GOCF Releases Request for Proposals for First Steps Mini-grants

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The Governor’s Office of Children and Families (GOCF) this week released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for First Steps mini-grants from the Division of Prevention and Family Support to engage communities in planning, implementing, and sustaining universal parent support services in their communities.

Through these mini-grants GOCF hopes to provide expectant parents and families with children age birth to 5 with:

  • current information on topics of interest and relevance to the family,
  • information about community resources relevant to the family, and
  • services to strengthen the protective factor to strengthen concrete connections that will promote maternal and infant health.

 Planning and Implementation
GOCF will work with community partners to develop and implement a First Steps Georgia plan to provide universal, early intervention services and support for families:

  • identifying universal target population and service delivery locations;
  • ensuring access for parents of all ages and all ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds by connecting with community partners that will provide access to families, establishing referral partner agreements, establishing consistent referral process practices, and establishing a tracking system for referrals;
  • identifying key needs of families participating in the program and identifying community resources to meet those needs;
  • completing all documentation including state required data entry and all essential records required by First Steps Georgia; and
  • coordinating within Great Start Georgia—an Early Childhood System of Care—where available.

Services and Supports
Just as every family is different, every community is unique and the design of these plans for supporting families will be different. Proposal should be tailored to the specific needs of the community.

Grant Amounts
Applicants may apply for funding in the amount of $3,000, $6,000, $9,000, or $12,000, conditional upon the projected number of families they serve annually and full-time equivalent dedicated to the work of First Steps. Applicants may apply for funding only for direct service costs including personnel, training, and program materials.

Eligibility
Applicants must:

  • be a public government entity or 501(c)(3) non-profit organization;
  • serve as the fiscal agent for the grant and the point of contact to GOCF;
  • be responsible, liable, and oversee financial, program and post-award reporting requirements; and
  • apply to implement universal, early intervention supports and services in accordance with the First Steps Georgia plan.

Eligible program applicants must be applying to implement universal, early intervention support and services in accordance with the First Steps Georgia plan. GOCF requires that funded programs will comply with performance criteria and fully participate in its evaluation and report requirements.

Application Deadline
Applications must be postmarked on or before July 16, 2012. GOCF will not accept applications via email.

 Submit all required applicant documents and attachments to:

 Governor’s Office for Children and Families
ATTN: First Steps Georgia
55 Park Place NE, Suite 410
Atlanta, Georgia 30303?2529

 First Steps Georgia is a component of a Georgia initiative called Great Start Georgia, which represents the development and implementation of comprehensive, community-based systems for expectant parents and for families with children ages birth to 5 in Georgia.

 For more information, contact Cora Alexander of GOCF at 404-656-5156 , or at Cora.Alexander@children.ga.gov.

 Download the Request for Proposals.

Contact:
William Valladares
GaFCP Communications Director
404-527-7394 (x114)
william@gafcp.org