the priority funding areas? (Transportation, In Home Supports, Outreach) | 10 |
| 2. Does the proposal promote an initiative(s) that involves elders, their families and/or caregivers as active participants resulting in enhanced engagement, capacity and opportunities to age in place? | 30 |
| 3. How effectively does the proposal include the core caring community activities of identifying & matching wants and offers as well as cultivating sustainable infrastructure for such activity? | 30 |
| 4. How effective is the applicant at developing resources to support and sustain the initiative? | 10 |
| 5. To what extent does the proposal contain attainable and measurable outcomes? | 10 |
| 6. To what extent does the applicant's plan reach out to under-served portions of the population, including elders at risk of losing or maintaining their independence, low-income, minority, non-English speaking, rural, persons with low to moderate incomes, including Highland Valley program eligible participants, or other traditionally under-served elders and persons with social needs within requirements of Federal Older Americans Act Title III funding? | 10 |
All Council on Aging applicants must also apply for their Formula Grant from the Executive Office of Elder Affairs in order to be considered for funding. |
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS |
Contract Period: October 1, 2010 - September 30, 2011 |
| 1. Highland Valley's 24 town service area includes: Amherst, Blandford, Chester, Chesterfield, Cummington, Easthampton, Goshen, Granville, Hadley, Hatfield, Huntington, Middlefield, Montgomery, Northampton, Pelham, Plainfield, Russell, Southampton, Southwick, Tolland, Westfield, Westhampton, Williamsburg, and Worthington. |
Activities proposed by applicants must cover one or more of the above communities. |
| 2. Proposals are being sought on a competitive basis for the 12 month period beginning October 1, 2010 and ending September 30, 2011. All grants will be subject to the availability of funds. Grants to individual applicants are limited to $2,000 unless a fiscal agent is part of the application. |
Applications for October 1, 2010 start-ups are due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, July 23, 2010. |
Informational meetings will be held to review the RFP with interested applicants on |
Applicants and/or their representatives are encouraged to attend an information session. Additional technical assistance will also be provided upon request. |
RSVP to jlutz@highlandvalley.org or 413-586-2000 x164 |
| 3. This RFP anticipates the availability of approximately $130,000 Fiscal Year 2011 Federal Older Americans Act Title III-B Supportive Service funding (a portion of this amount must be allocated by federal formula), $8,600 for Title III-D Health Promotion, negotiated amounts for Title III-C Nutrition and approximately $70,000 through the Massachusetts National Family Caregiver Program. A portion of funds will be reserved to allow applications for activity to be accepted at any time during the Fiscal Year 2011 period, until all funds have been awarded. The minimum cash or in-kind contribution is 25%. Grants and contracts will be selected within the criteria stated in this RFP. Since funding is limited, partial funding may be negotiated and awarded. |
| 4. Title III funds are intended to benefit persons age 60 and over. Participation is open to all age groups, as long as the primary benefit is derived by persons age 60 and over. Applicants should seek to give preference to elders in greatest social and economic need including low income, rural and minority elders. |
| 5. Applicants may request funding for more than one program. However, each application can be for one program only. Separate applications must be submitted for each portion of program funding requested. This includes agencies requesting funding for operation of home delivered and congregate meal programs. |
| 6. Caring Community Build proposals which involve congregate and/or home delivered meals will have rates set by negotiation. See Appendix II for expectations regarding the operation and governance of home delivered meals and dining sites. |
| 7. Each grantee must give participants in Title III funded programs an opportunity to contribute voluntarily to the cost of the activities. The charging of a fee is prohibited. Contributions must remain confidential. However, no person may be denied involvement if he or she chooses not to contribute. Contributions are used to expand the services of programs being funded under this procurement. All contributions received must be reported and returned to HVES unless specifically exempted. |
| 8. If an activity requires participants to come to a site, the site must be handicapped accessible. |
| 9. Only online applications will be accepted. Please click here to access the application and budget forms to file your application electronically. Technical assistance is available. Click here for instructions. Please contact John Lutz, 413-586-2000, x138 or jlutz@highlandvalley.org if you have further questions. |
| 10. HVES will monitor all grants that are awarded as required by the federal and state government to ensure that the services are proceeding as planned and are effective. |
| 11. Applicants will be notified about the outcome of their application the week of September 20, 2010. |
| 12. All applicants must notify HVES via emailto jlutz@highlandvalley.org when they have submitted their application. A confirmation email will then be sent to verify that the application has been received by HVES. |