Summer of 2009
Request for Proposals
Summer Youth Employment Program
Summer Special Projects
Metro North Region

Metro North Regional Employment Board

125 CambridgePark Drive

Cambridge, MA 02140

(617) 864-1500

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METRO NORTH REGIONAL EMPLOYMENT BOARD

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

SUMMER YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM

AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT (ARRA)

SUMMER OF 2009

INTRODUCTION

For its 2009 Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), the Metro North Regional Employment Board (REB) seeks proposals from private profit or nonprofit firms, public organizations, school systems, colleges and universities, women and minorityowned businesses to provide shortterm basic and remedial education, academic enrichment, job training, work experience and/or a combination of these activities to economically disadvantaged youth who reside in the Metro North Service Delivery Area (SDA). The Metro North SDA consists of the following cities and towns: Arlington, Belmont, Burlington, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Melrose, North Reading, Reading, Revere, Somerville, Stoneham, Wakefield, Watertown, Wilmington, Winchester, Winthrop, Woburn.

The REB has approximately $100,000 available to underwrite these types of projects. Funding for the SYEP and these special summer projects comes from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), sometimes known as the Economic Stimulus Bill.

The Metro North region has a varied client population of young people ages fourteen (14) through twentyfour (24) that includes public assistance recipients, minorities, limited English speakers, the disabled, high school dropouts, offenders, and other economically disadvantaged youth.

It is the intent of the REB to design and implement a set of work experience, education, academic enrichment, and program training activities for the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) that will effectively meet the following goals:

  • enhance the basic education skills of youth;
  • encourage school completion or enrollment in supplementary or alternative school programs;
  • provide eligible youth with an introduction to the work environment to prepare them for the workplace and to inform them of potential career and educational pathways;
  • enhance the citizenship skills of youth; and,
  • connect with school to work and/or tech prep programs

School systems, colleges and universities, communitybased agencies, and tech prep programs are especially encouraged to submit proposals to link summer activities with yearround school to work initiatives. This kind of coordination is a prime objective for these funds.

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AREAS OF EMPHASIS – SPECIAL INITIATIVES

The Metro North REB has outlined three areas for particular emphasis for its WIA Youth programs.

The three areas for emphasis are:

  • Integrated partnerships with businesses in the region’s targeted growth industrial sectors. Those sectors are: Professional and Technical Services, and Healthcare. Further information on the Metro North region’s labor market may be found on the REB’s website:
  • College campus based programming – operate part or all of a youth program on a college campus in order to directly expose enrollees to college and its options
  • Initiatives or program elements that promote/emphasize exposures to what has become known as “STEM” – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

Proposals that are able to incorporate any or all of these initiatives into their program designs will be given priority for funding.

ARRA AREAS OF EMPHASIS

The US Department of Labor has also suggested several areas of emphasis for projects funded under the ARRA grant. Responders to this RFP are urged to develop projects that are in line with any of these areas:

Incorporating “Green Work” Experiences. Mapping “green” educational and career pathways – both short term and long term – is an excellent way to provide youth opportunities to align their skills with those required by the “green” industries and prepare them for entry into registered apprenticeship or technical training. As a part of mapping these pathways, local areas can work with community colleges to ascertain how training opportunities and coursework are being infused with “green” components. Developing a jobs directory that details the community’s “green” industries is another possible way youth can learn more about “green” career opportunities.

Integration of Work-Based and Classroom-Based Learning Activities. Project providers may want to complement work experience with classroom-based learning so that the youth are provided with assistance in developing and refining attitudes, values, and work habits which will contribute to their success in the workplace. For younger youth and older youth with educational deficiencies, a combination of work-based and classroom-based learning activities may be warranted to provide basic skills instruction, career exploration and life skills training. In these situations, classrooms may be transformed into interactive, work-related environments to complement the work experience activities.

Connections to Registered Apprenticeship. Registered apprenticeship programs represent collaborative partnerships with schools, employers, labor organizations, community groups, and state apprenticeship offices. “Pre-apprenticeship” programs represent a hands-on training experience that provides an introduction to the skills and knowledge needed in a potential career field and prepares young adults to be eligible for formal apprenticeship programs. Projects may be able to include these introductory programs and combine basic technical skills training in the classroom with experience on the worksite or through a work experience or internship. Frequently, these pre-apprenticeship programs also provide specific life skills training, work readiness or employability skill training, financial literacy classes, and even individual or group counseling. Project providers are encouraged to expand work experience opportunities to registered apprenticeships offered by employers in the information technology, health care, and financial services sectors.

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SCOPE OF SERVICES

Summer projects funded through this RFP must provide a combination of education services, exposure to employment, and additional supportive services in order to provide each youth participant with academic stability and an understanding of the requirements of the modern workplace.

