210621 MHVI Application for Response.docx

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services Department of Public Health 250 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108-4619

Massachusetts Home Visiting Initiative Cover Page Make this the first page of your proposal.

RFR #210621

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Organization Information

Is your agency pre-qualified to conduct business with the Commonwealth? |_| Yes |_| No

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AGENCY AFFIRMATIONS FORM

Affirm the agency’s ability to participate fully in the Massachusetts Home Visiting Initiative (MHVI) program described in RFR #210621, and the agency’s ability to adhere to the MHVI program elements as described in RFR #210621

Program Components and Standards

The program should implement their identified evidence-based home visiting model(s) – Parents as Teachers, Healthy Families (including Healthy Families Massachusetts), and/or Early Head Start Home-Based in their identified community(s) and surrounding catchment areas: Boston, Brockton, Chelsea, Everett, Fall River, Fitchburg, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, New Bedford, North Adams, Pittsfield, Revere, Southbridge, Springfield, and Worcester.

The Bureau expects that the program will continue to provide the primary service components including:

Eligibility: Local Implementing Agency (Contract Awardee)

1. The applying agency will be designated a LIA and will be responsible for carrying out all contract (program, data, and fiscal) requirements.

2. There will be no subcontracts with other EBHV models with this RFR. However, agencies are strongly encouraged to collaborate with other EBHV models.

3. Agencies are strongly encouraged to collaborate with multiple stakeholders (i.e. mental health, substance use, domestic violence, etc.) to provide comprehensive services for families. Agencies are allowed to subcontract with these community providers to provide training or consultation if desired/needed.

4. LIAs will be required to participate in the annual DPH MHVI program and fiscal site visits as well as on-going program and fiscal monitoring.

5. LIAs will be required, as necessary, to participate in HRSA site visits.

6. LIAs will be required to attend the annual MHVI Grantees Meeting.

7. LIAs will be required to complete LIA surveys as disseminated.

8. MHVI is committed to implementing the program consistent with the CLAS Standards. CLAS standards support vendors to create culturally-competent organizations and systems, contribute to elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities, and make services more responsive to the client needs. MDPH MHVI requires contracted vendors to work continually to meet CLAS standards, complete the annual CLAS self-assessment, and MHVI will provide technical assistance (TA) and quality improvement support as needed.

EBHV Models & Model Fidelity

1. LIAs are required to maintain fidelity to the selected evidence-based home visiting model(s). Fidelity is defined as an applicant’s adherence to model developer requirements for implementation as well as any affiliation, certification, or accreditation required by the model developer, if applicable. These requirements include all aspects of initiating and implementing an evidence-based home visiting model, and can include elements such as: recruiting and retaining clients; providing ongoing supervision and professional development for staff; and developing an integrated resource and referral network to support client needs.

2. Noncompliance with model fidelity or national model annual performance standards could impact the programs’ receipt of MHVI funding.

3. Each selected LIA must work with their selected model developer and MHVI to ensure fidelity to the model selected during expansion and/or implementation.

Service Population

1. Priority populations are:

· Eligible families who reside in communities in need of such services, as identified in the statewide needs assessment; taking into account the staffing, community resource, and other requirements to operate at least one approved model of home visiting and demonstrate improvements for eligible families;

· Low-income eligible families;

· Eligible families with pregnant women who have not attained age 21;

· Eligible families that have a history of child abuse or neglect or have had interactions with child welfare services;

· Eligible families that have a history of substance use or need substance use treatment;

· Eligible families that have users of tobacco products in the home;

· Eligible families that are or have children with low student achievement;

· Eligible families with children with developmental delays or disabilities; and

· Eligible families that include individuals who are serving or formerly served in the Armed Forces, including such families that have members of the Armed Forces who have had multiple deployments outside of the United States.

· Immigrant families

· Families affected by housing insecurity and/or homelessness

· Families affected by domestic violence

· Families affected by mental health issues

MHVI also prioritizes the following underserved populations:

· Families with children ages three to kindergarten

· Parents over age 21 years

· Parent with multiple children

· Fathers and/or co-parents

2. Applicants must demonstrate cultural and linguistic capacity to serve the populations who reside in the community.

Group Services

1. Most national EBHV models require LIAs to provide group services to participants to support social connectedness, emotional wellness, parent-child interaction, and healthy growth and development.

2. All LIAs will be required to complete at least one parent support group series (six week series) per fiscal year. If group series are required by model developers, the model required group series may be used to fulfill the DPH requirement. Collaboration with other agencies is encouraged as appropriate when providing group services.

Participant Recruitment, Engagement, and Retention

1. Per HRSA requirements, LIAs must be at 85% service capacity. Maximum service capacity is defined as the highest number of families or households that could potentially be enrolled during a year if the program were operating with a full complement of hired and trained home visitors. The specific expectations of annual capacity (numbers per home visitor) vary by model. Capacity is defined as serving 12 families per full time equivalent (FTE) at a point in time for the HFA, HFM, and PAT programs. The capacity for EHS is 10 families per FTE at a point in time.

2. LIAs must support comprehensive recruitment, engagement, and retention plans to ensure ongoing enrollment of families. Specific components of the plan must include recruitment, enrollment, retention, disengagement, and re-enrollment of families in home visiting services. Performance with participant recruitment and retention will be a focus of quarterly reports and annual site visits by DPH staff.

3. LIAs must develop and implement policies and procedures to avoid dual enrollment. Dual enrollment refers to home visiting participant enrollment and receipt of services through more than one MHVI-supported home visiting model concurrently.

