Community Solutions For Healthy Child Development RFP Questions and Answers

This is the first year of the Community Solutions grants.

Unfortunately we cannot provide a list of evaluators for applicants to subcontract with. MDH and the evaluation capacity-building team will provide technical assistance to grantees related to evaluation. If a grantee has subcontracted with an evaluator, that person or organization will join in the evaluation technical assistance meetings and discussions.

This RFP is for projects addressing the needs of children from prenatal to grade 3. At this time no additional Community Solutions RFPs are planned. You might consider seeking funding from sources such as the St. Paul Foundation, Bigelow Foundation and Mardag Foundation.

The council has not explicitly reviewed those recommendations, but at least one council member was part of that effort. The current Voices and Choices for Children coalition was an integral part of the creation of the Community Solutions legislation and funding priorities.

You may use the planning period to plan for the expansion of an existing program.

We recognize that the timeline may be challenging for applicants. We are striving to meet the deadlines laid out in the Community Solutions legislation. We trust that applicants are community members and have strong community connections. You may consider proposing a planning period (of up to 1 year) to continue your community engagement and co-creation of your project.

At this time no additional Community Solutions RFPs are planned.

No, unfortunately we cannot review draft applications.

The grant program is intended to direct resources to communities of color, American Indian communities and certain geographic areas of Minnesota that have not had an equitable share of grant funding and other resources. This includes counties that are moderate to high risk according to the Wilder Research Risk and Reach Report and counties that have a higher proportion of people of color and/or American Indians than the state average (refer to the RFP for more details). The grant program is also designed to support communities and regions in creating their own solutions. We encourage applicants to consider the broad conditions that affect health and well-being and contribute to inequities for American Indian children and children of color and their families, as well as communities in under-resourced areas of Minnesota.

Entities may submit multiple applications for separate projects, but applicants should be aware that an entity is unlikely to receive funding for more than one project.

We may make partial awards based on the applications and funds available. If a partial award is offered, the applicant will have a chance to revise the work plan to reflect the reduced funding amount.

No. Grantees will be awarded funding for the full 4-year grant period (assuming the funding continues to be available).

A grantee’s annual award amount will likely remain the same for each of the 4 years. Grantees may shift funds around to cover different costs each year, as long as their revised budgets are approved by their grant manager.

You may make notes on your budget explaining this. For example, if your budget includes funding for half of a position, you could add a note that the other half will come from another funding source. Please note that matching funds are not a requirement and will not increase your score.

Yes, you may combine funds from Community Solutions and other sources to carry out your grant activities and strategies. You will need to ensure that the activities and strategies stay true to the goals and purposes of Community Solutions. You should also seek approval from your grant manager from the other grant.

Grantees will receive an award notice letting them know how much funding they will receive for the first year of the grant, with the expectation that they will receive the same amount for each of the next three years of the grant as well (assuming funding continues to be available). Grant payments will be made as reimbursements, in response to monthly invoices submitted by grantees. State policy allows advance payments to be made to grantees only in certain exceptional situations. If a grantee requires advance payment to start up a program, negotiations will be made after a grant award is offered but before a grant agreement is executed.

For the budget, make your best estimate of the staffing levels, subcontracts, supplies, etc. that will be needed for the work in year 2. You may want to be generous in your estimate, as it is unlikely that your award amount would be increased later. As you plan your work for year 2, you can balance both your findings from year 1 and your award amount to determine the scope/scale of your work.

In your description of proposed activities for year 2, you can indicate that most will be determined by the community input/planning happening in year 1. You may be able to provide examples of how you would transform community input into implemented activities. You can also describe any activities that will happen regardless of planning/community findings, such as regular meetings with a stakeholder group.

Yes.

Entities (including school districts) are strongly encouraged to submit a single, coordinated application. Entities may submit multiple applications for separate projects, but applicants should be aware that an entity is unlikely to receive funding for more than one project.

Yes, as long as they work with communities of color and American Indian communities and/or are focused on healthy child development.

No.

We encourage you to develop a proposal that focuses on your students who are in the prenatal-grade 3 age group, as well as families who have children in the prenatal-grade 3 age range.

We will be evaluating the demographics of the lead applicant organization. A community-based lead applicant organization could choose to work with a fiscal agent, for example, in which case the lead organization’s demographics will be considered and the fiscal agent’s will not. In the case of a lead organization proposing to subcontract with community-based partners, again the lead organization’s demographics will be evaluated and the subcontractors’ will not. Question #1 in the Organizational Capacity section of the application form is your chance to further explain staff/board/leadership representation.

