Notice of Funds Available (RFP) Print Apply for this Grant

Specifications

Posted	Applications Due	Start Date	End Date	Amount	Match	Poverty Match	Council Staff
	Mar 16, 2018	Jul 01, 2018	Jun 30, 2023	$75,000.00	$25,000.00	$8,333.00	Danny Fikac

Introduction

The Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities (TCDD) approved funds up to $75,000, per year, for one project, for up to five years.

One project will provide leadership development and advocacy skills training. Project staff will determine the curriculum to be used and how training will be provided, but TCDD must approve the curriculum. Applicants are limited to local self-advocacy groups and organizations, although another organization may apply and manage the money if the self-advocacy group is not able to receive and disburse funds (see "Who May Apply"). Priority will be given to those groups and organizations located in rural and or underserved areas of the State. Self-advocates must take the lead and conduct the training, but training participants may include individuals with disabilities, students with development disabilities, individuals living in institutions, family members of people with disabilities, and other interested community members who do not fall into any of these categories.

Additional funding may be made available in certain situations to provide reasonable accommodations to key project leadership who have a developmental disability. These funds may not be used for salaries or project expenses.

Funding for the second through fifth years is not automatic. See the "Continuation Funding" section of this Request for Proposals (RFP) for more information about continuation funding application requirements. TCDD does not plan to provide funding for these projects beyond five years.

If you have questions after reading this RFP, contact Danny Fikac, Planning Specialist, at Danny.Fikac@tcdd.texas.gov or at 512-437-5415.

About TCDD

TCDD is a state entity that is funded by the federal Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) in accordance with the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 (DD Act). TCDD's mission is to create change so that all people with disabilities are fully included in their communities and have control over their own lives. TCDD awards grants to entities sharing TCDD's vision and values for projects that are consistent with the Goals and Objectives in the Five Year State Plan. TCDD expects these projects to help TCDD meet the following TCDD FY 2017 - 2021 State Plan Goal:

Goal 3: Increase the access that individuals with developmental disabilities and families of individuals with developmental disabilities have to information, training, and support to advocate for themselves and/or to collaborate with allies to impact public policy, service systems and community supports.

Objective 3.1: Support at least nine leadership development and advocacy skills training programs for people with disabilities, family members of people with disabilities and allies by 9/30/21.

You may read more about TCDD, TCDD's mission and values, and the Five Year State Plan, at www.TCDD.texas.gov.

Who May Apply

Public agencies, not-for-profit organizations, secondary schools and post-secondary institutions, faith-based institutions, and for-profit businesses may apply. The entity that applies for this grant must be the entity that will administer the grant and receive, disburse, and account for grant funds.

The group developing, organizing, and conducting the training must be a local leadership and self-advocacy group. If the group does not have a Tax ID number and is not able to receive and disburse funds for project expenses, another organization must do this for them. The organization that will receive and manage the money (the fiscal authority) should be the organization that submits the application.

All grantees receiving grant funding are required to meet TCDD fiscal and grant project reporting requirements. Please refer to Section 13: Reporting Requirements.

Individuals may not apply for this grant.

Funding and Duration

TCDD may award a maximum of $75,000 per year, for one project, for up to five years. TCDD reserves the right to negotiate the budget as needed and may choose not to award funding for these projects.

Additional funding may be made available in certain situations to provide reasonable accommodations to key project leadership who have a developmental disability. These funds may not be used for salaries or project expenses.

TCDD grantees must provide a matching contribution each year. Matching contributions may include funding, volunteer hours, or other "in-kind" donations, such as office space and utilities. Other federal funds may not be used as match. Items or funds that are used for match for another federally-funded project also may not be used as match. TCDD prefers that the amount of match increase each year of the project.

Project activities located in counties not designated as federal poverty areas require matching resources equal to at least 25 percent of total project costs. Project activities located in counties designated as federal poverty counties require matching resources equal to at least 10 percent of the total project costs. The minimum amount of required match can be found on the front page of this RFP.

A list that identifies poverty counties is included in the "DD Suite Guide and Application Instructions" attached to this RFP.

