R -- YOUTH LEAD PREVENTION PROJECTS EMPHASIZING HEALTHY YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND SCHOOL/YOUTH VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Notice Date

July 11, 2001

Contracting Office

Department of Health and Human Services, Program Support Center, Division of Acquisition Management, Parklawn Building Room 5-101 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD, 20857

ZIP Code

20857

Solicitation Number

Reference-Number-01M008761

Response Due

August 14, 2001

Point of Contact

Jo Lasko, Contract Specialist, Phone 301-443-3589, Fax 301-443-3238, Email jlasko@psc.gov -- Mariann Mink, Contracting Officer, Phone 301-443-9266, Fax 301-443-3238, Email mmink@psc.gov

Description

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), Special Program Development Branch (SPDB), through the General Acquisitions Branch, PSC plans to award a twelve (12) month simplified acquisition to a national youth serving organization. The purpose of this simplified acquisition is to build a broad, community based collaborative approach, which involves youth as leaders and partners with adults in addressing healthy youth development and school/youth violence prevention strategies in their communities.=20 =20 The Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) provides national leadership for policies, programs, and activities designed to improve mental health treatment and prevention service for adults with major mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbances and their families, as well as for adults and children at risk for mental illness. Today, the CMHS is guiding a service system in transition, stimulating capacity at the national, State, and local levels to improve and enhance mental health treatment and support services and to promote prevention and foster the healthy mental health of all Americans. CMHS works to develop, implement, and evaluate state-of-the-art approaches to meet the most challenging mental health service issues for children, adolescents, and adults. Acknowledging the mission of CMHS and the key role it plays in fostering a public health approach to nationwide health-related issues, the FY 1999 DHHS appropriations bill, now law, included $40.0 million for school violence prevention activities to be undertaken by CMHS. The Conference language accompanying the appropriation specified that CMHS use the funds specifically to ?improve mental health services for children with emotional and behavioral disorders who are at risk of violent behavior.? The House-Senate Conference report continued that ?there are concerns about the recent outbreaks of violence in our Nation?s schools and it is believed that one important tool to address this problem is to improve children?s mental health services....? Reducing the risk for violence either as a perpetrator, victim or witness is a major focus of the CMHS plan to utilize the school violence prevention dollars. In FY 2001, $90 million is available to continue these efforts initiated three years ago. We now know a significant amount about the risk factors that are reliable predictors of adolescent violence such as early and persistent antisocial behaviors, academic failure, alienation and rebelliousness, family conflict, extreme economic deprivation and availability of firearms. These risk factors have been correlated with the diagnosis of conduct disorder in children. =09 The recent Surgeon General?s Report on Youth Violence views violence from a developmental perspective. The developmental perspective has enabled scientists to identify two general onset trajectories of violence: one in which violent behaviors emerge before puberty, and one in which they appear after puberty. The early onset trajectory shows stronger links between childhood factors and persistent, even lifelong involvement in violence behavior, (pg. viii, Executive Summary, Surgeon General?s Report on Youth Violence, 2001). BACKGROUND Despite widespread awareness of the impact of school violence on children, families and communities, it is evident that many of these strategies lack actual youth involvement in planning, staging, implementing and evaluating such programs. We know of the ?power? of youth norms on behavior and it seems prudent to increasingly engage youth as partners in our violence prevention efforts. This is particularly true when it comes to prevention strategies. This may be because many well-meaning adults are just ?used? to doing ?for? youth and not ?with? youth. Developing and managing youth-led prevention initiatives at the local level may actually require more adult time, than if the adults just did it themselves, but it does not help the youth to take responsibility for outcomes, nor do they learn how to become true advocates for their environments, because they think ?everyone will just take care of me/it?. In this procurement, we are proposing to provide funds to support local youth-led projects to develop and implement prevention projects that the youth can own and take responsibly for the implementation. Access to current evidence-based research on strengthening resiliency in children and youth and successful approaches to violence prevention can serve as the catalyst for increased youth involvement school/youth violence prevention efforts. =20 =20 The national organization shall demonstrate they can accomplish the following goals: 1. Build a broad, community-based collaborative approach, which involves youth as leaders and partners with adults in addressing community youth violence prevention, suicide prevention, and programs to foster the healthy development of children and youth. 2. Provide specific learning experiences, which help youth build their knowledge and skills related to healthy youth development and school/youth violence prevention, including suicide prevention. 3. Provide opportunities for youth to use their knowledge of effective programs to develop creative youth development program 4. Enhance the ability of youth and their adult partners to develop sustainable community youth violence prevention programs, including mental health promotion, youth development and violence/suicide prevention activities.