A local public health department could serve as the fiscal agent while the community organization is the lead applicant organization. The application—in sections such as demographics and organizational capacity—should describe the community organization (lead applicant), not the fiscal agent.

The current demographics of the lead organization will be scored; proposed hires will not count toward those demographics. But including the hiring of staff who are American Indians or people of color in your proposal will factor into the overall evaluation of your proposal.

There are no requirements specific to the Community Solutions grant program, but there are some state requirements that will appear in the soon-to-be-published new standard grant agreement template:
(a) Any services and/or materials that are expected to cost $100,000 or more must undergo a formal notice and bidding process.
(b) Services and/or materials that are expected to cost between $25,000 and $99,999 must be competitively awarded based on a minimum of three verbal quotes or bids.
(c) Services and/or materials that are expected to cost between $10,000 and $24,999 must be competitively awarded based on a minimum of two verbal quotes or bids or awarded to a targeted vendor.
(d) The grantee must take all necessary affirmative steps to assure that targeted vendors from businesses with active certifications through these entities are used when possible: State Department of Administration's Certified Targeted Group, Economically Disadvantaged and Veteran-Owned Vendor List; Metropolitan Council’s Targeted Vendor list: Minnesota Unified Certification Program; Small Business Certification Program through Hennepin County, Ramsey County, and City of St. Paul: Central Certification Program.
(e) The grantee must maintain written standards of conduct covering conflicts of interest and governing the actions of its employees engaged in the selection, award and administration of contracts.
(f) The grantee must maintain support documentation of the purchasing and/or bidding process utilized to contract services in their financial records, including support documentation justifying a single/sole source bid, if applicable.
(g) Notwithstanding (a) - (d) above, the State may waive bidding process requirements when: Vendors included in response to competitive grant request for proposal process were approved and incorporated as an approved work plan for the grant; it is determined there is only one legitimate or practical source for such materials or services and that grantee has established a fair and reasonable price.
(h) For projects that include construction work of $25,000 or more, prevailing wage rules apply per Minn. Stat. §§177.41 through 177.44. These rules require that the wages of laborers and workers should be comparable to wages paid for similar work in the community as a whole.
(i) The grantee must not contract with vendors who are suspended or debarred in MN.

Yes, as long as they work with communities of color and American Indian communities and/or are focused on healthy child development.

This includes competitive and non-competitive state grant funds.

Yes, although organizations that have not received state grant funding in the past will receive priority (see scoring criterion #8 under Organizational Capacity).

Yes.

Question #1 of the Organization Capacity section could be a good place to discuss plans for moving people of color and American Indians who are currently in contracted positions into leadership roles as employees. Question #2 or #7 might also be a place to talk about the work your contractors are doing and plans to make them employees. Prospective hires and contract employees will not be counted in the staff demographics.

Yes. Initially, MDH had stated that an organization with close ties to an individual on the Community Solutions Advisory Council would not be able to apply for a Community Solutions grant. Recently, however, the Council and MDH determined that, in order to best fulfill the purpose of the Community Solutions Grant Fund, any organization may apply for a Community Solutions grant. MDH will apply the state’s standard conflict of interest policies for grant reviewers, MDH staff and appointees. Council members must complete a conflict of interest form prior to reviewing grant applications and recuse themselves from participating in any reviews where an actual or potential conflict of interest exists. MDH may take other appropriate measures as necessary to ensure a fair application review process.

The in-person RFP information and skill-building sessions are a good opportunity for applicants to meet each other and network.

We have used the terms collaboration and partnership interchangeably. You do not need to provide formal paperwork showing a partnership. Partnerships involving funding will appear in your budget (the partner entity will be listed as a subcontractor). We encourage you to describe other collaborations/partnerships in your application. Reviewers will consider whether partners, especially entities led by American Indians and people of color and entities with smaller capacity, are adequately compensated for their time and expertise.

MDH programs may not receive funding through these grants, so you will not be able to pay them for their partnership. But MDH programs could certainly provide unpaid consultation and collaboration. Please note that partnerships with MDH programs will not give applicants an advantage in scoring.

You may mention that you have approached that entity about partnering and indicate what kind of response you have received from them. Please describe any plans you have made with that entity, or draft agreements you have exchanged, that lay out how you will partner on Community Solutions activities.

We are having a few technical difficulties, but hope to have the webinar recording up in the week of Dec 30. It will be available on the Community Solutions RFP webpage. Thanks for your patience!

The slides and any materials from the skill-building sessions will be made available on the Community Solutions RFP webpage.