Due Dates

All questions must be asked in writing and emailed to Danny.Fikac@tcdd.texas.gov by 5:00 PM Central Standard Time on February 23, 2018. . Questions will not be accepted after that date and time. TCDD will post questions and answers on DD Suite as an attachment to this RFP by 5:00 PM Central Standard Time February 27, 2018.

Proposals must be received by 5:00 PM on March 16, 2018. Late proposals will not be reviewed. User errors that result in a failed or late submission will not be grounds for an exception to the deadline.

If you have questions about DD Suite and cannot find answers in the DD Suite Guide and Application Instructions attached to this proposal, email Joanna.Cordry@TCDD.Texas.Gov or call 512-437-5410. This should be done as early in the process as possible.

TCDD will applicants about decisions within 30 days following the Council meeting.

How to Apply

To submit your proposal:

1. Complete all required sections of the application in DD Suite. If the application is not complete, the proposal will not be reviewed for funding.
2. Complete all sections of the Supplemental Forms packet and upload it to DD Suite as an attachment to your proposal. If Supplemental Forms packet is not complete, the application will not be reviewed.
3. Upload the Supplemental Forms packet and other required documents to DD Suite as attachments to your proposal. Documents received by fax, email, hand delivery, or mail will not be considered.
4. If you have Letters of Support or letters from other entities or individuals that state they will partner on the project, upload them to DD Suite as an attachment to your proposal. Letters will not be accepted by fax, email, hand delivery, or mail.
5. Submit the completed proposal, the Supplemental Forms, and allowed attachments through DD Suite by the due date and time. Late proposals will not be accepted.

Please note:

• The DD Suite application states "no budget selected." This is because TCDD requires the budget to be submitted as a part of the Supplemental Forms packet that must be completed and uploaded to DD Suite. Proposals that do not include a budget will not be reviewed.
• The "DD Suite Guide and Application Instructions" provides information about using DD Suite. You may also click on the "Help" link in the upper right hand corner of DD Suite. If you still have a question, TCDD staff are available to help.
• TCDD will only accept applications and documents that are submitted through DD Suite by 5:00 PM Central Standard Time on the due date.

Bidders Conferences

TCDD will hold two telephone bidders' conferences to provide more information about TCDD and TCDD's proposal review and grant award process. The same information will be covered at each teleconference. You are not required to attend in order to apply.

Telephone bidders conferences will be held:

• January 23, 2018 at 10:00 AM Central Time
• February 21, 2018 at 2:00 PM

Please email Danny.Fikac@tcdd.texas.gov to sign up. To join the conference, dial the toll free number:

• Dial 1-877-820-7831
• Enter participant Passcode 649944#

Background

TCDD includes multiple objectives in its 2017-2021 state plan to provide leadership development and advocacy skills training to support individuals in creating systems change. TCDD received public input prior to the development of the FY 2017 – 21 State Plan suggesting that TCDD award funding to a local self-advocacy group to implement a leadership and advocacy training. TCDD has awarded many similar grants, including to a statewide self-advocacy group. However, very few local self-advocacy groups have received funding to implement a project.

Providing leadership development and advocacy training to self-advocates promotes personal independence, self-determination, and greater inclusion in community life of people with disabilities. TCDD expects many participants will become active in creating change in their communities and in advocating for policies and procedures that support people with developmental disabilities and families to have control over their own lives and to be fully included in their communities. In addition, this project is intended to support self-advocates to develop their skills, participate in local self-advocacy groups and partnerships, and to become more visible leaders in their communities.

Please note: TCDD funds may not be used to support people to engage in activities that would require registration with the Texas Ethics Commission as a lobbyist.

