Summary

The New York County District Attorney’s Office (DANY) is requesting proposals to evaluate four of the programs funded under the Family and Youth Development (FYD) Programs initiative. These FYD programs aim to expand the capacity of and/or implement family and youth development programs for populations at elevated risk of poor life outcomes, including eventual involvement in the justice system.

These programs are part of DANY’s broader investments in prevention, which collectively aim to prevent crime, improve public safety, and reduce involvement in the justice system.

Families serve as one of the most important factors in healthy human development, particularly from birth through childhood, and from adolescence through young adulthood. Family characteristics and family-related factors have been found to relate to countless long-term outcomes, from academic achievement to physical well-being to prosocial behavior, across a wide variety of populations, and as part of a wide a variety of interventions. Although the FYD programs vary, all of them are envisioned to reduce the risk factors for eventual involvement in crime and the criminal justice system.

Of the nine programs funded under the FYD initiative, four have been selected for evaluation as part of this solicitation. These programs have been selected for evaluation because they are new or innovative, because they have not been subject to a rigorous evaluation to date, and/or because they will be implemented in such a way that an evaluation is feasible. Specifically, DANY is interested in understanding how the programs are implemented, whether they are effective in reducing risk factors for involvement in the criminal justice system (such as school drop-out and delinquent behavior), and whether they are cost-effective. The evaluations could include a process evaluation, outcome evaluation, and/or return-on-investment (ROI) analysis, as described in the RFP.

This solicitation reflects DANY’s broad commitment to data-driven decision-making and to informing the research and practice field in New York and more widely.

DANY anticipates awarding one or more contracts for the evaluation of the four programs eligible for evaluation through this solicitation, with total funding up to $1.4 million over up to 4.5 years. Applicants may, but are not required, to propose to evaluate all four of the eligible programs.

Documents

• Request for Proposals to Evaluate Family and Youth Development Programs
• ADDENDUM 1: Applicant Questions and Answers (revised November 20, 2017)

Deadlines

• The deadline to submit questions about this RFP was Friday, October 27, 2017, at 11:59 p.m. EST.
  
• The deadline to submit proposals was Friday, December 22, 2017, at 11:59 p.m. EST.
  

Background

ISLG is the technical assistance consultant to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for CJII. ISLG provides input to DANY, manages and provides guidance to the grantees funded under CJII, and conducts oversight and performance measurement throughout the lifetime of the initiative. All funds are administered through the Research Foundation of CUNY (Research Foundation).

Last updated: January 5, 2018