Santa Cruz Children’s Services Issues Social Media RFP

The County of Santa Cruz, Human Services Department (HSD) Family and Children’s Services Division (FCS) is seeking a social media agency  to develop, implement and evaluate an evidence-based or informed, replicable resource family recruitment campaign.

Background

FCS provides services to children who have been abused or neglected, or who are at risk of abuse or neglect. The services focus on child safety, child and family well-being, and permanent homes for children. The first priority of FCS is to keep children safely in their homes with their parents. If that is not possible, children are placed in foster or relative caregiver homes (called resource families) until their families can care for them again, or they are placed for adoption.

This recruitment effort is being undertaken as part of Santa Cruz County’s implementation of Continuum of Care Reform (CCR), a comprehensive effort to improve California’s child welfare and probation systems. In particular, CCR seeks to better assess and meet children’s needs for services and support, and to increase the number of youth in foster care or on probation who are predominantly cared for in family-based, rather than more restrictive congregate care, settings during their time in out-of-home care.  FCS and the Probation Department, therefore, are looking to increase their ongoing supply of non-relative resource families.

Overview

HSD has developed a theory of change that articulates the issue, sets the context in reaching and recruiting the resource families needed, and details how an evidence-based, replicable social marketing campaign may help HSD to achieve desired short-, medium, and long-term outcomes.

This RFP is designed to seek providers that have the necessary expertise to offer a high-quality, culturally proficient, evidence-based social marketing campaign.

Scope of work

The scope of services will contain two phases and these are described below.

1. Phase One has two components:
2. Phase 1 – Refinement of Design and Development of Implementation Planincluding:

• Collection and review of data on target audiences to finalize proposed target audiences
• Advise FCS on locating target audience(s) in Santa Cruz County
• Refinement of potential social marketing community partners and how they can best be reached
• Develop understanding of desired brand
• Development of strategic recruitment and support messaging, including pilot testing with sample target audience
• Identification of communication products to support the campaign
• Development of social marketing campaign activities
• Refinement of capacity building strategy for FCS staff

Phase 1

Resource Family Support Research collect, analyze and report on the support resource families need to:

• Feel appreciated and good about their contribution;
• Maintain a stable placement for the child/youth in their care;
• Support the birth family toward reunification; and/or
• Be able and willing to make a permanent, legal connection with the child/youth in their care.

Phase Two:

Implementation and Evaluation of Campaign

The consultant will manage the implementation and evaluation of the campaign, while simultaneously building the social marketing capacity of existing County FCS staff.

Proposal due by November 17 to:

County of Santa Cruz,
Human Services Department Centralized Contracts Unit
1000 Emeline Avenue
Santa Cruz, California 95060

PR firms in California include Ketchum PR, Burson-Marsteller and Coyne PR.