To: Board of Supervisors
From: Equity Committee
Report Title: Recommended Consultant for the African American Holistic Wellness and Resource Hub Feasibility Study
☐Recommendation of the County Administrator ☒ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
RECEIVE and DISCUSS the update from the African American Holistic Wellness and Resource Hub Feasibility Study Steering Committee’s proposal review and consultant selection process, and APPROVE and AUTHORIZE staff to negotiate a contract with Ceres Policy Research to conduct the feasibility study for an African American Holistic Wellness and Resource Hub in Contra Costa County, as recommended by the Equity Committee.
FISCAL IMPACT:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
At the October 17, 2023 Board of Supervisors meeting, 13 Steering Committee members were appointed to support the development and implementation of the African American Holistic Wellness and Resource Hub Feasibility Study. At the November 13, 2023 Equity Committee meeting, staff to the Committee were directed to convene the Steering Committee and prepare a draft request for qualifications (RFQ) to solicit the services of a firm/consultant to conduct a feasibility study for the creation of an African American Holistic Wellness and Resource Hub to present to the Board of Supervisors. The RFQ was issued and closed on March 4, 2024, with a
total contract cost of $80,000 (one-time Measure X funds allocated by the Board of Supervisors for the feasibility study). By the March 4, 2024 deadline, one response was received. In collaboration with the Steering Committee for the African American Holistic Wellness and Resource Hub Feasibility Study, the ORESJ Co-Directors recommended a re-issue of the request as a Request for Proposals (RFP) and increase the contract cost to $180,000. The additional $100,000 would come from the FY 23-24 ORESJ budget, in one-time funds.
The Equity Committee and Board of Supervisors approved the request, and the updated RFP was issued on April 24, 2024 and closed on May 24, 2024. By the May 24, 2024 deadline, seven proposals were received, of which six were complete. The ORESJ CoDirectors convened the proposal review committee (five members of the African American Holistic Wellness
and Resource Hub Feasibility Study Steering Committee) to review and score the complete proposals based on the rubric provided in the original, posted RFP.
The following is a brief summary of the process to review, score and deliberate on the proposals received, and ultimately to select a final organization to recommend as the contractor for the feasibility study:
- The five members of the proposal review committee independently reviewed the six complete proposals and submitted their respective scores.
- At the June 10, 2024 African American Holistic Wellness and Resource Hub Feasibility Study Steering Committee meeting, the five members of the review committee deliberated collectively on their reflections and assessments of the top applicants (based on both individual and average scores).
- After the proposal review committee shared initial reflections, the full Steering Committee shared observations and asked questions to clarify the ranking and scores of the six proposals. Staff also opened up Public Comment on the agenda item, and members of the public shared feedback about the top-ranked applicants.
- Once the discussion came to an end, each member of the proposal review committee selected the organization they believed was most qualified to carry out the feasibility study as described in the RFP.
- Four (4) out of 5 proposal review committee members selected Ceres Policy Research as the most qualified applicant to carry out the feasibility study as described in the RFP.
- Upon receiving the final recommendation from the proposal review committee, the full African American Holistic Wellness and Resource Hub Feasibility Study Steering Committee took a roll call vote. Ten (10) out of 11 steering committee members selected Ceres Policy Research as the consultant to conduct the feasibility study. (Two members of the steering committee were absent from the June 10, 2024 meeting.)
- On June 24, 2024, ORESJ staff and a Review Committee member presented this recommendation to the Board of Supervisors Equity Committee.
- After discussion that included public comment, the Equity Committee accepted the Steering Committee’s recommendation of Ceres Policy Research and voted to move this decision forward to the full Board of Supervisors for final approval.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
The feasibility study for an African American Holistic Wellness and Resource Hub in Contra Costa County will be stalled.