4. LIAs will develop and implement procedures to seamlessly transfer enrolled families to alternate MHVI-supported home visiting models if it best meets the interests and needs of the family for reasons including, but not limited to, re-location, eligibility, graduation, etc.

5. MHVI supports LIAs’ efforts to serve homeless families and allows flexibility with regard to geography to extend coverage to and support continuity of services for participants who may become or are at risk for homelessness.

6. LIAs must also ensure that all home visiting program participation is voluntary.

Staff Recruitment and Retention

1. MHVI expects LIAs maintain staffing levels determined during contract negotiations.

2. DPH encourages agencies to provide appropriate and competitive salaries (or hourly rates) to recruit and retain qualified staff. Current rates reported by agencies are $15-$22 per hour.

3. LIAs are allowed to hire directly or subcontract with clinical staff, other support staff, or consultants to provide topic-specific expertise or clinical support to home visiting staff. MHVI encourages agencies to consider hiring social workers or other clinicians to provide clinical support and consultation to home visiting staff and participants.

4. LIAs are required to adhere to national EBHV model supervision requirements. All LIAs are required to provide Reflective Supervision.

5. LIAs are required to provide notify MHVI staff of staff departures (retirement, termination, etc.) two weeks before the anticipated end date.

6. New home visitors are expected to be seeing families within three months of the hire date.

Training

1. LIAs are required to maintain compliance with all required national model trainings expectations.

2. LIAs are required to maintain compliance with all MHVI trainings expectations.

3. MHVI trainings will provide content, screening and assessment information to support grantees in delivering high-quality EBHV services.

4. DPH encourages applicants to budget for any desired additional trainings or professional development opportunities and outline these trainings in your budget narrative.

5. A full list of required MHVI trainings is outlined in the MHVI Training and Professional Development Protocol.

6. Compliance with training requirements will be assessed annually.

Data Collection and Continuous Quality Improvement The MIECHV performance measurement system includes two types of data collection: 1) demographic, service utilization, and select clinical data indicators, and 2) performance indicators and systems outcome measures. Data collected at the LIA level are compiled and analyzed to meet annual performance reporting requirements. The following are the six Federal benchmark areas on which all programs will be required to collect and report data.

· Improvements in maternal, newborn, and child health

· Prevention of child injuries, child abuse, neglect, or maltreatment, and reduction in emergency room visits

· Improvements in school readiness and child academic achievement

· Reduction in crime or domestic violence

· Improvements in family economic self-sufficiency

· Improvements in the coordination and referrals for other community resources and supports

1. LIAs are required to collect, record, and report all data elements necessary to meet the federally mandated Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Initiative (MIECHV) Performance Measurement requirements (see HRSA.gov for more information).

2. LIAs must use the MHVI-assigned management information system (MIS) for MHVI data collection and reporting. PAT programs will use Penelope, the PAT National system; HFA will use the Efforts to Outcomes (ETO), and HFM and EHS programs will use the Participant Data System (PDS) managed by the Children’s Trust.

3. LIAs must enter all data by the 10th of each month.

4. LIAs must participate in MHVI evaluation activities as necessary and/or required. Evaluation activities may include but are not limited to interviews, focus groups, and surveys.

5. LIAs must participate in continuous quality improvement (CQI) activities using Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) methodology to conduct rapid cycle tests of change to improve program performance.

Building Local and Statewide Systems LIAs are encouraged to continue to work on building and enhancing community supports, services, and systems for families with young children including but not limited to:

1. In accordance with national model expectations, LIAs are expected to maintain their own Advisory Council or participate in a local advisory council that has been specifically identified to meet the purpose of MHVI Advisory Council expectations and the home visiting programs’ goals.

2. Participation in other local advisory councils or committees.

3. Collaboration with other initiatives to support the early childhood system of care such as Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care meetings or local early childhood councils.

4. Participation in learning opportunities on collective impact and collaborations at the community level.

5. Partnering with local agencies to share resource, send referrals, promote programming, and co-host groups or events for families.

Trauma-Informed Agency/Care Delivery Awardees should embody a Trauma-Informed Approach in program delivery and staff management. Trauma-Informed Approach is one in which an organization realizes the impact of trauma on both its families and staff, recognizes the signs of trauma, and uses that understanding to improve client engagement, outcomes, organizational services, trauma-informed care practices, and to prevent re-traumatization (Menschner & Maul, 2016; SAMHSA, 2014). A Trauma-informed approach can also use self-care practices and procedures to help prevent burnout and turnover among home visiting program staff, which ultimately impacts retention, success, and well-being among the families served (Cairone, Karen et. al. Home Visiting Issues and Insights Creating a Trauma-Informed Home Visiting Program Issue Brief: January 2017).

The applying agency will:

· Affirm the agency’s ability to implement the home visiting program in accordance with the outlined MHVI scope of services and performance requirements in Section 2.0 Specifications and Section 3.0 Performance Requirements and Contract Monitoring of RFR # 210621 to achieve federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program goals and expectations.

The applying agency will complete the following:

|_| An updated budget for one year |_| An updated SDP plan |_| An updated agency staff demographic |_| If applicable a current subcontractor identification |_| An updated Levels of Cooperative Activities

I affirm that I will comply with the requirements of Request for Response RFR # 210621 and with the terms of this proposal.

Authorized Signatory:

First Name: _________________________ Last Name: ________________________________________

Title: _______________________________ Agency Name: ______________________________________

Authorized Signature for the Applicant Organization :