1 Create a ZoomGrants™ account (below) or log in to your existing account (above) 2 Select a Program to apply for, then click the Apply button to get started 3 Answer the questions and/or fill in the fields in each tab 4 If necessary, upload any requested documents 5 Submit your application and wait for a decision 6 If you are selected to receive funding, you might be required to submit invoices or reports through your application
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INTRODUCTION: The King County Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) is pleased to release this Request for Proposal for Housing Counseling and Foreclosure Prevention with funding from the Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy (VSHSL) and guidance from the VSHSL Implementation Plan. Due to myriad of reasons ranging from legal to financial, inability to navigate resources and more, struggling homeowners in King County may be uncomfortably close to foreclosure and potential homelessness. This RFP seeks community-based organizations to provide services that assists in preventing housing loss among veterans, seniors and vulnerable populations. This may include, but is not limited to, financial and legal counseling with an emphasis on housing counseling and education, resource referral and navigation, and outreach and education that leads to foreclosure prevention or mitigating housing loss.
AVAILABLE FUNDING: Up to $1,234,000 in Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy funds
INVESTMENT PERIOD: January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2023 (subject to change)
BIDDERS CONFERENCE: Thursday, Sep 19, 2019, 9:30 - 10:30 AM. King County Chinook Bldg, Room #514, 401 5th Ave, Seattle, WA 98104 https://meet.kingcounty.gov/anne.masters/PV29SLTJ Join by phone: 206-263-8114, Conference ID: 1313573 The meeting room is wheelchair-accessible. If you need any other accommodations to participate in the Bidders Conference, please contact Anne Masters by Monday, Sep 16, 2019.
QUESTIONS: Submit questions through the Contact Admin tab. Final day to submit questions is October 16, 2019 at 5:00 PM.
PROPOSALS DUE: Proposals must be submitted through ZoomGrants no later than 11:59 p.m. on October 23, 2019.
NOTIFICATION OF AWARD DECISIONS: December 2019
ANTICIPATED CONTRACT START DATE (subject to change): January 1, 2020
The dates listed above are subject to change. The full RFP and associated attachments are available for download under the Library tab. Applicants are advised to review these documents in their entirety for guidance on the purpose, requested program models, application questions and deadlines. Applicants are responsible for regularly checking ZoomGrants for any updates, clarifications, or amendments that may be uploaded.
This request is open to nonprofit organizations, community-based organizations, tribes and tribal organizations and public or governmental agencies serving communities in King County. Small nonprofits and community-based organizations are encouraged to submit proposals. Respondents may apply as a single applicant or consortium of service providers.
DCHS expects to award multiple contracts as a result of this RFP, so that, combined, awarded contractors will provide all of the service areas outlined in Section II.C.1., STRATEGY: The Request: Scope of Work of the RFP.
Applicants must demonstrate sufficient expertise, experience and ability to provide the service for which they are applying.
If applying to provide housing counseling services, applicants must demonstrate expertise in financial counseling related to homeownership and foreclosure.
If applying to provide legal counseling/aid services, applicants must have licensed staff admitted to the practice of law in the State of Washington and specializing in foreclosures, in either direct or supervisory capacity to provide necessary legal advice, dispute resolution, benefits advocacy, etc.
Please submit your proposal via ZoomGrants. Complete proposals must include the following:
Responses to Summary Questions (see Attachment A in the Library for reference. Please complete responses in the Summary Questions tabs of ZoomGrants.)
Responses to Narrative Questions (See Attachment B in the Library for reference. Please complete responses in the Narrative Questions tab of ZoomGrants)
Completed and uploaded Budget (See Attachment C in the Library for budget template. Please upload the completed budget document in the Required Documents tab.)
Completed Organizational Equity Chart (See chart embedded in Attachment B for reference. Please complete the Organizational Equity Chart tab.)
By entering your initials here you certify this submission truthfully and accurately represents your application and is hereby submitted for review. Submission of this application does not, in any way, guarantee that your application will yield a favorable result.