TARGET GROUP:

Proposals must target youth who are Metro North residents and who:

  1. Are age 14 through 24; and
  2. Are low income individuals (household income limits are outlined at the end of this RFP); and
  3. Are within one or more of the following categories:

1)Deficient in basic literacy skills – one or more grade levels below the grade level appropriate for their age;

2)High school dropout;

3)Homeless, runaway, or foster child;

4)Pregnant or parenting teen;

5)Offender;

6)An individual (including a youth with a disability) who requires additional assistance to complete an educational program, or to secure and hold employment. (WIA sec. 101(13)).

Out of School Youth are particular targets for these projects. An Out of School Youth is defined as “an eligible youth who is a dropout or an eligible youth who has received a secondary school diploma or its equivalent but is basic skills deficient, unemployed, or underemployed.” As indicated in the list above, school dropouts are a particular target group for services.

Veterans and eligible spouses are another priority target group, as the expanded age range for the ARRA Summer Program may allow for certain young returning veterans to seek temporary employment or transition to work situations for the summer of 2009.

  1. PROGRAM DESIGN GUIDELINES:
  1. Recruitment and Outreach

The Metro North region is a mix of urban and suburban areas, with varied public transportation access. Disenfranchised teens and young adults are generally isolated and may be difficult to reach. Providers under this RFP must be able to market their services and attract youth of the aforementioned target groups. Each project funded via this RFP will have one of the Metro North career centers assigned to it (outlined below). The outreach and recruitment efforts of program providers should be coordinated with assigned career centers and should include, but not be limited to, identifying potentially eligible youth, working with parents and guardians to secure necessary documentation, and communicating with community organizations regarding recruitment efforts. In addition, the location of the services must be accessible enough to attract and retain enrollees for the duration of the summer.

  1. Program Components

Respondents to this Request for Proposals should plan to present a program concept that includes a combination of several of the following basic components:

a.Recruitment and Outreach, in order to attract disenfranchised and hard to serve youth with significant barriers to successful employment (as indicated above); enrollee recruitment must be coordinated with an assigned Metro North career center (see section below).

b.Education Support, such as tutoring, study skills training, MCAS coaching, instruction leading to high school diploma or GED attainment, and dropout prevention strategies.

c.Work experience, including internships or job shadowing, and which may include:

  1. Instruction in employability skills or generic workplace skills such as those identified by SCANS;
  2. Exposure to various aspects of an industry or industries. A strong vocational exploration component will incorporate direct exposure to a variety of career options via diverse methods and will not be limited to classroom techniques, nor to only one or two kinds of careers;
  3. Progressively more complex tasks;
  4. Integration of basic academic skills into work activities;
  5. Skills training in an occupational area or areas;
  6. Entrepreneurship.

d.Leadership development, which may include:

  1. Exposure to postsecondary educational opportunities;
  2. Community and service learning projects;
  3. Peer-centered activities, including peer mentoring and tutoring;
  4. Organizational and team work training, including team leadership training;
  5. Training in decision-making, including determining priorities;
  6. Citizenship training, including life skills training such as parenting, work behavior training, and budgeting of resources;
  7. Positive social behaviors, which may include, but are not limited to positive attitudinal development, self-esteem building, cultural diversity training, and work simulation activities.

e.Comprehensive guidance and counseling, job-related, and also including drug and alcohol abuse counseling, as well as referrals to counseling, as appropriate.

The following component is optional, though strongly encouraged:

  1. Adult mentoring, both throughout the program period as well as after the program has ended.
  1. Coordination with MCAS Academic Support Summer Schooling

If possible (though not required), providers are encouraged to incorporate into their programs the provision of summer remediation using local allocations of MCAS Academic Support Funds, particularly as a match to these WIA dollars. In recent summers Metro North school systems have been receiving state funds for MCAS summer remediation, prioritized toward the same target group as these WIA funds. Particularly for the summer program, the receipt of the MCAS funds represents an opportunity to coordinate services with school systems, to pool programming to stretch WIA funds, and to provide a comprehensive set of remedial and work-related activities. Not all school systems may want to coordinate on this item, but if proposed, any coordination plans should be outlined in the narrative portion of the proposal.

  1. Coordination with the Metro North Career Centers

For the past thirteen years, since late 1996, the Metro North REB has chartered two competitively procured One Stop Career Centers in its region. It has been the ongoing intent of the REB and its subsidiary the Metro North Youth Council to connect and coordinate employment and training services for both adults and youth to the CareerCenter system, either directly through services provided at the Centers or indirectly via partnerships or other means.

For the Summer Youth Employment Program, each career center will provide eligibility determination, testing/assessment, development of Individual Service Strategies (ISS), and counseling support for applicants and enrollees. Each project funded via this RFP will have a career center assigned to it. Staff of each career center will be expected to regularly visit their assigned program sites during the summer, to maintain contact with providers and enrollees. As part of their duties, career center staff assigned to the SYEP will collect weekly enrollee time sheets during the summer and to distribute weekly paychecks to enrollees.

