title
PROPOSED CONTRACT
Department(s): Cook County Justice Advisory Council
Vendor:
1) Presence Behavioral Health, Chicago, Illinois
2) North Lawndale College Prep, Chicago, Illinois
3) Lawndale Christian Legal Center, Chicago, Illinois
4) Inspiration Corporation, Chicago, Illinois
5) Respond Now, Chicago, Illinois
6) Children’s Research Triangle, Chicago, Illinois
7) Center for Advancing Domestic Peace, Chicago, Illinois
8) Center for Conflict Resolution, Chicago, Illinois
Request: Authorization for the Chief Procurement Officer to enter into and execute
Good(s) or Service(s): Violence Prevention, Intervention, & Reduction Services
Contract Value: $40,000.00 per vendor
Contract period: 11/1/2015 - 10/31/2016
Potential Fiscal Year Budget Impact: FY 2015 $160,000.00, FY 2016 $160,000.00
Accounts: 499-298
Contract Number(s):
1) Presence Behavioral Health, 1553-14559A
2) North Lawndale College Prep, 1553-14559B
3) Lawndale Christian Legal Center, 1553-14559C
4) Inspiration Corporation, 1553-14559D
5) Respond Now, 1553-14559E
6) Children’s Research Triangle, 1553-14559F
7) Center for Advancing Domestic Peace, 1553-14559G
8) Center for Conflict Resolution, 1553-14559H
Concurrences:
The vendor has met the Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprises Ordinance.
The Chief Procurement Officer concurs.
Summary: The Chief Procurement Officer issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) in accordance with the Cook County Procurement Code. The above vendors are recommended for award based on the established evaluation criteria, which include qualifications, experience, and proposed program.
These contracts are the second set of the JAC’s annual Violence Prevention, Intervention, and Reduction Grant Awards. Additional awards in the amount of $10,000 (8) are concurrently being submitted to the Board.
Presence Behavioral Health: This program will serve youth 12 - 21 who are at risk of violence involvement and their families, in Proviso Township. The “High Intensity Program” provides mental health counseling, therapy, case management and an array of trauma informed evidence-based services to youth and their families to address underlying issues and risk factors for violence. Overall the program will serve 100 to 120 youth and up to 30 families.
North Lawndale College Prep: This grant will fund the continuation of the Peace Warriors initiative, a student driven violence prevention and alternative disciplinary program within the school, and the larger community. The program consists of “Peace Warriors” which are students trained in “Kingsian” non-violence. The warriors act as ambassadors throughout the school. They also help run peer juries and peace circles, provide trainings to elementary schools in antiviolence strategies and Kingsian principles, and conduct community trainings for parents and other community members. Students at the school come from the communities of North Lawndale, Garfield Park, and Austin.
Lawndale Christian Legal Center: This grant will fund the continuation and expansion of the holistic representation model of the Center. This model pairs wrap around services and case management with legal services for youth in the juvenile court. The model seeks to build a trusting relationship between the youth, their attorney, and their service provider all of which will result in a better defense and better long term outcomes. The program serves youth in the North Lawndale Community.
Inspiration Corporation, Chicago: This grant will fund the expansion of evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy groups to all sites operated by the organization. The groups support the overall employment program of the organization by teaching key coping skills and anger management strategies to avoid inappropriate behavior in the workplace that may result in termination of employment. This is an expansion of a pilot group funded by a capacity building grant in the last grant cycle. The groups will serve individuals from Uptown, Garfield Park, Woodlawn, Morgan Park, Roseland, and South Deering.
Respond Now: This grant will fund a key coordinating position at the organization to work with the Housing Authority of Cook County and other organizations to begin an HACC pilot project allowing certain individuals with felony records to live in HACC housing or subsidized housing. The program has very detailed and carefully tailored criteria. It seeks to address the most basic of risk factors in violence and criminal involvement, stable housing. The program will serve the South Suburbs.
Children’s Research Triangle: This grant will fund a partnership between CRT and Jane Addams High School. The school serves youth who have dropped out of their traditional schools and are now seeking to complete high school at an age that most schools would not enroll them 17 - 21. The program will engage 150 students through one or more of the following services: youth workshops on the impact of violence and trauma; Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency Therapy; and Structured Psychotherapy for Adolescents Responding to Chronic Stress (SPARCS). Teachers will also receive training in understanding the impact of violence and identifying trauma symptoms. The student body primarily consists of youth from Pilsen, Englewood, Fuller Park, East and West Garfield Park, North and South Lawndale, and Washington Park.
Center for Advancing Domestic Peace: This program is an expansion of the RealMAP program which was started last fiscal year through Violence Prevention funds. The program is a peer mentor and support-based aftercare program for individuals who completed court ordered domestic abuse programming. It pays peer mentors who have completed the program to act as mentors and coordinators of post program support groups. Additionally, the program offers an evidence-based anger management curriculum, and two evidence-based curricula called Creating Lasting Family Connections and Raising Resilient Youth (parenting). The program serves individuals from anywhere in Cook County.
Center for Conflict Resolution: This grant will fund the expansion of the “Victim-Offender and Family Mediation Program” to the Bridgeview and Skokie Courthouses. These programs serve as diversion or alternative adjudication options for youth in the juvenile court accused of certain crimes. The goal is to restore the victim, provide restitution to the victim or community, and hold the juvenile accountable while ensuring the process is fair and the young person feels a sense of justice. The program will serve communities in the South West and North Suburbs that are served by the respective courthouses.end