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The following questions help King County’s Department of Community and Human Services understand the characteristics of organizations that are applying for this RFP. These questions will not be used in the RFP scoring.
Application Title/Project Name
Amount Requested Please list the entire amount you are requesting over the 48 month award period.
Applicant Information
First Name
Last Name
Telephone
Email
Address 1
Address 2
City
State/Province
ZIP+4/Postal Code
Country
Organization Information
(changes to this data will be reflected on all other applications for this organization)
Create an Organization
Summary Questions Part 2 (Not Scored)
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The following questions help King County’s Department of Community and Human Services understand the characteristics of organizations that are applying for this RFP. These questions will not be used in the RFP scoring.
1. In which Council District(s) do you propose to deliver services? Check all that apply. Follow this link to view a map of King County Council Districts or search by address: https://www.kingcounty.gov/council/councilmembers/find_district.aspx
2. Please list the city and zip code of where your organization’s headquarters is located.
3. Which of the focus VSHSL populations do you propose to serve? Check all that apply.
4. Please list all cities and zip codes for any proposed service locations, such as satellite offices, schools, community centers etc. (For outreach services, please submit the core locations of service intent by zip code.)
5. How would these funds support your organization? Check all that apply.
6. If you answered 'Other" to Question 5, please briefly explain.
Organizational Size The following questions will help us determine if you are eligible for technical assistance or capacity building funds. These questions will not be used in the RFP scoring.
7. What was your organization's annual operating budget the past fiscal year? If you are a satellite office of a larger organization, please provide the budget for your stand-alone, fiscally-separate entity.
8. How many full-time equivalents (FTE) does your organization employ? Please calculate FTE by converting hours worked by part-time employees into full-time equivalent hours (e.g., two employees working 20 hours per week equals one FTE).
Capacity Building Funds Technical Assistance and capacity building (TA/CB) funds may be available for small entities. To qualify, organizations must 1) have fewer than 20 full-time equivalent staff and 2) an operating budget of less than $4 million in the fiscal year prior to the year of application. If you are eligible and would like to utilize potential TA/CB funds, please answer the questions below. Otherwise answer N/A
9. Describe your organizational needs and how TA/CB building funds could help support your organization's capacity to provide or better provide the services outlined or to better leverage VSHSL funding as requested in the RFP. (Please be sure to reflect TA/CB needs as a line item(s) in your submitted budget proposal.)
10. Describe how the TA/CB funds listed as a line item(s) in your budget proposal will enable you to better provide services outlined in your proposal and enable you to leverage VSHSL funding to grow your organization. Please use examples when possible.
Sustainability The following questions will help us understand more about the kinds of supports your organizations may need.
11. Describe your agency's ability to meet program expenses in advance of reimbursement.
12. Will you require monthly or quarterly reimbursement?
13. Could your organization float expenses for up to two months?
See Attachment B: Narrative Questions for reference. Note that ZoomGrants imposes word limits, so answers should be complete while concise. It may be helpful to draft answers in a separate document then copy and paste answers into ZoomGrants. All of the following questions will be rated based on the criteria in Section IX. A., SELECTION PROCESS: Rating Criteria of the RFP.
Program Description
1. Describe your program model in detail, addressing how you will provide one or more strategies in Section II. C. 1.a. of the RFP. Collaborative applications: include organization names and explain the benefits of partnership to your program model. If applying as a collaborative, please upload signed MOUs demonstrating partnerships to the Documents tab of ZoomGrants.
2. Describe your proposed referral strategies to refer all customers in VSHSL populations (whether or not they become clients) to relevant needed community services.
3. Describe your proposed outreach strategies to increase awareness of your services among eligible homeowners and community-based organizations.
4. How will your program address the needs of, and provide services to, low- and fixed-income homeowners? If you have not worked with one or more of the VSHSL priority populations, describe your approach to learning/understanding these communities.
