FY 24-25 DCF Funding Opportunity
The Florida State Office on Homelessness, through the Department of Children and Families (DCF), has made funds available under the Unified Homelessness Grant Program (Florida). Within this contract, applicants are given the opportunity to apply for Challenge Grant, Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). CoC FL-508, Keys to Home, has been awarded $375,250 under the State Unified Homelessness Grant. Through this Request for Proposals (RFP), Keys to Home seeks applications from qualified non-profit organizations to provide services to individuals and families experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness in Alachua, Bradford, Gilchrist, Levy, and Putnam counties in the state of Florida.
AWARDS
| Organization | Award Total |
| Another Way, Inc. | $35,000.00 |
| Alachua County Coalition for the Homeless and Hungry, Inc. (Grace Marketplace) | $193,300.00 |
| Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. |
$197,782.50 $55,776.80 (Alachua County) $142,005.70 (Putnam County) |
| Family Promise of Gainesville Florida, Inc. | $150,800.00 |
| Lee Conlee House, Inc. | $19,025.00 |
| Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Corporation | $64,398.08 |
| Peaceful Paths, Inc. | $25,000.00 |
| St. Francis House, Inc. | $91,283.00 |
RFP Information
FL-508 FY 24-25 Funding Available
| Challenge Grant | Emergency Solutions Grant | TANF |
| $77,400 | $244,150 | $31,282.50 |
Amounts listed above are tentative as increased funding is expected from DCF. There will be deliverable requirements based on the amount of funds awarded.
Local Priorities
Specifically, Keys to Home is seeking projects that:
- EReduce chronic homelessness
- EReduce unsheltered homelessness
- EPrevent homelessness or first-time homelessness
- EReduce the length of time persons experience homelessness
- EReduce returns to homelessness
- EIncrease housing placement retention
Key Dates & Information
Dates below are tentative and subject to change. Please refer to the full RFP for additional information.
May 17, 2024
Announcement Kickoff during May CoC General Membership Meeting.
May 24, 2024
Posting of RFP and link to application.
May 29, 2024 at 10:00 AM
Mandatory proposal meetings via Zoom.
May 30, 2024 by 5:00 PM
Letter of Intent to apply due by email to Amber Miller.
June 20, 2024 by 11:59 p.m.
All proposals and required documents must be submitted via online application.
June 26, 2024
Project applicants notified of ranking and application score.
June 27, 2024 by 5:00 PM
Deadline to submit appeal to scoring.
June 28, 2024
Final Rank and Review
June 30 2024
Notice of funding awards sent to applicants
Applications for the FY 24-25 DCF Funding Cycle are due
by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, June 20, 2024.
For additional questions, please email Amber Miller.
Addenda
Addendum #1
This addendum is to notify applicants of a Revised Application Scoring Sheet listed as Attachment E in the RFP. Below are the changes as follows:
- Revisions:
- Under “Local Priorities, Best Practices and Services Approach”, row 2, deleted “10” and replaced with “20” so that total points awarded in row 2 and row 12 matched.
- Under “HUD Priorities”, row 2, deleted “20” and replaced with “25” so that total points awarded in row 2 and row 11 matched.
Addendum #2
-
Budget #1 – A budget not to exceed the advertised tentative amounts
-
Budget #2 – A budget for an increased amount of the same service(s) with consideration for the anticipated funding increase
Inquiries
Is registration required for the mandatory proposal meeting on May 29, 2024?
Registration is not required. We will take attendance during the Zoom meeting. The link to the website with details on the RFP and the Zoom link is https://keystohome.org/funding-opportunities/2024-dcf-funding/. The Zoom information is listed below for convenience.
Keys to Home is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: CoC RFP Informational Meeting
Time: May 29, 2024 10:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
The RFP states that all paid program staff must have job descriptions and/or resumes. Are these to be included in the narrative or uploaded as a separate document in the same location as the narrative? Or do we just need to have them on file in our offices?
Just on file in the office for monitoring.