The Metro North Career Centers are located as follows:

The Career Place
TradeCenterPark
100 Sylvan Road, Suite G-100
Woburn, MA 01801
(781) 932-5500 / Career Source
Fresh Pond Mall
186 Alewife Brook Parkway, Suite 310
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 661-7867 / Career Source – Satellite
1935 Revere Beach Parkway
Everett, MA 02149
(617) 389-8025
SUMMER PROGRAM

Time Frame for Summer Program –The SYEP will operate during the summer, to start no sooner than July 6, 2009 and end no later than August 21, 2009. The number of program hours per week per youth may not exceed 25. This is based upon projected available funding and is subject to change.

Educational Remediation/Academic Enrichment/Basic Skills Each program must include a summer component of educational remediation/academic enrichment. The emphasis must include the enhancement of reading, writing and computation skills. The remedial component should be combined with other activities, and it may be a “lighter” version of year-round academics

Work Experience/Skills Training/Vocational Exploration In addition to the educational component, each program must include either A) summer work experience, B) occupational skills training, or C) vocational exploration in a specific industry sector or sectors. Combinations of these components are encouraged.

Summer Stipends: The REB will provide the wages/stipends for each project enrollee and will pay them weekly for the duration of the summer project. Time sheet collection and paycheck dissemination will be coordinated with and conducted by each assigned career center. Bidders should not include anywage/stipend amount in their proposed budgets.

C.ASSURANCES AND CERTIFICATIONS:

Each bidder/applicant must complete the attached certifications relating to debarment and to equal opportunity and non-discrimination, and include them with the proposal. In addition, the applying agency must provide with its proposal a single copy of its most recent financial audit in order to ensure its financial viability and its compliance with OMB Circular A-133. Failure to include these items will result in disqualification of a proposal.

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PROPOSAL SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

A)Cover Sheet and Proposal Summary Sheet

Complete the Cover Sheet and the Proposal Summary Sheet provided as attachments to this RFP. (You may re-create these forms on your own computer.)

B)Program Narrative (6 pages maximum)

  1. Organizational Background (25 points)
  • Briefly describe your organization and its experience with the provision of education and/or training services to a teen and/or young adult population.
  • Identify the number and type of staff for the project.
  • Indicate the particular youth service backgrounds and qualifications of staff that your agency will assign to provide the services for your proposed project.
  1. Service Strategy (50 points)

Provide a full description of your project and address each of the following:

  • Describe your recruitment and outreach plan to attract targeted youth, including how enrollees will be transported to the proposed location(s) of your services.
  • Describe the education component, the work experience/training/exploration component, as well as any other components to the program (e.g. mentoring, counseling, etc.).
  • Indicate (in the program narrative) whether your project will incorporate any of the Metro North special initiatives outlined at the beginning of the RFP. (Max of 20 extra points)
  • Identify the periods of each week to be spent in each component, and identify the specific locations where each component will be provided. Provide a daily/weekly schedule for the project.
  • Identify the number and targeted population of youth for your program. Indicate whether your project will focus on In School youth, high school dropouts, older youth, young adults, any special populations, etc.
  • Identify specific, measurable outcomes expected as a result of your proposed project.
  • Identify any collaborators or partners for the project.
  • Identify the total funds requested and for what items it will be used.

C)Budget and Budget Narrative (25 points)

  1. Budget Worksheet
  • Complete the Budget Worksheet provided.
  1. Budget Narrative
  • Provide a narrative description for each line item included on the Budget Worksheet.
  • Describe any matching funds that may be leveraged to support the program.
  1. Contracts with the Metro North REB
  • Contracts developed as a result of this procurement will be cost reimbursement. “Cost reimbursement” means that a contractor may only bill the REB after program costs have been incurred within the contract time period. The REB will then, upon receipt of a provider’s invoice, reimburse the provider for legitimate costs connected with the contract.

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BIDDERS' RESPONSE

Each submission should be concise and should conform precisely to the following outline:

A)Cover Sheet & Proposal Summary Sheet

B)Program Narrative

C)Budget and Budget Narrative

D)Debarment, EEO Certifications, and one single copy of Audit

DELIVERY

An original and three copies of each proposal must be submitted no later than 12:00 p.m. (noon) on Friday, May 22, 2009at the offices of

Metro North Regional Employment Board

125 CambridgePark Drive

Cambridge, MA 02140

Attn: Geoffrey Rockett

Proposals will be reviewed by REB Youth Council members and/or staff and rated on their ability to achieve the Metro North SYEP goals and their responses to program design guidelines.

Delivery of submissions is the sole responsibility of the bidder. The transmission of proposals by fax is not permitted. It is the sole responsibility of the bidder to ensure that proposals are received at the proper location, prior to the stated deadline. Bidders are further advised that the REB is located at 125 CambridgePark Drive in Cambridge, near the intersection of Routes 16 and 2, and just down the street from the Alewife T station in North Cambridge. Some transportation lines are congested, and visitor's or on-street parking can at times be difficult to obtain. Submissions will be logged in and stamped with the time and date of receipt. Bidders should plan accordingly for timely delivery. The 4:00 p.m. deadline will be strictly enforced. Submissions or any parts thereof received after the required date and time will not be accepted and will be rejected as non-responsive to the RFP.