Early Childhood Council RFP Overview

The Children’s Foundation of Mississippi (CFM) is offering up to 10 small planning grants to establish local Early Childhood Councils (ECCs). The purpose of an Early Childhood Council (or committee) is to invite community leaders from all industries interested in improving conditions for children ages 0-5 and families in their neighborhoods, cities, and counties.

This Request for Proposal (RFP) allows you to apply for a planning grant of $2,000 to assist in establishing an Early Childhood Council. Each ECC should independently define the needs of young children (0-5) in its community and then determine what is needed to move early childhood programs forward.  Beyond the initial planning grant period, the CFM will continue to work closely with each ECC to expand and sustain the work in the community.

Early Childhood Council Goals

Communities that want to build a committee with a focus on one or more of the following areas should apply:

• Work to expand and deepen civic engagement with policymakers on children’s issues identified in their communities
• Support or advocate for policies and programming that continue to expand state funding for high‐quality public Pre‐K in Mississippi
• Serve as a facilitator and connector to build partnerships with existing non-profits/programming with established track records such as Excel By 5; Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, Parents Campaign Research and Education Fund, United Ways, Reach Out and Read, Mind in the Making/VROOM, Resource and Referral Centers, etc.
• Implement unique early childhood programs or resources in areas with a lack thereof
• Determine what programs or services are not currently in their communities but need to be accessed

How the CFM will help:

The Children's Foundation of Mississippi is dedicated to sustaining a long-term relationship with each council and supporting your community beyond the initial planning grant year. Our Early Childhood Council Sustainability Coordinator and Early Childhood Council and Parent Engagement Coordinator will work closely with you to assist in building the physical, financial, programming, and outreach capacities of your council.

Eligibility

These grants will be made to agencies or organizations that want to lead the community in determining needs and promoting the advancement of early childhood programming in their local communities. The planning grants will be awarded to local, community-based entities in two categories:  

• Groups that are currently meeting, formally or informally, to address early care and education needs at the local level (whether it is within a municipality or across a county)
• Communities that do not currently have groups working on early care and education needs but want to explore more possibilities for children in their communities/counties are also encouraged to apply for the planning grants

Non-profit organizations, community-based groups, educational institutions, and other relevant entities are eligible to apply.

Furthermore, we ask:

• Applicants must demonstrate a commitment to serving the interests of children aged 0-5 years and their families.
• Organizations must have a proven track record of community engagement and collaboration.
• Organizations must have an EIN number to provide the CFM for the award distribution. If the applicant does not have their own EIN, they must partner with an organization that will serve as the fiscal agent. 
• Applicants must commit to continue partnering with the CFM and sustaining the ECC beyond the initial planning grant period.

RFP Contents

The application will ask you the following:

• Project Coordinator Information
• Organization Information
• Fiscal Agent information (if needed)
• Project Narrative
• Goals and Objectives
• Community Program Status
• Budget Description
• Electronic Signature

Submitting Your Proposal

To ensure you receive a copy of your application responses, please enter your email address in the space provided below. Completing this form does not require a Google account. However, those who are logged into a Google account have the convenience of editing their application on different devices and saving their progress as they go. 

Applications open on June 3, 2024.

Applications are due by 5 PM on July 10, 2024.

You will receive notification of the status of your application no later than July 31, 2024.