COMMUNICATIONS RFP ISSUED BY PUBLIC HEALTH ADVOCATES

The project is intended to provide cities with the tools, policies, and practices that will enable them to address child poverty and related adversities, promote flourishing families, and ensure all children succeed, achieve their full potential, and thrive. We envision that cities/counties/regions will 1) Begin by stating their commitment:  adopting resolutions and a handful of new policies and practices that demonstrate a starting focus on children;  2) Scale their investment: gradually increase efforts that demonstrate a major commitment toward children and families in their policies and practices; 3) Expand the framework:  adopt a culture in which policies and practices–new and existing–are developed, revisited and produced with residents to prioritize equity in the design, innovate and test new strategies and commit to sustaining what works.

The purpose of this RFP is to solicit proposals from professionals qualified to support the ongoing communications needs for the project.

Background:

Public Health Advocates (PHAdvocates) in partnership with the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities (UCLA), the California Department of Public Health and Community Partners is piloting All Children Thrive California (ACT-CA), a three-year, equity-focused, community-driven initiative that takes a city-focused approach, supporting families through community-based policies and strategies that build community resilience, reduce adversity and trauma, and advance the conditions that allow all children to thrive.

Scope of Work:

Public Health Advocates is seeking proposals from qualified communications firms to provide brand development services, strategic message development, editing, copywriting, graphic design, video production, and strategic planning for traditional, digital and social media outreach.

Audience: Throughout the duration of the pilot, ACT-CA will need to communicate effectively with a number of different audiences. As noted above, these audiences will include, at one phase or another, the full range of project stakeholders, including:

A range of city, county, and state-level officials, and staff.

Potential partners, including key implementing institutions or individuals (i.e. community-based organizations, policy and/or advocacy organizations, and other cross-sector partners).

Influential figures, including state political leaders and policymakers, whose support will be crucial to the project’s progress.

ACT-CA staff and partners, including those implementing, designing and evaluating the pilot, who will wish to understand the progress, learn along the way, and track potential impact of the effort.

The general public may also prove to be a key audience for this project.

It is therefore important to identify (map) the key target audiences to articulate clearly the project’s communications objectives with regard to each audience (what information does the team wish to convey, or what action does it wish to motivate); and to develop key messages and products (for each project phase) that are specifically calculated to appeal and respond to the needs of each of those audiences.

RESEARCH:

• Partner with Wondros human-centered design firm to conduct formative research to determine priority focus areas and messaging.
• Create communications plan and initial assets.
• Conduct focus groups with representation from urban/rural areas to test assets.
• Finalize assets and develop a plan to deploy assets
• Identify and define key target audiences
• Monitor and track the effectiveness of the messaging; monitor and track the impact of communications campaign activities on how participating cities, counties, and communities talk about child wellbeing and trauma and community resilience

MESSAGING:

• Develop a campaign theme to drive program activities and achieve the campaign’s objectives
• Develop a logo, slogan/tagline
• Creation and refinement of key messages and associated collateral (talking points, fact sheets, FAQs, slide sets) to describe the initiative, especially for city officials and community organizations; the collateral should also support education and knowledge of potential journal/media outlets that may be part of the strategic messaging strategy
• Develop messages/creative concepts in a manner that creatively, culturally and linguistically reach the diverse group of California’s population
• Conduct, at the contractor’s expense, market research, which may include focus groups representative of ACT-CA target populations, to develop and refine messaging
• Test messages with a diverse array of the key audiences and stakeholders (including a cross- section of the public that is meaningfully representative of California’s diverse population)
• Translations – Spanish and other languages as needed for all outreach materials
• Draft news releases, advisories and backgrounders to promote the efforts of ACT-CA participating cities, counties and communities
• Develop a social media strategy – e.g. hashtags, social media toolkit
• Create a series of videos to relay key, relevant information on:
• What is trauma?
• What can we do about it? What is the vision?

DESIGN AND LAYOUT:

• Develop content for a landing page or website
• Infographics
• Images/Graphics – diverse images for multiple audiences/settings
• PowerPoint templates
• How to present data in an interesting way (picture)
• Short and long version
• Design of Campaign Toolkit describing model programs, policies, strategies, best practices for promoting equity / ensuring community participation in program design, and supporting community leadership in implementation.
• Develop outreach campaign support materials to promote ACT – CA not only for the primary partners, but also the participating cities,counties and communities in order to promote and highlight their efforts and achievements.

Due Date:

October 31, 2019

Address:

ACT-CA Communications Firm RFP

Relevant agencies include Hunter PR and Zeno Group.