Request for Proposals For Early Childhood Education Pipeline Plan

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This RFP is closed.

Proposals Due: Tuesday, May 28th  Decision Notification: Friday, May 31st 

First 8 Memphis 

A child’s foundations in life and learning are essential to lifelong success. First 8 Memphis (F8M) was founded to build an early care and education system that will allow every child in Memphis and Shelby County to reach their full potential by focusing on a strong start during a child's first 8 years of life. We are an advocacy, coordinating and convening organization working across the birth to age eight spectrum. Our early care and education systems building work is conducted in collaboration with the F8M Leadership Council and other stakeholders; and supported by a highly regarded Board of Directors who partner with staff to help reach our community and organizational goals.

Purpose of Request for Proposals 

The Memphis and Shelby County communities, like others across the country, are experiencing a staffing crisis in early care and education (ECE) programs. ECE programs in our community are unable to enroll children to their full capacity because of a lack of qualified staff. On average, ECE programs are underemployed by 8 staff members to enroll their program at full capacity. A career in ECE offers the opportunity to impact children during their earliest years, setting a foundation for lifelong success. However, insufficient compensation, high cost of training programs, and misunderstandings of opportunities for upward mobility prevent interested and passionate candidates from entering the field. The members of our Work Group - leaders of ECE programming, educator preparation programs, and organizations committed to children’s success - are committed to redefining what it means to be an ECE educator, supporting those who dedicate their careers to young children, and ensuring all children in our community have access to high-quality experiences in their early years. Our goal is to develop a pipeline that supports ECE educators at each point in the career continuum, from high school through educator licensure and career sustainability. 

The Situation 

Porter-Leath engaged Bellwether Education Partners in 2018/2019 to better understand the state of ECE teacher preparation and to support the creation of strategies to improve pipeline for operators in Shelby County. The research team and a planning committee landed on four anchor strategies with dozens of combined components that would require an investment of $2,054,000 over five years to complete. Fundraising efforts did not yield investment, so Porter-Leath prepared a meaningful, but less comprehensive, approach to the work. That strategy requires a $530,000 investment over three years to achieve. After a hiatus during the pandemic, a cross-functional work group was formed in 2022 to reset this work by studying the data regarding need and to refresh the strategies that address the need with a goal of Shelby County having a sufficient, diverse pool of passionate, well-prepared ECE teachers. 

The work group has developed an initial plan focused on 4 key pillars – recruitment, retention, training and advocacy.  Detailed work has begun with subcommittees of the larger workgroup to flesh out each of these pillars and begin to create initial action items. The objective is to create a viable strategic plan for the next 2-3 years that is immediately actionable and ripe for funding. 

First 8 Memphis is seeking a consultant to:

• Review the work completed to date

• Facilitate further discussions with the subcommittees established for each pillar

• Research open questions/issues as needed with support from First 8 Memphis and Porter Leath staff (as well as volunteers)

• Revise the strategic plan for further consideration by the work group

• Finalize the strategic plan

• Coordinate, prepare materials for, facilitate, document, and follow-up on action items of quarterly work group meetings

• Create one-year budget for ECE educator pipeline plan 

• Draft Project Manager job description 

Proposal and Timeline 

Proposals will be accepted via email to LaDora Watkins, ladora@first8memphis.org until Tuesday, May 28th with decisions to be made by Friday, May 31st.  Proposals should be no longer than five pages, with additional pages for budget. 

The budget for this work is approximately $15,000 - $20,000. Please provide a cost proposal for

providing the scope of work. The budget should include detailed information on costs by component, fee structure, and expenses, including for key personnel and overhead costs. Any costs included in the proposal must be all-inclusive, that is, covering any outsourced or subcontracted work. All costs must be itemized to include an explanation of all fees. Any consultant(s) need to outsource or subcontract any work to meet the requirements contained herein must be clearly stated in the proposal.

Selected consultant will be asked to attend a meeting with the Working Group on Tuesday, June 4th. The desired timeline to complete this work is July 16th, but may need to be extended to the first part of September.

Resources/Materials available for this project:

1. Bellwether 2019 Report

2. Porter Leath revised Bellwether Plan

3. Survey of ECE completed in 2023

4. Landscape of ECE training programs in Shelby County completed in 2023

5. Draft ECE Educator Pipeline Strategic Plan

6. Minutes of Workgroup meetings from 2022 - March 2024

7. Notes from Subcommittee meetings (Oct. 2023 - April 2024)

8. Expertise of professionals in each of the four key pillars in the Shelby County community (our work group members)

Deliverables

• Facilitate three group meetings (with approximately 10-15 people)

• Facilitate subcommittee meetings (with approximately 4-5 people each) 

• Update and finalize Early Childhood Teacher Pipeline Strategic Plan and Teacher Pipeline Budget