The focus on our youngest children was a priority for the community leaders and advocates who informed this legislation and the Community Solutions Advisory Council. See scoring criterion #5, in the Cover Sheet Demographics section of the scoring criteria. This item receives between 1 and 5 points, like many of the scoring items, and has a multiplier of 4. So if a proposal strongly focuses on prenatal to age 3, it would receive a score of 5 x 4 = 20. A proposal that does not have much focus on prenatal to age 3 might receive a score of 1 x 4 = 4.

No. Applicants are asked to provide support for their proposed approaches, but this can include lived experience, examples from past programming, etc.—applicants are not limited to evidence-based models.

Yes. In this case, applications should demonstrate how proposed activities will contribute to institutional change.

No.

A partnership with a church is allowable. Working with seniors can be part of a multi-generational approach to advancing the grant program goals, as long as the focus remains on children prenatal to grade 3 and their families.

Grant funds may be used for existing programming or to expand existing programming. Some kinds of infrastructure investments are allowable expenses. However, capital improvements are not allowable expenses. A capital improvement is defined as a permanent structural change or restoration that enhances a property’s value and would be considered a permanent addition, and the removal of which would cause material harm to the property.

Both incentives (such as gift cards for participants in a parenting class) and stipends (such as payments given to individuals who are helping to create a parenting program and educate other parents) are allowable expenses. Incentives must be directly related to the grant project and tied to approved activities or strategies, and may not be provided in the form of cash. The Community Solutions grant manager will review budgets and approve reasonable incentive amounts.

Yes, stipends for volunteers are allowable, as long as the volunteers are providing a service of some kind (planning, outreach and implementation of activities would qualify).

For people who are participating in a program but not providing a service, incentives may be provided (not in the form of cash).

Out-of-state travel requires approval. You may include it in your budget if there is a compelling need, and it will be approved on a case-by-case basis.

There is no set limit on overall FTEs or newly hired FTEs. Reviewers will look to see whether adequate staff time has been devoted to the project, as well as whether staff costs seem reasonable.

Please refer to tab 2 (Indirect Cost Guidance) of the Excel budget template. Indirect costs are the overall, general costs of doing business that cannot be directly attributed to a specific grant program, but instead are shared across an agency. Indirect costs (which may either be your organization’s federally approved indirect cost rate or up to 10% of direct costs) may include expenses such as rent, facilities maintenance, etc.

Administrative costs are expenses that can be attributed to specific grant programs. This could include printing costs for program materials, for example, or rent for a space leased specifically for program activities. Administrative costs should appear in your budget as direct costs in the appropriate lines, such as Supplies.

Please do your best to appropriately categorize expenses in your budget, but know that there will be opportunities to revise the budget if you are offered a grant award.

Providing bus or train cards or other transportation support for participants is an allowable expense. You may rent a vehicle or contract for transportation during the grant period. Purchasing a vehicle is generally not an allowable expense.

To receive 50 points on this scoring item, the lead applicant organization must have more than 50% of board, leadership, and staff identifying as American Indian or people of color. Applications that are strong in all other respects—and that meet some of these criteria—may still be competitive. Question #1 in the Organizational Capacity section of the application form is your chance to further explain staff/board/leadership representation. Applicants selected for site visits will also have a chance to share more context with reviewers.

Yes, if your application is strong in all other respects and comes close to meeting the demographic criteria, it may still be competitive. Question #1 in the Organizational Capacity section of the application form is your chance to further explain staff/board/leadership representation. Applicants selected for site visits will also have a chance to share more context with reviewers.

It is true that people of color comprise about 21% of Minnesota’s population. It is also true that entities led by people of color and American Indians have not historically received grant funding at rates reflective of their share of the population. The creators of the Community Solutions legislation, MDH, and the Community Solutions Advisory Council all feel strongly that this funding should support entities led by American Indians and people of color. We have defined “led by” as more than 50% of board, leadership, and staff identifying as people of color or American Indian.

The scores will be very important, but they are not the only factor considered in making funding recommendations. Scores, site visits and discussion at the review meeting will all contribute to funding recommendations.

Applicants are encouraged to describe aspects of their communities’ culture and how the proposed activities / strategies align with that culture. For example, a holistic, collective approach may be more appropriate in some communities than a segmented, hierarchical approach. In some communities, learning is more likely to happen through interpersonal relationships and storytelling than through reading written brochures, for example.

