Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Claire Cunningham, Director, Human Services Agency
Subject: Measure K: Agreement with VIVA Social Impact Partners
RECOMMENDATION:
title
Measure K: Adopt a resolution authorizing an amendment to the agreement with VIVA Social Impact Partners, to provide additional communication consulting services and increasing funding by $47,000 for a new total obligation amount not to exceed $247,000.
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BACKGROUND:
On July 26, 2023, the San Mateo County Human Services Agency (HSA), Office of the Agency Director (OAD), issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for The Big Lift (TBL) Communications Services to increase The Big Lift’s visibility and build public will for its mission.
In response to the RFP, the County received proposals from twelve unique applicants. The Evaluation Committee met on September 21, 2023, to evaluate vendor proposals. The Evaluation Committee selected VIVA Social Impact Partners (VIVA) as the recommended consultant for contract award. VIVA received the highest score of 82.82% based on the RFP criteria, including their technical proposal method and approach, experience and organizational capacity, and price. VIVA is a consultant based in San Mateo County with a wealth of experience in early childhood and education communications. The Evaluation Committee was impressed by VIVA’s strategy and equity-centered approach with demonstrated high-level and high-quality content. On January 9, 2024, HSA and VIVA entered into a Director-level agreement for the term of December 1, 2023 to November 30, 2025, and a total obligation not to exceed $200,000.
DISCUSSION:
HSA requests to amend the agreement to increase funding by $47,000 for a new total obligation amount not to exceed $247,000 to provide additional communication consulting services.
Based on the priorities identified by The Big Lift’s communications planning group, VIVA will conduct 1 additional focus group with early elementary educators (TK-3) in addition to the groups included in the original scope of work. This additional focus group will ensure that elementary educators can be asked distinct questions about their experiences teaching reading and their impressions of The Big Lift.
In addition, to support successful community engagement, VIVA will manage the recruitment and enrollment processes for the focus groups, including creating recruitment materials, creating registration forms, selecting and inviting participants, coordinating logistics, and administering incentives. VIVA will engage The Big Lift team and partner to help with initial outreach about the focus groups and will provide language and materials to support this.
The Big Lift has the opportunity to create a reading-focused website for parent audiences, which will support the strategic plan strategy related to family engagement in literacy development. This reading-focused website would be a companion to the regular The Big Lift website, which is focused on the entire initiative and targeted to all audiences. VIVA will create this website using the Oakland Reads website as a template. The Big Lift’s reading website will be branded as The Big Lift, with content updated and created to be tailored to The Big Lift and San Mateo County.
Additionally, VIVA will develop a brand PowerPoint template to support The Big Lift’s communications, and/or any emerging priorities for communications support, as identified by The Big Lift.
The resolution contains the County’s standard provisions allowing amendments of the County’s fiscal obligations by a maximum of $25,000 (in the aggregate).
The County Attorney has reviewed and approved the resolution and the amendment as to form.
PERFORMANCE MEASURES:
|
Measure |
FY 2023-24 Target |
FY 2024-25 Target |
FY 2025-26 Target |
|
By 2026: 75% of The Big Lift stakeholders report they are “very clear” on The Big Lift’s change model and that they “agree” or “strongly agree” that the model is likely to produce the outcomes named in TBLs change model. (TBL 2023-26 Strategic Plan: INFRASTRUCTURE STRATEGIES Goal 1 pg. 16) |
50% |
60% |
75% |
|
By 2026: 3-year Revenue Plan in place with staffing and infrastructure needed to implement it. (TBL 2023-26 Strategic Plan: INFRASTRUCTURE STRATEGIES Goal 4 pg. 19) |
40% |
60% |
100% |
The Big Lift will effectively reach its target audiences including families, educators, partners, funders, policymakers, and the general public to engage broad community support by raising the profile of The Big Lift and promoting a common understanding of The Big Lift and the importance of 3rd grade literacy across San Mateo County.
Through print, digital, social media campaigns and relationship building, The Big Lift will gain support among key stakeholders, including fundraising efforts and implementation of the 2023-26 Strategic Plan.
Depending on the campaign, strategies to be developed could include videos, animations, newsletters, story banking, social media sets, talking points and presentations, one-pagers or brochures, op-ed drafts and placements, blog posts, web content, ad buys, etc.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The term of the agreement is December 1, 2023 through November 30, 2025, for a total amount not to exceed $247,000. The total obligation of this agreement is funded through The Big Lift’s Measure K revenue and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation Grant. The funding and appropriations for these services are included in The Big Lift FY 2023-24 Recommended Budget and will be included in future budgets.