Emergency Language and Outreach Services Contracts

Purpose

The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) has an obligation to ensure that communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 have access to the same critical health and safety information as the rest of the general public during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Who is disproportionately impacted by COVID-19?

Based on available clinical data from this rapidly evolving pandemic and existing socio-demographic context, it is expected that COVID-19 will disproportionately affect individuals at higher risk because of:

• The virus' health impact—people over 60 years old, people with underlying medical conditions, and pregnant people.
• Current and persistent systemic inequities—communities who have historically and currently experienced barriers to accessing critical health information and services due to race/ethnicity, language, culture, nationality, immigration status, or disability status.
• Increased risk of exposure, negative economic impact, or other unintended consequences of the response due to employment situation, which can include certain types of work where social distancing is not feasible, there is a limited availability of personal protective equipment, exposure risk is high, and employer policies do not support time off.
• Increased risk of exposure or unintended consequences of the response due to housing and family situation, which can include individuals experiencing homelessness, individuals living in shared or transitional housing, and domestic violence survivors.
• Increased risk of unintended health consequences of the response's efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, due to stress on the healthcare system, closures, travel bans, social distancing, isolation, and quarantine. People who may experience unintended health consequences include, but are not limited to, pregnant people and new moms—especially Native American and Black women; people with unrelated acute, severe, or chronic health conditions; and individuals with disabilities.

***The communities outlined above are examples of communities who may be disproportionately impacted and is not an exhaustive list.

Budget

There is $500,000 in total funding available for all awards. Contracts offered will range from $5,000 – $20,000.

Eligibility

Community-based, community-rooted, and community-led organizations. Recipients can be non-profit organizations, small for-profit businesses, OMWBE-certified businesses, or Tribal governments or entities located in Washington state.

The Department of Health recognizes that community-rooted and community-led organizations and groups are better positioned and equipped to listen, understand, and respond to the needs of their community members in the most culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate way. They are also better equipped to use a trauma-informed lens or approach to their interventions so as to not perpetuate further harm, fear, and distrust that may be exacerbated by governmental entities in times of extreme crisis, like a pandemic.

What it will include

The contractor will provide emergency language and outreach services and ensure messaging is culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate. The contractor will focus all efforts on communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and the response to the pandemic, with an intentional focus on reaching culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

The messages, materials, products, and dissemination channels will be in the format as decided by the contractor that is most appropriate for the community. The contractor will share back completed products with the Washington State Department of Health for sharing with other communities (as relevant) across the state.

Process

The Community Engagement Task Force looked for entities who:

• Are community-rooted, community-led, and community-based.
• Provided information that demonstrated they are a trusted community entity to the community/communities they plan to serve.
• Serve a community/communities who are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
• Proposed activities that align with the purpose of this funding opportunity and focus on emergency language and outreach, and the actual approach to COVID-19 outreach is community-informed and culturally and linguistically appropriate.
• Address an access barrier—language or disability—and, if so, the approach to addressing these access barriers is community-led and the entity demonstrated they are trusted by the communities they aim to serve.
• Serve a current priority among disproportionately impacted communities where there are current “hot spots.”
  • The COVID-19 Data Dashboard provides updated information on some disproportionately impacted communities and geographic areas.

Awards

The following entities across the state have been identified to receive funding through this opportunity:

• Afghan Health Initiative
• African American Health Board
• Alphabet Alliance of Color (AAoC)
• American Indian Health Commission (AIHC) for Washington State
• API Chaya
• Asia Pacific Cultural Center
• Centro De Servicios Comunitarios (CSC)
• Centro Latino
• Chinese Information and Service Center
• CIELO Projects/RADIO RANCH
• Clark County Latino Youth Conference
• COFA Alliance National Network of Washington (CANN-WA)
• Community 2 Community
• Council on American Islamic Relations of Washington State (CAIR-WA)
• Entre Hermanos
• Eritrean Association in Greater Seattle
• Familias Unidas Economy and Ecology Project
• Hands and Voices
• Hearing, Speech & Deaf Center
• Helping Link/Một Dấu Nối
• IDIC Filipino Senior & Family Services
• Ireta Purepecha
• Latino Community Fund of Washington State
• Living Well Kent Collaborative
• Marshallese Women's Association
• Northwest Tribal Emergency Management Council
• Open Doors for Multicultural Families
• Our Valley Our Future/Nuestro Valle Nuestro Futuro
• Rainier Beach Action Coalition
• Refugee & Immigrant Services Northwest
• Refugee Connections Spokane
• Refugee Women's Alliance
• Somali Health Board
• Sophie Trettevick Indian Health Center
• Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition
• The Coffee Oasis-Pierce County
• The Community for the Advancement of Family Education
• The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation
• The Maternal Coalition
• Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle
• Washington State Coalition of African Leaders

Future Opportunities

Thank you for investing your valuable time to respond to this opportunity. We hope you will continue to engage with us.

• Bid calendar of upcoming opportunities with Washington State.
• Resources for small businesses.
• Register in the state's bid system (there is no fee to register):
  • WEBSCustomerService@des.wa.gov or (360) 902-7400, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday – Friday.

Definitions

These are the definitions used by the Community Engagement Task Force for review of all information sheets.

Grassroots: Solutions are led by community members who have a passion for maintaining the historical character of their community by providing culturally relevant programs and projects to restore, revitalize or redevelop their communities. Community leaders determine how they will engage community members and partners in the planning & decision making process.

Community engagement: Refers to the process by which community benefit organizations and individuals build ongoing, permanent relationships for the purpose of applying a collective vision for the benefit of a community. The community actively participates in planning and vision development process to achieve long-term and sustainable outcomes, processes, relationships, conversations, decision-making, or implementation.

Community-rooted or Community-based: Solutions are rooted in a particular geographical place and/or community and respond to its needs.

Community-led: Solutions emerge from the community itself.

• Trusted Community Organization: A belief from the community that an organization has the ability to do what it says it will do, including the extent to which an organization is seen as being effective. A trusted organization exhibits and aligns its missions and values to the community's norms, values, cultural history and beliefs.

Questions

Contact DOH-CETF@doh.wa.gov.