The multipliers give the scoring items more weight / importance. They are not related to the time period. For example, see scoring criterion #5, in the Cover Sheet Demographics section of the scoring criteria. This item receives between 1 and 5 points, like many of the scoring items, and has a multiplier of 4. So if a proposal strongly focuses on prenatal to age 3, it would receive a score of 5 x 4 = 20. A proposal that does not have much focus on prenatal to age 3 might receive a score of 1 x 4 = 4.

Cover Sheet Demographics scoring criteria #2, 3 and 4 relate to the applicant entity’s location and the geographic location of the communities they propose to serve. Scoring criterion #27 is related but broader. Activities/strategies may promote geographic equity in part because of where they are happening and the communities they are serving, but also because of infrastructure or networks being created, for example.

Yes, diversity in geographic location will be a consideration.

Yes, diversity in the communities represented and served (including diversity within broader populations) will be a consideration.

The Community Solutions Advisory Council is in the process of determining the specifics of how applicants will be selected to receive site visits. It will likely be a combination of scores from the written application and considerations of communities represented and geographic location.

The reviewers are members of our Community Solutions Advisory Council, along with 1-2 MDH staff. The cultural backgrounds of the advisory council are diverse, with representatives from African American/African heritage, American Indian, Asian American, and Latino/Hispanic communities. Council members were selected in part for their expertise in racial equity and community advocacy. More information on the council is available on the Community Solutions Advisory Council page.

If time allows and there is a compelling reason to visit more than one location where an applicant entity works, reviewers will try to schedule a site visit at more than one location.

That was a mistake! The Work Plan template has been corrected to say May 2020-April 2022.

The first column, Goal(s), corresponds to the three overall grant program goals listed on the work plan sheet: 1) Improve child development outcomes related to the well-being of children of color and American Indian children from prenatal to grade 3 and their families; 2) Reduce racial disparities in children’s health and development, from prenatal to grade 3; and 3) Promote racial and geographic equity. In the Goal(s) column, please indicate which of these goals (1, 2 and/or 3) each activity or strategy works toward.

The Purpose column is where you can indicate your own purposes in pursuing each activity or strategy.

Yes.

Subcontractors do not need to complete the Due Diligence Review Form. Only the lead applicant completes the form. If the lead applicant is applying with a fiscal agent, however, the fiscal agent should complete the form (and the lead applicant should not).

Your responses to the Project Narrative questions in the Application Form should cover all 4 years of the grant. We would like to see an overview of your entire grant project.

The Work Plan and Budget, however, cover only the first 2 years of the grant.

Please do both: check the boxes and indicate the corresponding number of points.

Yes. Please note that reviewers may or may not view these materials. Applicants should respond fully to the questions and requirements in the application form, work plan and budget submitted.

Yes, as long as the application stays within the page limits.

We cannot provide a full sample budget, but there are some examples of line items on the first (Instructions) tab of the Excel template.

The expected range of grant awards is not set in stone, but in general applications will be more competitive if they stay within that range. Your total budget (including direct and indirect costs) is what reviewers will consider.

Follow your organization’s usual practices in terms of which employees receive fringe benefits.

Please leave the instructions in. We have factored those into the overall page limit.

No. There are no page limits for the work plan and budget. We encourage you to use the provided Excel template for the budget. You may use the work plan template provided or include the requested information in a different work plan format.

Please use 12-point font in your responses.

That is up to you. For some projects, it may make sense to separate out the first and second year—for example, one year of planning and one year of implementation. For other projects, activities and strategies will overlap years. You can decide how to organize your activities in the work plan. It may be easiest simply to use the Timeline column to indicate when each activity or strategy will happen.

Yes, please indicate all of the counties served by your organization (including counties where clients reside, counties affected by your work to change policies, systems, institutions and/or environments, etc.).

The project narrative provides an overview of your 4-year grant project. It gives you a chance to provide greater depth and detail on your activities and strategies, partnerships, purposes and rationale. The work plan covers the first 2 years of your grant project. It provides highlights of your activities and strategies. The narrative and work plan should correspond to and reflect each other to give a full picture of your project.

Please list all state grant funding since your organization began. If the list is very long, you may include your state grant funding history from the past 10 years, and then add a note that your organization received additional state grant funding before that.

Yes, you may include people who are planning to be pregnant in the number of people served.

Yes, as long as you have responded fully to each question and fully explained your project, you do not need to use all the allowed pages.

You may not attach additional appendices, but you may include links to online examples of your work. Please note that reviewers may or may not view these materials. Applicants should respond fully to the questions and requirements in the application form, work plan and budget submitted. Media or other examples of past work could potentially be shared during a site visit if an applicant progresses to that stage.