Outputs and Outcomes

TCDD expects your project to:

• Train an agreed upon number of people per year, beginning in the second year. NOTE: TCDD expects Leadership and Advocacy projects to train at least 100 people per year. However, some projects, such as a project located in a rural area, may not be able to recruit or train as many people. In your application, state the number of people you will train each year. If this number is less than 100, explain why and describe how you determined the number you can reach.
• Track and survey all of the participants' advocacy activities and their satisfaction with the project.
• Provide TCDD with information about relevant public policy issues, how public policy issues can be or were addressed, and whether efforts to address them were successful. Public policy issues might be related to such things as rules, laws, budgets, practices, or other barriers that prevent people from accessing information, services and supports, and/or being included in community life.
• Provide TCDD with at least one story each year about a person who experienced a benefit from the project.
• Provide TCDD with relevant information to assist TCDD to better understand and address the experiences of diverse groups of people who are unserved and underserved (including, but not limited to, people of color, people living in rural areas, and people living in poverty).
• Ensure that the project outcomes have a sustained long-term impact that benefits people with developmental disabilities. This might include things such as:
• changing or creating at least one policy, procedure, statute, and/or regulation;
• educating and sharing information with decision makers or others in the community;
• training, supporting, and/or organizing people with developmental disabilities to advocate for themselves and/or serve in leadership positions;
• creating new partnerships that increase the capacity of the community to support individuals with developmental disabilities;
• creating a new program, model, or technology that continues to be available after the grant funding ends;
• producing a product that will be of value beyond the life of the grant; and/or
• enabling more people to have access to services and supports.

This is not a complete list. You may identify other ways through which a long-term impact will be achieved. TCDD staff may contact grantees annually for up to five years after a grant has ended to evaluate the long-term impact.

It is your responsibility to determine what the sustainable change or impact of your project will be and to explain that in their proposal. You are expected to begin work on this in the first year of your project.

Project Description and Milestones

The TCDD-funded Leadership Development and Advocacy Skills Training by Local Self-Advocates project will have self-advocates in project leadership positions for project development, coordination, curriculum choices and implementation. Self-advocates will provide leadership and advocacy training to individuals with disabilities, students with development disabilities, individuals living in institutions, family members of people with disabilities, and other interested community members who do not fall into any of these categories.

Project staff will determine how the the curriculum will be used and how training will be provided. Training must include:

• History and philosophy of the disability rights movement;
• Principles of self-determination;
• Strategies to find and access necessary services and supports;
• Activities to develop self-advocacy skills; and
• Activities to promote interaction between participants and peer support.

Organizations implementing the training may charge a reasonable fee for training or for Continuing Education Units, but must ensure that any person with a developmental disability and family member of a person with a developmental disability will be able to participate, regardless of ability or inability to pay. TCDD will have final approval of any fee structure and procedure.

By the end of the first year, you must:

• Develop the curriculum for leadership development and advocacy skills training using curriculum selected by project staff and approved by TCDD.
• Conduct outreach and recruitment of the training participants from your local community.
• Begin training an agreed upon number of individuals related to the location of the project activities (a rural area may mean fewer participants).

Throughout the project:

• Self-advocates will train the agreed upon number of individuals related to the location of the project activities (a rural area may mean fewer participants) each year.
• Track and survey all of the participants' advocacy activities and their satisfaction with the project.
• Provide TCDD with up-to-date information and recommendations that can be used to develop further policy actions and future projects.
• Evaluate the project and use the information gained to improve the training.

By the end of the fifth year, you must:

• Document at least 10% of program participants who continue their involvement in leadership roles or public advocacy after their training is completed. These ongoing activities may include the trained advocates serving on committees, boards or workgroups.
• Document that at least 80% of program participants demonstrate perceived improvement in their ability to advocate for themselves and others.

All organizations must have procedures in place to obtain contact information (including e-mail addresses) from participants and to inform participants that their contact information will be forwarded to TCDD so that TCDD may provide information related to advocacy opportunities to advocates. Grantees should forward to TCDD names of individuals who are interested in ongoing advocacy, advanced training or serving on a board or committee.

Project Evaluation

All proposals should describe how you will evaluate, at a minimum, the following:

• The quality and effectiveness of the all training provided and to document the target audiences reached.
• The number of participants.
• The degree to which training or educational activities increased the skill level of participants.
• The successes and barriers related to recruiting and including diverse participants from the local community including unserved or underserved populations.
• The progress towards achieving the expected long-term impact/sustainability.

