RFP for San Diego County Youth Workforce Development System

Overview

The San Diego Workforce Partnership is excited to announce two Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to provide education, training and employment services to opportunity youth—young adults ages 16-24—in San Diego County.

Subrecipients will deliver Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Title I Youth services. These funding opportunities total approximately $4.3 million in Year 1, with an option to be renewed for three subsequent years.

1. One Subrecipient will be selected to provide One-Stop Services at our countywide career center locations, for approximately $1.9 million annually.
2. An additional four Subrecipients will be selected to each serve one of the following specific youth populations: black youth, homeless youth, immigrant, refugee and/or English language learner youth and justice-involved youth. Total population-specific contracts will be approximately $2.4 million annually.

For-profit and nonprofit organizations, public agencies, consortiums and/or a collaboration of these organizations are all encouraged to apply. The Workforce Partnership values the strength and strategic benefit of multiple partners coming together to provide comprehensive community services grounded in linguistic/cultural skills, trust and relationships within populations and geographies, and experience delivering evidence-based programming. Receiving and/or managing WIOA funds previously is not a requirement.

Respondents Orientation

The Workforce Partnership hosted a Respondents Orientation on Thursday, October 22 where we reviewed the application itself and the process for applying. You can view the PowerPoint and recording by clicking below. 

Download PowerPoint

View recording of Respondents Orientation

Notice of Intent & Questions

All Notices of Intent were due on Friday, November 20, 2020 by 5 p.m. PST. (CLOSED)

Final day to submit questions was Monday, November 16, 2020 (CLOSED). Download the ‘Questions & Answers’ document on the left-hand side of the page. No further questions will be answered at this time.

Access Workforce eBid

For assistance with Workforce eBid, email youthrfp@workforce.org

For assistance with submitting Working Metrics data, email support@workingmetrics.com 

RFP 

All applications for both RFPs are due on Thursday, December 3, 2020 by 5 p.m. PST. 

• Download Youth One-Stop Career Center Services RFP (updated November 19, 2020)
• Download Population Specific Services RFP (updated November 19, 2020)

Attachments

Download and fill out (when applicable) the attachments on the left-hand side of this page for submission with your RFP.

Town Halls and Survey

In May, we hosted two town halls welcoming 135 youth, nonprofit partners, education providers, employers and community members to give us feedback on which populations had the most barriers, what types of services were most critical and how we can improve our partnerships with other youth-serving community groups.

View the Power Point presentation here. It has been revised to address common questions.

Additionally, the survey responses were submitted. Of those, 20% were from Youth, 59% of whom had previously participated in our workforce services. View the results from the youth survey here.

Who Can Apply?

Any organization type can bid:​

• Community-based organizations​
• Nonprofits​
• For-profits​
• Education institutions​
• Public entities​
• Any collaboration of these entities

In May, we hosted two town halls welcoming 135 youth, nonprofits partners, education providers, employers and community members to give us feedback on which populations had the most barriers, what types of services were most critical, and how we can improve our partnerships with other youth-serving community groups. 

View the Power Point presentation here. It has been revised to address common questions.

Additionally, 175 survey responses were submitted. Of those, 20% were from youth, 59% of whom had previously participated in our workforce services. View the results from the youth survey here.

Our Focus

2-Pronged RFP Approach

1. One County-wide provider who serves all opportunity youth
2. Four contracts for providers who specialize in serving specific populations with high rates on disconnection

High-level Overview

Required Performance Metrics:

• Credential attainment
• Job placement
• Media earnings
• Skills gained

Additional Performance Metrics:

• Job quality indicators
• Self-sustainability
• Customer satisfaction

Required Program Elements:

Outreach and recruitment

• Eligibility and enrollment
• Learning assessment
• Individual service strategy
• 1:1 case management
• Access to partners/warp-around services
• Training assistance
• Educational and career assistance
• Work-based training
• Support services
• Follow-up after placement

What’s Next

July 15–August 15	Workgroups meeting and designing program
August 15–October 15	Writing of the RFP
October 15	Release the RFP
October 22	Respondents orientation
November 16	Final day to submit questions
November 20	Notice of Intent due
December 3	RFP due
January 25–29, 2021	In-person interview
February 1, 2021	Evaluation completion
February 8, 2021	Board Approval
Immediately following February 2021 Board meeting	Anticipated award notification
July 1, 2021	Contract start

On June 26, our Policy Board approved this population-specific funding framework to invest in our communities with the highest need.

Become an evaluator

We are actively seeking individuals who have experience working with young adults ages 16-24, or experience overseeing programs, education, training, employment and other youth activities and services to serve as evaluators for our RFP.

The RFP evaluation process will take place between December 3, 2020 and January 31, 2021 and will include an orientation, reviewing a minimum of five RFP’s, evaluator panel discussions, respondent interviews and panel decisions. 

Please complete the interest form below. 

Apply to be an evaluator

Community Outreach and Research

In order to make sure that we are reaching the youth that most need our services, and providing them with the support, education and training they want and need, we have conducted research, town halls and a community survey. 

Research

While there are many populations in San Diego County that have unique education, training and job seeking needs, we looked at disconnection rates to narrow our focus on four specific populations. A “disconnected youth” is a young adult ages 16-24 who is not working or in school. The four populations and their disconnection rates are:

Black Youth 18%	Homeless/Housing Insecure 65%
Immigrant/Refugee and ELL 12–24%	Justice-involved 25–55%

We are continuing to work on our long-term goals, including cutting the rate of youth disconnection and reducing the gaps in economic opportunity between communities. In July 2020, we released our fourth annual report sharing the latest available data on youth disconnection from the American Community Survey.

Download the report

^{The Workforce Partnership is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization chartered by the County and the City of San Diego to empower job seekers to meet the current and future workforce needs of employers in San Diego County. The organization’s primary funding is allocated by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and California Employment Development Department (EDD) under the provisions of WIOA and is overseen under the leadership of the Workforce Development Board (WDB) and the Policy Board. Together with community partners, the Workforce Partnership funds and delivers programs whose goal is to prepare young adults for high school graduation, post-secondary education and ultimately, a career. Additionally, the Workforce Partnership provides targeted employment services designed to help eligible job seekers identify a career path and obtain the skills and experience they need for success. For additional information on the Workforce Partnership, its mission and strategic pillars, visit workforce.org.}