=20 SCOPE OF WORK General Requirements A. General Requirements 1. Independently, and not as an agent of the Government, the contractor shall furnish or subcontract for all necessary work and consultations, equipment, and services (except as otherwise specified herein), and perform the work described below. 2. All work under the contract shall be monitored by the Government Project Officer (GPO). 3. All products submitted under the contract shall be the sole property of the Federal Government and may not be published or utilized separately by the contractor without the express approval and concurrence of the GPO. B. Purpose/General Objective=20 The proposed Youth-Led Violence Prevention Projects will provide model(s) for promoting school and youth violence utilizing a youth leadership approach where youth take active roles in the design, development, implementation and evaluation of community-based violence prevention programs. The project will also demonstrate the steps needed to recruit, manage, motivate and acknowledge youth for their contributions to implementing effective programs at their local levels. The programs will maintain the CMHS goals of promoting and expanding evidence-based programs and ideas. Selected programs will demonstrate how they are incorporating the information and insights provided by the Surgeon General?s recent reports on mental health promotion, youth development and violence/suicide prevention. Models for the successful implementation of youth violence prevention programs will be shared for other youth and adult partnerships for adaptation to address their community youth violence prevention needs. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS: The contractor shall carry out the following tasks to ensure the completion of this contract. TASK 1. Develop detailed Work plan The contractor will develop a completed and detailed Work Plan which will accomplish the purpose and objectives of this contract and to carry out its specific, delineated tasks. The Work Plan will discuss how the contractor will: * Examine the way in which youth are currently involved in healthy youth development programs, especially in the areas of mental health, youth violence prevention and suicide. Conduct an environmental scan of current programs being conducted with youth related to mental health promotion, youth development and violence/suicide prevention. This task will also include a review of the scientific-based interventions proven to help promote resiliency in children and target mental health promotion, youth development and violence/suicide prevention. The national youth organization will also utilize experts from SAMHSA, CMHS and other community partners. * Explore possible activities which can be conducted in the community by and for youth, ensuring appropriate and accurate evaluation and outcomes. * Explore the possibilities for and barriers to developing youth-led prevention programs. This would include exploring possible interventions and linkages with businesses, schools, community policing, and other community and faith-based organizations, to name a few. * The work plan shall include a work schedule showing specific tasks (including the delivery of the various products called for under the contract) and the projected dates for the completion of each task. * The contractor will provide the design for how the awards will be made, provide a schedule for making the program awards, and provide a timeline for implementing and evaluating the program awards. =20 Task 2: Design a protocol to provide guidelines and standards for local youth led prevention projects on mental health promotion, youth development and violence/suicide prevention. The contractor shall design the protocol and criteria for helping local affiliates and/or clubs choose a local program for implementation. The protocol should include, but not be limited to: * A system to provide program development support for youth-led prevention programs (from the 3 designated areas) to stimulate positive youth prevention strategies and programs nationwide. Program support will be awarded to communities in support of new and/or innovative youth prevention programs which meet the pre-determined CMHS/Youth Organization collaborative criteria. It is critical that youth lead in the decisions, design and implementation of the proposed program. Program support proposals must be prepared by youth. Proposals must address some aspect of the Surgeon General?s recommendations and represent a community-based collaborative effort involving partners beyond the group submitting the request, thereby broadening community engagement and impact. Proposals must entail a detailed budget showing 100% matching support from the national youth organization/local affiliate/club. =20 * Protocol should also include the mechanism for review and processing of program applications from the local youth groups. This mechanism and review should also demonstrate how youth will be involved in decision-making at this level. * Protocol should also include the mechanism by which the local programs will disseminate information about the process and results for these programs. Task 3: Implement local mental health promotion, youth development and violence/suicide prevention youth led programs The contractor will review the program applications and make selections appropriate to the approved CMHS/Youth Serving Agency criteria. For programs addressing suicide prevention initiatives, the initiative shall ensure a linkage with a mental health professional(s) for guidance. The contractor will work in collaboration with CMHS to ensure that the Surgeon General?s recommendations on mental health, youth violence and suicide are a critical element(s) of the program design and implementation. The contractor will make the program awards to approximately 10-15 local community awards. =09 The contractor will develop evaluation standards for the youth-led projects that encompass the goals and objectives of the entire initiative. The contractor will implement the program and share monthly reports (hard copy and electronic) by the 10th of each month, with the CMHS GPO for the program.