You will also be expected to report the Performance Measures relevant to your project. Please see the list of Performance Measures attached. These measures are relevant to this project, although you may report "0" for some of them. TCDD will assist you with understanding measures and will provide templates to gather data, but you must ensure that data is gathered, analyzed, and reported to TCDD. In the Project Evaluation Section, explain how you will gather this information.

Qualifications and Organizational Experience

Entities that receive grants must be able to disburse funds for project activities and expenses, complete TCDD's forms correctly and on time, and be legally able to receive grant funds to reimburse the organization for expenses. Some forms must be submitted online and some must be submitted through email.

The proposal must show that grant activities and funds can be managed effectively.

Reporting Requirements

Grantees must submit quarterly reports, data for Performance Measures, continuation proposals to request funding for the second through fifth years, and a final report at the end of the grant. These must be submitted on time. Failure to meet reporting and spending requirements may impact continuation or future grant awards. TCDD Grants Specialists will provide more information about these processes to the successful applicant(s).

Continuation Funding

If the RFP states that the project may be funded for more than one year, you may apply for continuation funding each year, up to the maximum number of years. TCDD does not automatically provide continuation funding and may choose not to award continuation grants.

In addition to addressing progress on the project and other grant requirements, continuation applications should include information about public policy issues that caused barriers, if or how they were addressed, and the results of any efforts to address them. TCDD also expects you to provide at least one story about a person or family who benefited from the project.

Continuation funding will be based on a review of the project's accomplishments, progress towards stated goals and objectives, financial management, compliance with reporting requirements, review of the most recent program audit and findings of TCDD's onsite reviews, development of alternative funding, and the availability of TCDD funds.

Proposals for continuation years shall not request funding that exceeds the maximum funding amount stated in the RFP.

Terms

Applicants must agree to the following terms:

• Applicants must disclose any conflicts of interest between themselves and TCDD council members, employees or their immediate families.
• Applicants must use respectful language. For examples of respectful language, please see TCDD’s "People First Language" resource in the Supplemental Forms Packet and the DD Suite Guide and Application Instructions.
• All printed materials must be available in Spanish and in an appropriate accessible format — including electronic, tagged PDF, or large print. Funding for this should be included in the budget.
• Videos, DVDs and teleconferencing and distance learning activities produced by this project must be fully accessible. Any videos or DVDs must be captioned.
• TCDD will retain rights to all products created using funding awarded through this RFP. The grantee will retain rights to materials that were created prior to receiving the grant and the rights to materials created without using funds that are associated with this project.
• TCDD reserves the right not to fund any proposal under this announcement.
• Proposals received by TCDD are subject to release consistent with provisions of the Texas Public Information Act.

See "Assurances" in the attached Supplemental Forms for all terms relating to this grant.

The Review Process

Evaluation Criteria will include, but is not limited to: program quality, costs, financial ability to perform services, regional needs and priorities, improved access for underserved and unserved areas and/or groups of individuals; ability to continue services at the conclusion of grant funding, and past performance and compliance with previous grant awards.

An independent review panel consisting of people with expertise related to this RFP will evaluate each proposal based on how well the proposal responds to the RFP requirements and intent and how well the applicant follows instructions in the outline questions. Reviewers will also take into account the extent to which the proposed project may move TCDD closer to meeting the State Plan Goals and Objectives.

Priority will be given to strong proposals that address the needs of people living in rural areas; people living in poverty; and others who are frequently unserved and/or underserved, such as people of color and people whose primary language is one other than English.

Reviewers consider only the information included in the DD Suite application form, the attached Supplemental Forms Packet, and documents that are specifically allowed and are attached to the application. Applicants will not have the opportunity to clarify or add to the information provided in the proposal after the deadline unless they are awarded the grant. TCDD will only review materials specifically requested or allowed by the RFP, the application, or the application instructions.

The review panel considers all evaluation criteria and provides recommendations to TCDD's Executive Committee. The Executive Committee makes all funding decisions.