Can you please elaborate on whether or not the positions listed in RFP need to be filled by one individual for each position listed. For example, our Director of Shelter Operations (program manager) also serves as our HMIS Admin and Security Officer and participates in Quality Control review meetings along with the ED and other key management team managers.
It does not need to be one individual for each position. But if the individual is covering multiple positions, their job description should reflect that.
You stated during the RFP session that we are not permitted to request funding for admin. Quality Control and Accounting/Bookkeeping staff are considered admin?
Correct. Those are considered Admin.
Am I correct in my understanding that we are not required to submit proof of board minutes, a board meeting schedule, or an approved organizational budget with the application?
Correct. They must be available upon request.
Under Attachment E – Application Scoring Sheet: Local Priorities, Best Practices – there is a discrepancy between the total points that can be awarded (10) and the total points awarded (20) for the category.
There’s a typo in the column head, total points awarded should be (20).
Under Attachment E – Application Scoring Sheet: HUD Priorities – there is a discrepancy between the total points that can be awarded (20) and the total points awarded (25) for the category.
There’s a typo in the column head, total points awarded should be (25).
RFP Inquiries on page 2: To ensure a fair and open process, all questions submitted will be emailed to the party that has submitted the question, along with Keys to Home’s written response on the Keys to Home website. This reads that any question(s) submitted will be sent back to the party that raised the question(s). I submitted questions last week and checked the website earlier today but cannot locate any questions or responses.
A response was recently sent to you and website updates are in progress.
What is the project period for the current RFP? Is this a one-year award or a three-year award?
One-year award, funding period is July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025.
Based on the percentages for ESG allocations shown in the RFP, there is no opportunity to apply for street outreach funds. Is this correct? Is this the final determination of how these funds can be spent?
Correct. However, anything is subject to change at the discretion of the Collaborative Applicant when permitted by the Charter.
The CoC previously has done work to prioritize certain populations, specifically chronic homelessness (first priority) and unsheltered homelessness (second priority). The way the "Local priorities, best practices, and services approach" rubric is written, the evaluation criteria appear to de-prioritize the existing CoC local priorities by awarding a point for ANY of the priorities. Essentially, applicants will get the same number of points whether they address priority #1 or priority #6, despite the CoC deciding that chronic homelessness was the top priority. Can you provide more information on how the rank and review committee will award points for the "Local priorities" section?
The committee will award full points if the proposal demonstrates the local priority(s) is being addressed
What criteria will the rank and review committee use to determine if individual projects address HUD priorities in the "HUD Priorities" section? For example, how would an applicant receive points for "Ending homelessness for all persons" if they only serve individuals, or veterans, or families? Is the criteria "Using a housing first approach" self-reported, or are there specific criteria the reviewers will consider? Can you provide an example of how a frontline service provider might receive full points for addressing "Racial Equity" in their application?
The committee will award full points if the proposal demonstrates the HUD Priority(s) is being addressed. To receive full points for “Ending homelessness for all persons” the applicant proposal would need to demonstrate the program serves all persons. For example, those agencies only serving veterans will receive 1 point because they are not serving all persons. The criteria for “Using a Housing First Approach” is dependent upon whether or not the proposal clearly demonstrates how the applicant is implementing a housing First Approach by providing low barrier projects that do not require preconditions to accessing housing nor participation in supportive services for continued tenancy, occupancy, or participation in the project, and prioritizing rapid placement and stabilization in permanent housing. In addressing “Racial Equity”, the proposal should demonstrate how the agency assessed racial disparities in the provision or outcome of homeless assistance and taken the necessary steps to address such disparities.
Thanks for providing the opportunity to ask these questions. As I understand it, you will email me directly with a response and then post those answers to the website - is that correct?
Correct.
Are we able to upload more that one file in the upload document sections?
Yes, you can upload multiple files.
I didn’t see a place to upload our Financial Procedures. Am I missing something?
The financial policies and procedures are part of the attestation agreement in the application. You do not have to supply copies of the policies and procedures with the RFP however you must make them available upon request.
If we only submitted an LOI for ESG, may change the grant to Challenge to take advantage of the new funds?
You may apply for funds beyond what was submitted in your letter of intent.