Experience and Ability
5. What is your experience providing housing counseling, foreclosure prevention and/or loss mitigation services to currently underserved client groups within the VSHSL populations? Emphasis will be placed on communities of color, immigrants/refugees, and those with disabilities within the VSHSL priority populations (veterans, seniors, and vulnerable populations).
6. Describe your ability to make referrals to appropriate resources that support housing stability for all customers seeking help, even when those services are not provided by your agency. Please describe any relevant experience.
7. Describe your experience conducting outreach and education activities that increases awareness of your agency's services among at-risk homeowners and other entities, such as financial, human services, and public sector agencies.
8. What would you need (if anything) to enhance your capacity to achieve your outreach and referral strategies? This question is not scored.
Equity and Social Justice
9. Please describe your organization's commitment to diversity and equity, with a specific focus on your ability or plan to provide culturally relevant services to veterans, seniors and vulnerable populations.
10. Please complete the organizational equity chart in the Organizational Equity Chart tab in ZoomGrants to reflect the make-up of your staff, leadership and board. We ask that you are mindful of using the language people use to identify themselves. If your staff, leadership or board are not comfortable, for any reason, in providing this information please reflect that in the field marked "unknown".
Budget and Fiscal We ask that you think holistically and realistically about the costs associated with your proposed program model including any ramp up time that may be needed before providing services. See the provided budget template in the Library tab of Zoomgrants. We understand that exact costs related to things such as collaborations, data collection and evaluation may depend on extenuating circumstances and as such may not be currently known. We ask that you do your best to estimate these costs in your proposed budget knowing you will have an opportunity to adjust accordingly during the contracting process, should your program be funded. You may upload a proposed budget using the provided template or a substantively similar version.
11. Please provide a detailed proposed 12 month budget. See the provided budget template in the Library tab of ZoomGrants. You may upload a proposed budget using the provided template or a substantively similar version.
12. Describe your experience contracting, managing or accounting for public funds. If you do not have experience, please respond "n/a", and answer question 13.
13. If you have never contracted, managed or accounted for public funds, describe how you will manage these funds if awarded. (If you answered question 12, please respond "n/a".) Be clear in your answer as to whether you are describing past experience or how you intend to manage funds without prior experience.
14. Describe your financial management system. How do you establish and maintain general accounting principles, sound accounting systems and internal controls? (If your organization is new or in its early stages, please see note immediately below.) Note: Describe how you intend to structure these systems, what in-house experience exists, and any assistance you may be seeking. Include in your answer if your organization would seek a fiscal agent and/or technical assistance (neither is required).
15. Describe any audit findings or concerns during the last 24 months as well as the resolution of each (this can be a financial statement audit, federal single audit, monitoring site visit by King County or another federal, state or local agency). If there was a summary report of the outcome produced for any audit, please upload this report to the Documents tab in ZoomGrants.
Data Collection and Evaluation
16. Describe what success looks like for your proposed program.
17. How will you measure success? Describe your organization's interest in building capacity to collect, report, and use data for continuous improvement of services. If your organization has already engaged in this type of work, please give examples. If your organization has not used data for continuous improvement previously, please give examples of ways that you would like to use data to inform programming in the future.
Organizational Equity Chart (Required)
(answers are saved automatically when you move to another field)
Please use the following chart to reflect the make-up of your staff, leadership and board. We ask that you are mindful of using the language people use to identify themselves. If your staff, leadership or board are not comfortable, for any reason, in providing this information please reflect that in the field marked “unknown.”
Leadership body is defined as authorized decisions makers within your organization who together make strategic decisions about your organization and provide oversight and guidance. This may vary based on organization size and type. Examples might include executive director, CEO, COO, program managers, steering committee, collective members, executive team, etc. We do not prioritize any particular structure but do want to know who is in leadership of your organization.
Staff should include all full and part-time paid employees.
A note on gender:There are several ways that this chart asks for information related to gender including a specific category for gender and a section asking about people who identify as transgender. People who identify as transgender should be included in all of the categories that apply based on how each person self-identifies.