Child Care Narrative RFP: Story & Data Collection

REQUEST FOR CHILD CARE NARRATIVE GRANT PROPOSALS

Story & Data Collection

Funding efforts to surface stories and data highlighting the impact of our state’s child care system on all Coloradans

Story & Data Collection Grant Category

Part of Gary Community Venture’s Request for Child Care Narrative Grant Proposals

As part of Gary Community Ventures’ Request for Proposals to elevate the impact of child care on all Coloradans, this RFP outlines the narrative themes, objectives, requirements and timelines specific to applicants interested in submitting proposals with plans to uncover key child care stories, data and storytelling sources.

Please see the full RFP for more background information and context on this narrative grant-making process. Applications for all RFP categories are due on Aug. 3.

This particular RFP category to fund Story & Data Collection calls for proposals from individuals and organizations who can articulate a plan to work in tandem with the state’s child care community as well as the larger RFP cohort of narrative and storytelling experts to identify trusted and compelling stakeholders, characters, data and story sources capable of speaking to the issues our child care system is facing and their impact on our state.

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Narrative Themes, Objectives & Proposal Requirements

Informed by robust RFP design session

The following narrative themes, objectives and proposal requirements were the result of an intensive RFP design session that included statewide early childhood experts, award-winning journalists, filmmakers, and creatives as well as members of communities who have not been frequent recipients of messages and stories about our the issues facing our child care system and why they matter to all Coloradans.

This funding opportunity will work to accomplishing the following objectives in offering funding support for story & data collection efforts that meet these proposal requirements and demonstrate a clear plan to identify and surface narratives that fall into these themes:

Narrative Themes

  • Everyone Relies on Someone Who Relies on Child Care – These stories will explore the way child care impacts the vital services all Coloradans rely on, including but not limited to health care, education, first responders as well as food and transportation providers. For more information on this narrative theme, click here.
  • Made Possible by Child Care – These stories will explore how child care impacts cherished institutions and activities that make life in Colorado worth living, including our restaurants, museums, theaters, parks and recreation centers and sports events and teams. For more information on this narrative theme, click here.
  • Child Care Champions – These stories will highlight early childhood educators who are frequently overlooked as well as unlikely champions of our early childhood system, including military leaders, business owners and conservative messengers and politicians. For more information on this narrative theme, click here.

RFP Objectives

  • Support applicants who can build trust within communities, uncover emotional and compelling stories and relationships, and work with stakeholders and partners to collect stories and data sources that 1) reflect the realities of families and providers most impacted by the child care crisis, and 2) resonate with a group of priority audiences, who are identified below in the “Proposal Requirements” section.
  • Strong proposals will:
    • Demonstrate deep relationships with priority audiences and/or a track record of ethical and successful relationship development and community engagement
    • Propose a clear and replicable method for identifying and elevating community-rooted stories as well as strategies for disseminating those stories in ways capable of reaching our priority audiences
    • Illustrate a strong understanding of storytelling and narrative development
    • Reflect an understanding of how child care work intersects with broader systems such as healthcare, education, food access, transportation and emergency services
  • Potential activations may include:
    • Partnerships with local leaders and identified stakeholders (e.g., faith-based leaders, health workers, educators) to identify stories and storytelling content
    • Community-based listening sessions and story circles that surface lived experiences
    • Narrative development workshops that train advocates, storytellers and creatives to craft and share stories.
    • Strategic outreach to priority audiences through 1-to-1 outreach, small gatherings or friends and family outreach to surface stories and storytellers.

Proposal Requirements

  • Proposals must clearly describe how they will identify and elevate stories from or capable of resonating with the following priority audiences:
    • Coloradans Without Children
    • Family-Focused Conservatives
    • Coloradans Age 50+
    • Business Leaders
    • Fathers
    • Western Slope Residents
    • Larimer County Residents
    • El Paso County Residents
  • Demonstrate a culturally responsive approach to community storytelling
  • Include a clear plan for story collection, development, shareout with wider team, and responsible amplification
  • Propose specific channels or partnerships for story dissemination
  • Include a timeline with activities, milestones and deliverables across the life of the project
  • Address consent, power-sharing and ownership in how stories are gathered and shared
  • Show how this engagement can inform future organizing and narrative strategies

Proposal Considerations

Priority will be given to proposals that:

  • Are led by or in deep partnership with individuals representative of our priority audiences
  • Demonstrate a plan to amplify surfaced narratives through partnerships with community leaders, trusted messengers and media
  • Reflect innovative or community-rooted practices in listening, curation and facilitation
  • Offer potential for scalable models that can inform other regions or narrative efforts
  • Include feedback loops that ensure stories are vetted, honored and grounded in the experiences of those offering them up
  • Demonstrate socially and culturally responsiveness throughout all phases of engagement

We will not consider funding proposals that:

  • Do not address the objectives of this RFP, do not align with one or more of the “Narrative Themes” outlined above or do not provide clear plans to reach the priority audiences outlined in the “Proposal Requirements” section
  • Have weak or unclear project details, timelines, methodology and impact plans
  • Do not provide any thought towards scale up and sustainability
  • Do not reflect thoughtfulness in budgeting, timeline or community participation
  • Lack a clear or feasible plan for story collection and dissemination

Grant Awards & Contracts, Expected Deliverables & Application

Grant Awards & Contracts

  • We will award grants and or contracts between $25K and $45K
  • We anticipate awarding 1-2 grants/contracts
  • A total of $45K will be distributed in this category of the RFP to help raise more voices and stories focused on Colorado’s child care system

Expected Deliverables from Selected Recipients

  • A plan to work with the broader child care community on stakeholder engagement, story collection and pipeline development as well as an understanding of how this process might evolve across the 6-12 month period
  • A clearly defined scope of work with activities, timelines, deliverables and measurable milestones
  • A plan to create a pipeline capable of sharing stories, sources of information and insights regularly with members of the grantee/contractor cohort as well as other storytellers, partners and key stakeholders
  • A strategy for helping to elevate published and distributed stories through appropriate and trusted promotion and amplification channels available to the child care and stakeholder community

Application

Here is an editable Google Doc that you can use to work on the application among collaborative teams, if helpful. Otherwise, click the link below to apply.

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RFP Timeline, Informational Webinar & Office Hours

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if we can help

For questions regarding this RFP, please reach out to Will Holden, our Director of Communications & Storytelling, at wholden@garycommunity.org. We will also be offering two additional avenues for support.

Office Hours

We will be hosting regular office hours to answer any questions you may have live. Please click the links below to register and feel free to join at any point in these two-hour windows.

Informational Webinars

Additionally, we will host four webinars on Tuesday, July 22 focused on each of the four categories of this RFP. Click the link below to register for the virtual meeting specific to this RFP category.

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