Best Starts for Kids is accepting applications for its Increasing Blood Lead Testing Grant to support a group or organization that will work with the healthcare provider community and with focus communities at increased risk of lead exposure to increase the number of children who are receiving appropriate blood lead testing and appropriate follow-up services.
Donor Name: Best Starts for Kids
State: Washington
County:
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/08/2023
Grant Duration: 36 months
Size of the Grant: $900,000
Details:
At Best Starts, their Lead and Toxics Program (LTP) works to prevent childhood lead poisoning, identify and reduce exposures to environmental toxics, and equitably improve health outcomes, especially for communities of color.
The RFP will fund up to two applicants (or groups of applicants) to improve blood lead testing rates among focus communities. Focus communities include, but are not limited to, Medicaid-eligible children and their families, immigrant and refugee families with young children, and Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) families with young children.
Organizations interested in applying to work with the LTP do NOT need a background in lead and toxics work. Instead, they are looking for organizational partners with:
- A strong tie to pediatric providers and to the focus communities,
- A passion for environmental justice and health equity, and
- Experience working collaboratively to design community-driven programming.
Outcomes
This RFP strives to:
- Increase the number of children who are tested for lead.
- Increase the number of children with blood lead levels higher than most children (3.5 mcg/dl and higher) who receive appropriate developmental services. criteria ye rakhna This request for proposal is open to nonprofit organizations (including Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)), community-based organizations, tribes/tribal organizations, and public or governmental agencies serving communities in King County.
Funding Information
- The total funding amount available for this RFP is approximately $900,000.
- The contract exhibit expected start date is June 1, 2023 with an end date no later than June 1, 2026 (36 months).
Eligibility Criteria
This funding opportunity is open to nonprofit organizations (including Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)), community-based organizations, tribes and tribal organizations and public or governmental agencies serving communities in King County. Small nonprofits and community-based organizations are encouraged to submit proposals.
Ideal applicants will:
- Uphold and center community needs and interests in all decisions and recommendations.
- Seek to build relationships with community partners and strengthen existing relationships with partners serving the RFP focus communities, including organizations providing developmental services.
- Recognize the local impacts of historical and current systemic racism and structural violence.
- Understand the stigma present in many communities surrounding developmental differences in children.
- Know and understand the range of barriers families face when seeking pediatric care for their children.
- Be familiar with local healthcare systems, pediatric providers, and developmental service providers serving the RFP focus communities.
- Understand healthcare provider work practices, processes, and tools available to address deficits.
- Provide staff equitable compensation. Equitable pay may vary according to an organization’s size, access to funding, history, and other factors, so this RFP will not impose a set dollar amount to define equitable pay. Instead, applicants will be asked to cultivate comprehensive plans to facilitate staff retention and demonstrate how they:
- At a minimum, pay the living wage applicable to the geographic area where organization’s staff work. o Offer incentives like bonuses and regularly scheduled performance-based raises.
- Provide benefits, which may include, but are not limited to health, dental and vision insurance; paid time off (PTO); retirement plans; flexible schedules; and professional development.
- Maintain justifiable pay gaps between the highest paid and lowest paid employees within the organization or group.
For more information, visit Best Starts for Kids.