=20 Task 4: Develop monitoring and reporting mechanisms for programs The contractor will develop an appropriate monitoring and reporting mechanism to managed the outcomes of each activity. This system will include timelines for task completion, budgets and evaluation procedures. The contractor shall implement the program and share monthly reports with the SAMHSA, CMHS GPO for the program. Task 5: Develop and implement a system for disseminating information about the projects at local and national venues The contractor shall develop and implement a system for disseminating information about these projects to communities and affiliates of their national organization. The goal of this task is to foster sharing of the lessons learned about the strength of youth and adult partnerships in building community-based, youth-led prevention efforts. =20 The contractor shall provide a written report on the implementation of these projects as well as a final report upon completion of dissemination efforts. Task 6: Conduct national meeting of selected programs The contractor shall host a meeting of all the programs to share successes, barriers, lessons learned and recommendations. The discussion, reports, etc. from this meeting will be written up for review by SAMHSA, CMHS, GPO. The meeting will also focus on ways to share the model programs. This meeting should include, at a minimum, one youth and one adult who was directly involved in the program design, implementation and evaluation. Task 7: Write and submit draft and final report=09 The contractor shall prepare a draft final report for review and approval by CMHS. The contractor will make recommended changes and then submit the final report to The Center for Mental Health Services. The final report should include information gathered from the meeting held under Task 6. The report, once reviewed and approved, will be submitted in (5) hard copies and one electronic copy -- Word Perfect 6.0 or higher. SCHEDULE OF DELIVERABLES Deliverable # 1: Detailed Work Plan The contractor shall deliver a complete and detailed Work Plan which will accomplish the purpose and objectives of this contract and to carry out its specific, delineated tasks. This plan must specify available resources to be utilized and include a detailed projected schedule of all anticipated meetings and other activities to be undertaken under this contract. The Work Plan shall include a work schedule showing specific tasks (including delivery of the various products called for under this contract) and the projected dates for the completion of each task. (August/September 2001) Deliverable #2: Design protocol to provide guidelines and standards for individual youth-led projects=09 The contractor shall design the protocol for individual youth-led violence prevention programs. The protocol should include the guidelines and standards for developing these individual programs. (September 2001)=20 Deliverable #3: Implement local healthy youth development, school/violence prevention youth led programs The contractor shall select the local programs and provide implementation guidance and monitoring. (May 2002)=20 Deliverable #4: Develop monitoring and reporting mechanisms for selected programs The contractor will develop a plan for monitoring the programs as they are developed and implemented in the field. This will include a mid-course review and revisions/changes if indicated. The contractor shall implement the program and share monthly reports with the SAMHSA, CMHS GPO for the program. (May 2002)=20 Deliverable #5: Develop and implement system for disseminating information about the projects on local and national venues The contractor shall develop and implement a system for disseminating information about these youth-led violence prevention projects to communities and affiliates of their national organization. The goal of this task is to foster sharing of lessons learned about the strength of youth and adult partnerships in building community-based, youth violence prevention efforts. The contractor shall provide a written report on the system development as well as a final report upon completion of dissemination efforts. (June 2002)=20 Deliverable #6: Conduct national meeting of selected programs The contractor will host a meeting of the selected programs to share successes, barriers, lessons learned and recommendations. The discussion, reports, etc. from this meeting will be written up for review by SAMHSA, CMHS, GPO. The meeting will also focus on ways to share the model programs. This meeting should be held close to the end of this contract. (April-May 2002) Deliverable #7: Prepare and submit final report The contractor will prepare and submit a final report for The Center for Mental Health Services. Evaluation strategies should be based on program objectives and outcomes as well as any specific sponsor requests. This final report should also include information gathered from the National meeting. The contractor shall develop a draft final report for GPO one month prior to end of contract. The GPO will review and provide feedback. The contractor shall incorporate the feedback and provide five hard copies and one electronic copy, in Word Perfect, to the GPO by the end of the contract. =20 Evaluation Criteria: 1. Complete understanding of the goals and objectives of this contract. -- 15% 2. Experience and knowledge to accomplish the goals and objectives of this contract. -- 30% 3. Established network of local youth organizations capable to implement the requirements of this procurement. -- 35% 4. Demonstrated experience in the dissemination of materials related to violence prevention, suicide prevention and fostering the healthy development of children and youth. -- 20% Offeror must submit their proposal in writing, one original plus 2 copies. Closing date for receiving proposals is August 14,2001 by 3:00 p.m. Eastern time. =09 =09 =0C

Web Link

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Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010713/RSOL004.HTM (D-192 SN50R4N9)