F8M RFP

South City Request for Proposal

All submitted applications received by F8M by November 24, will be reviewed by a committee composed of F8M Board members, staff, and City and County government representatives and/or community members. When all fields contain a response and required documents are submitted, an application is considered complete. F8M may request additional information during the committee review process. Applications will be scored based on technical merit, outlined in the scoring rubric (Appendix B). Technical merit scores will serve as the foundation for RFP decisions. Selected applicants will receive an award letter of approval by mid-February. Selected applicants will be invited to enter into a lease agreement for the use of the Early Childhood Education Center facilities. It is anticipated that the space will be leased at a below market rental rate and the estimated lease payment will range from $4-10 per square foot. The final lease terms will be negotiated with the selected operator.
Date Submitted:

MonthDayYear
Date
APPLICANT INFORMATION
Name of Organization/Company:*
Inaugural Year of Operation:
Name of Primary Contact Person (this person should serve as the contact for follow-up and correspondence regarding the application):*

First NameLast Name
Primary Contact Phone Number:*
Please enter a valid phone number.
Primary Contact Email Address:*
example@example.com
Primary Contact Mailing Address:

Street Address

Street Address Line 2

CityState / Province

Postal / Zip Code

Key Team Member Information (please add the staff members who align with the roles listed below):

	Full Name	Title	Email	Phone Number
Program Director
Family Engagement Contact
Key Staff
Key Staff
Key Staff
Key Staff

How are you currently licensed as a Pre-K Operator? Please check all that apply:

Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE)Tennessee Department of Human Services (DHS)Licensed by TDOE and DHSNot licensed
Are there past or current legal charges?

YesNo
If yes, describe the charge(s).

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
License certification (DHS or DOE certificate)

Cancelof
Business license

Cancelof
Previous year financial audit

Cancelof
Projected per classroom budget for the cost of expansion. (Use template provided in Appendix A.)

Cancelof
Student application

Cancelof

Common Definitions
For this application, the following definitions remain true:
● Eligible Child Care Attendee: Children aged six weeks through four-years-old who come from families (or guardians) with a variety of incomes, including those that would qualify them for reduced or free lunch consistent with 42 United States Code Section, 1771 (Federal School Lunch Program). Please note that priority admission will be given to families who reside in the Foote Park at South City development.
● Eligible Pre-K Student: Three- and four-year-old children, including those who may otherwise not achieve K-readiness who qualify for Pre-K under the Tennessee Voluntary Pre-K Act and those who come from families (or guardians) with incomes that would qualify them for reduced or free lunch consistent with 42 United States Code Section, 1771 (Federal School Lunch Program). Please note that priority admission will be given to families who reside in the Foote Park at South City development.
● Timeliness: Reported within the prescribed time frame of assessment administration or daily for attendance
● Completeness: Portion of stored data against the potential of “100%” complete
● Accuracy: Presence or absence of expected variation
Percent of Capacity:
Reflects the total number of enrolled students versus available, funded seats.
OPERATOR OVERVIEW

Please provide an overview of your current services and desire to work in South City. Include 5-8 sentences to answer each of the following questions. Any additional information or materials (e.g., brochures) can be included in an addendum to this application.
Please provide a mission statement for the South City Earl Childhood Education Center. Describe what the center will look like when it's achieving its mission. (Note: the mission statement should indicate in measurable terms what the school intends to do, for whom, and to what degree.)
What is the operator’s history with providing early childhood education to children aged six weeks to four-years-old? Please provide the total number of children served over the past three years across all locations, if applicable.
What is your plan to partner with the South City neighborhood and provide services to mixed income families at the Early Childhood Education Center?
What is your experience serving families whose income level qualifies them for reduced or free lunch?
How will you engage the community and recruit families to the South City Early Childhood Education Center?

Evidence of Ability to Provide Early Care and Education Services to South City
I. Identification of Need
Considering the vision of serving a diverse group of families in South City, provide information regarding the operator’s ability to identify needs and provide quality early childhood education programs within the South City community. Please reference Appendix C for additional information on the South City development.
II. Recruitment, Eligibility Determination, and Applicant Prioritization

A. Recruitment - Provide a detailed response to each of the following:
a. How will you recruit a diverse set of families for South City’s Early Education Center? How will you market directly to families who reside in the Foote Park at South City development?
b. Describe the process for maintaining a waiting list, tracking enrollment, and ensuring that open seats are filled as quickly as possible with eligible children.
B. Enrollment/Registration - Provide a detailed response to the following:
a. When and how are families notified of their acceptance into the program?
b. How do families enroll/register for the early childhood education programs?
C. Applicant Prioritization - Provide a detailed response to each of the following:
a. How will applications of families who are residents of the Foote Park at South City development be prioritized?
b. How are student applications prioritized to ensure that the families served encompass a diverse socioeconomic background?
c. What documentation is collected to determine family income? When is it collected, and where is it stored?
D. Challenges and Supports Needed - Provide a detailed response to each of the following:
a. Provide the challenges encountered or that may be encountered when going through the processes for family eligibility determination and enrollment.
b. How will the challenges be mitigated?

Operator’s Overall Capacity for Early Childhood Education
Directions: The next two sections should project the number of classrooms and number of children (capacity) you expect to be able to serve under all funding sources in the 2023-2027 time frame.

