Youth Mentoring Facilitation

The City of Long Beach, Department of Health and Human Services, is requesting proposals for youth mentoring facilitation services to connect 100 City employees with 100 middle school students from five Long Beach Unified School District schools, with proposals due October 28, 2022 at 11:00 AM Pacific Time.

The scope requires the awardee to develop mentor selection and orientation processes, provide training and incentives for mentors and mentees, monitor relationships, coordinate field trips, establish data-sharing agreements, attend bi-weekly check-in meetings, and submit quarterly progress reports. Mentoring relationships will occur on-site during school hours (available until 6:00 PM) at five identified schools in neighborhoods disproportionately affected by violence, poverty, and COVID-19. Approximately one hour of mentoring per mentor per month is expected during the 2022–2023 and 2023–2024 school years. Student identification is expected by December 2022, with program implementation commencing in the second semester of 2022–2023. All contractor staff and participating mentors must complete Live Scan background checks and comply with FERPA confidentiality protocols and LBUSD pre-screening requirements. In-person programming is required; virtual delivery is not acceptable.

Minimum qualifications include three years of experience facilitating mentoring programs, mentoring services as a full-time organizational component, and business qualification and absence of debarment in Long Beach. The awardee must maintain commercial general liability insurance of $2 million per occurrence and $4 million aggregate, workers' compensation of $1 million per accident, and professional liability insurance of $1 million.

The contract runs through December 2024 with options to renew for two additional one-year periods. Payment will be negotiated quarterly on an invoice basis, issued within 30 calendar days. Qualified expenditures include personnel, benefits, supplies, equipment, transportation, and indirect costs capped at 10 percent of total budget. The program is funded through Long Beach Recovery Act Violence Prevention and Safe Cities Funding. The City has not disclosed a budget ceiling, indicating it will depend on proposals received.

Evaluation emphasizes organizational capacity and experience, communication and reporting ability, method of approach incorporating best practices and trauma-informed strategies, and cost reasonableness. An optional pre-proposal meeting is scheduled for October 11, 2022 at 11:00 AM via Zoom. Questions are due October 14, 2022, with responses posted by October 18, 2022. The Equal Benefits Ordinance applies to for-profit contractors with contracts valued at $100,000 or more; compliance certification is required before contract execution.