The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) is announcing the availability of $9.5 million to fund to selected eligible entities (cities, counties, or tribes, or departments of a city, county, or tribe, not including law enforcement entities) who propose to partner with community-based organizations (CBOs) to implement emergency response pilots.
Donor Name: California Department of Social Services
State: California
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/05/2023
Size of the Grant: $3.5 million
Grant Duration: 2 years 7 months
Details:
The purpose of the C.R.I.S.E.S. Grant Pilot Program is to support CBOs’ involvement in addressing emergencies through funding of innovative approaches for CBOs to engage in emergency response and build increased capacity in that space. As a pilot, the program seeks to identify and elevate promising practices in the area of community-based crisis response in order to develop policy recommendations and guidance to the Legislature and Governor for scaling and implementation of a permanent community-based crisis response program.
Funding will be granted to up to five eligible entities to initiate or expand existing community-based crisis response programs across the State and to administer and evaluate these pilots to inform future policy decisions. CBO partners of the awarded entities will lead the proposed crisis response programs.
Through this RFA process, the CDSS seeks to identify eligible entities to administer, and their CBO partners to lead, crisis response programs.
Funding Information
Grantees may be awarded a minimum $250,000 per year ($500,000 total) and a maximum of $3.5 million total.
Funding Period
Grants will be awarded for a thirty-month term, from October 1, 2023 – April 30, 2026, with service terms of either twenty-four months (October 1, 2023 – September 30, 2025) or thirty months (October 1, 2023 – March 31, 2026)
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for funding, applicants must:
- Be a city, county, or tribe, or a department of a city, county, or tribe including, but not limited to, departments of social services, disability services, health services, public health, or behavioral health.
- NOT be a law enforcement agency, as defined in WIC section 18999.92(e).
- Propose a partnership with one or more qualifying community-based organizations chosen through a public solicitation process that includes, at a minimum:
- Issuing a public notice and invitation to create a partnership to establish a community-based crisis response program;
- Inviting letters of intent from community-based organizations;
- Convening public meetings to hear questions, concerns, and suggestions from the community that would inform the development of the program.
- Demonstrate authority or approval to enter into a subgrant agreement with the selected CBO partner within sixty days of execution of the grant agreement with CDSS.
- For purposes of meeting this requirement, county grantees may engage in procurement by negotiation pursuant to CDSS Manual of Policies and Procedures (MPP) 23-650.
CBO Partner eligibility requirements
To be eligible for funding as a CBO partner, organizations must:
- Be a nonprofit organization recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 (c)(3) organization, or be fiscally sponsored;
- Be registered with the California Secretary of State’s Office;
- Have an Employer Identification Number (EIN).
- Have a valid business license, if applicable.
- Have any other state or local licenses or certifications necessary to provide the services requested, if applicable.
- Have a physical address in the State of California.
- Demonstrate the capacity to lead the proposed program with evidence of at least two years’ experience providing crisis intervention services
- Demonstrate experience providing community-based alternatives to law enforcement or civilian crisis response in communities with a demonstrated need for community-based alternatives to law enforcement, as evidenced by metrics, including:
- High record of police use of force by local law enforcement agency. This may be demonstrated by police shootings (per arrest); less lethal force such as taser, neck restraints, etc. (per arrest), or other relevant metrics.
- High volume of civilian complaints against local law enforcement agency.
- High rates of imprisonment. This may be demonstrated by county jail or incarceration rate per 100,000 residents, or other relevant metrics.
- Racial profiling by local law enforcement agency. This may be demonstrated by total number of racial and identity complaints reported, or other relevant metrics.
- Additional metrics, such as number of calls for service received by the local law enforcement agency, arrest rate for low level offenses by the local law enforcement agency, and other metrics proposed by applicants to demonstrate need for community-based alternatives to law enforcement will also be considered.
- Demonstrate interventions that serve historically marginalized populations, including:
- Young people of color,
- People with disabilities,
- People who are gender nonconforming,
- People who are formerly incarcerated,
- People with immigration status issues, and
- People who are unhoused or homeless.
- Demonstrate the following:
- Ability to respond to emergency calls.
- Ability to provide treatment, screening, and assessment.
- Ability to provide stabilization and de-escalation services.
- Ability to coordinate with health, social services, and other support services, as needed.
- Ability to maintain relationships with relevant community partners, including a range of community organizers, and medical, behavioral health, and crisis providers.
- Cultural competency in understanding and working with the populations to be served.
For more information, visit C.R.I.S.E.S. Grant Pilot Program.
