TI-HC Sources Sought.pdf

TI-HC: HUD HEALTHY COMMUNITIES TRANSFORMATION

INITIATIVE

PROJECT INFORMATION

PROJECT OVERVIEW

This project will launch the “Healthy Community Index” project, a 3-year targeted effort designed to improve health systems and the physical, social, economic and service structures that support healthy living and healthy behaviors in pilot cities. Four goals will guide the project:

Health systems are family centered and prioritize prevention Schools anchor communities, promote healthy behaviors and are a gateway for resources and services.

Human services systems are family-centered, prioritize prevention and promote opportunities for children, young adults and their families.

Physical, social and economic environments in local communities support health.

The Department will provide Technical Assistance and capacity-building support to develop and implement holistic strategies to improve health conditions at the neighborhood level through the development and application of standardized healthy community criteria. At present there is no unified national effort to define criteria, support further research, showcase promising practices, provide technical assistance, or scale successful strategies regarding healthy communities. For local communities and Native American Tribes we need to provide resources to utilize national experts and facilitate peer learning opportunities for integrating healthy community criteria into current policies and programs. For federal agencies, we need to enable an interagency work process and learning experience to define and flesh out a national commitment to creating healthy communities.

This project should result in the development of a standardized Healthy Community Index (HCI) and accompanying HCI Assessment Tool that is evidence-based and easily implemented. The Department will consult broadly with other federal agency staff and outside experts in developing the deliverables of this Initiative. The HCI should foster greater understanding of how community-level factors influence health, integrate policies and programs that facilitate healthier communities, and promote long-term improvements in the health of communities and their residents.

PROJECT COMPONENTS

The Department has identified the following five activities to be the primary components of this project.

Research and development of a standardized national criteria, the Healthy Community Index.

The contractor shall convene a national advisory panel (NAP) of multidisciplinary experts (e.g., 8 - 10 members) to provide input for the development of a HCI that could be widely applied and adopted. At the initial meeting, the NAP should be presented with a draft plan for developing criteria, including identification and summarization of existing tools that assess community health as well as related guidance and standards. One critical question for the NAP to address is regarding the best conceptual approach for identifying, organizing, and weighing the criteria that would be included in the tool. It is anticipated that the panel would meet on a minimum of two occasions (at the beginning and end of the project) with additional meetings held as necessary by conference call.

(Note: it may be possible to arrange in-person meetings in conjunction with a national conference that experts would be attending to minimize travel costs). The Contractor should be prepared to compensate privately employed panel members for their work on this panel.

The Contractor shall develop an evidence-based set of criteria to establish the basis for the Healthy Community Index. The Contractor shall develop recommendations from the NAP, including input from HUD, to establish criteria for what constitutes a “Healthy Community”. The following topics may serve as a starting point:

Environmental Quality Housing Quality Opportunities for Exercise Availability of Affordable/Nutritious Food Employment Opportunities Education: Availability and Quality of Education.

Health Care: Availability and Adequacy Crime and Violence Community Services: Availability and Quality Transportation: Availability and Adequacy

Development of an associated HCI tool with evidenced-based factors to accompany the

HCI.

The Contractor will develop an evidence-based Healthy Community Index Assessment Tool (HCIAT), utilizing other existing tools, related guidance and professional judgment, to create a rating system that is relatively easy to use and which could be widely applied.

The Contractor shall provide thorough documentation identifying the basis for the criteria that are incorporated into the index. The HCIAT must allow communities to identify areas of critical need in order to establish priorities for the targeting of resources. The HCIAT must generate results that clearly provide community ratings on the various criteria that are incorporated into the HCI.

Development of protocols and guidance for the use and application of the Healthy Community Index.

The Contractor shall identify and train local organizations in each community on the application of the HCI Assessment Tool. The Contractor shall develop a structured approach for assessing the usability of the tool, the utility of the output from the HCI, and revise it based on the results of the assessment.

Piloting the HCI in selected cities.

The Contractor shall pilot the Healthy Community Index in four communities determined by HUD. The Contractor shall provide direct funding, technical assistance and training, utilizing members of the National Advisory Panel, to assist pilot communities to implement the HCI. The pilot cities are: San Francisco, Denver, Boston and Charleston .

Providing recommendations to HUD on ways to promote and integrate the HCI, and recommending ways that technical assistance and capacity-building for the HCI can be delivered.

The contractor shall provide recommendations based upon the information and feedback collected from the pilot cities for improving upon the program and better achieving the Department’s goals should HUD elect to implement the HCI to a wider market.