I. Start-Up Timeline

The South City Early Childhood Education Center plans to begin serving families in Fall 2023. Construction of the South City Early Childhood Education Center is expected to begin in Spring of 2022; please be aware that delays may occur. Please provide a detailed timeline of the key steps your organization/company will take to ensure successful implementation over a three-year period. Please include your plan for a delayed opening in January 2024 in the final box of the table below. The detailed timeline should include but should not be limited to:
- any plans for staggered or cohort enrollment
- timeline for hiring of personnel
- focus on diversity of personnel
- partnership with outside organizations
- recruitment efforts of South City families
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
2027
Delayed Opening: January 2024

II. Estimated Enrollment Capacity

Please complete the following chart by indicating the total estimated number of early childhood and Pre-K classrooms and children served based on the above plan for implementation over a five year period. Note that the South City Early Childhood Education Center comprises three approximately 600 square-foot classrooms and seven approximately 900 square-foot classrooms. Please add any comments around plans to implement groupings by age at the Early Childhood Education Center.

	Year 1 2023	Year 2 2024	Year 3 2025	Year 4 2026	Year 5 2027
Age Group
6 weeks - 15 months
12 - 30 months
24 - 35 months
3 years old
4 years old (Pre-K)

III. Mixed-Income Operation

South City’s vision is to serve a diverse group of families from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.
a. How will you engage mixed-income families?
b. How will you operate a mixed-income center?

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS & SERVICES

I. Wraparound Services
As a best practice, F8M recommends that operators provide holistic support services for young children and their families. Please describe how you will provide holistic support services for children in South City’s Early Childhood Education Center.
II. Family Outcomes Assessments (FOA)
As a best practice, F8M recommends that early care and education providers partner with families to meet their goals. The FOA is a document that invites families to identify their goals and is used by family support personnel to help monitor families’ progress.
a. Please provide a brief explanation of how goal setting opportunities will be offered to families and the frequency of follow-up with families to monitor progress toward success to meet their individual needs and desires.
b. How will the family outcomes data be collected (electronically, on paper, in an excel sheet or data system)? How will this data be stored? Please be as detailed as possible in your response.
III. Family Support and Engagement
Family support and engagement refers to directly engaging one-on-one with families at least one time (1x) per month to support their needs and desires. Examples of family support and engagement include, but are not limited to, referring families to community resources, coordinating family engagement events, and meeting with families individually to address progress toward FOA Goals.
a. Provide a detailed description and frequency of family support and engagement services by the individual operator or other service provider.
b. How will family engagement data be collected (electronically, on paper, in an excel sheet or data system)? How will this data be stored? Please be as detailed as possible in your response.

Early Childhood System Building Data Usage and Collection

F8M is working to build Shelby County’s early care and education system. As such, we partner with Seeding Success to collect and analyze early care and education system data. F8M recommends that early care and education operators participate in a community effort to collect early childhood education data to inform Kindergarten readiness and 3rd grade reading. Operators who agree will enter into a Master Data Sharing Agreement with Seeding Success to establish automatic feeds from the operator’s software systems or provide access to a web API (if applicable).
Do you agree to participate in community data collection?

Seeding Success currently received automated feeds from the following data platforms:

●      PowerSchool
●      iStation
●      iReady
●      Fastbridge
●      MyHeadStart
●      Brightwheel
●      Aimsweb
●      ChildPlus
●      EasyCBM
●      Skyward
●      NWEA MAP
I. Attendance
a. Is attendance currently being collected and tracked daily?
b. What is the current method or platform (sometimes called a student information system) to collect, store (e.g., data warehouse) and maintain student enrollment records? Please be as detailed as possible.
c. Share evidence that your current attendance practices and strategies are effective. What processes are in place or will be put in place to respond to low attendance challenges?

II. Enrollment
a. Is enrollment currently being collected and tracked daily in the same system as attendance?
b. How is enrollment data collected (electronically, on paper, in an excel sheet or data system)? How is the data stored? Please be as detailed as possible.
c. Describe the current method of tracking and monitoring withdrawals and transfers. Include the average number of student withdrawals and transfers in the past three years of operation, if applicable.
d. Describe the strategies that are in place or will be put in place to address issues of under-enrollment.

Quality Performance

I. Teacher Qualifications, Instructional Support, & Best Practices
A. Qualified Teachers- Describe specific operator practices for staffing classrooms with qualified personnel, in accordance with Tennessee Department of Health Services guidelines.
B. Instructional Support- Describe in detail the instructional support, coaching, and professional development that teachers receive to ensure a high quality of services.
C. Best Practices
a. Describe how teachers observe children throughout the day. How are teachers supported in doing this work? List the ways you assess and record children’s skills, abilities, and interests to inform instructional decision-making.
b. Provide a detailed response of how data is reviewed and used in observational practices and teacher feedback to improve your program’s quality.
c. How will all classroom observers collaborate on observations to provide feedback, professional development, and enhance overall program quality?

South City Request for Proposal

APPLICANT INFORMATION

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

OPERATOR OVERVIEW

Evidence of Ability to Provide Early Care and Education Services to South City

I. Identification of Need

II. Recruitment, Eligibility Determination, and Applicant Prioritization

Operator’s Overall Capacity for Early Childhood Education

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS & SERVICES

Early Childhood System Building Data Usage and Collection

I. Attendance

II. Enrollment

III. Assessment Tools Utilized

IV. K-Readiness

Quality Performance

III. Instructional Provisions due to COVID-19