CalAIM Housing Opportunities and Innovations Collaborative Evaluation (CHOICE)
Description:
CSH seeks to contract with 3 individuals with lived experiences of homelessness who are willing to share their expertise as supportive housing tenants as part of a pilot program focused on incorporating CalAIM Housing Tenancy and Sustaining Services into supportive housing service programs for tenants in three supportive housing in Orange County. The individuals selected will serve as “consultants” to CSH starting in October 2024 through October 2026.
Selected consultants of the Orange County Supportive Housing Pilot Program Evaluation will act as consultants as part of a two-year process and outcome evaluation of the CalAIM Housing Tenancy and Sustaining Services pilot program. This role includes responsibility for collaborating with health and housing partners, including the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), Jamboree Housing Corporation, Orange County, CalOptima Health and other initiative members, to analyze the impact of these services on tenant outcomes at three Orange County supportive housing developments. The pilot will assess tenant outcomes, service utilization, and the sustainability of Medi-Cal funding for supportive housing services. As a consultant, your insights and lived experience will shape the design and implementation of this evaluation to ensure the tenant’s voice is central.
Planned activities:
- Attend quarterly meetings of the Evaluation Advisory Committee, providing guidance on the design and evaluation of Housing Tenancy and Sustaining Services.
- Collaborate with supportive housing tenants, researchers, and service providers to co-design the evaluation process.
- Provide feedback on the accessibility and impact of services on supportive housing tenants.
- Provide recommendations for best practices that address the needs of supportive housing tenants, for example recommendations to support tenants in enrolling for MediCal.
- Ensure tenant experiences, challenges, and successes are accurately captured in the evaluation.
Expected Outcomes, Milestones, and Deliverables – October 2024 to October 2026:
Task 1: Evaluation Advisory Committee Meetings (Quarterly)
The selected consultants will participate in monthly meetings.
Task 2: Meetings with CSH staff (As-needed)
The selected consultants will participate in meetings with CSH staff between Advisory Committee meetings as needed throughout the duration of the contract. These meetings may be held by phone, video, or in-person. CSH will provide funding for travel expenses as needed.
Task 3: Attend meetings with evaluation staff. (As-needed)
The selected consultants will be on-call to actively and regularly participate in meetings with evaluation project staff. Meetings will typically take one hour and will happen during regular business hours Monday through Friday via video meetings, phone calls, or in-person in Orange County. The selected consultants will be requested to attend up to 10 such meetings and are required to be available for at least half of these requests. CSH will provide funding for travel expenses as needed.
Task 4: Other tasks as-requested (As-needed)
From time to time, evaluation staff may request one or more of the selected consultants to participate in other activities to advance our collective evaluation project goals. These activities might include: sharing their policy perspectives and life experiences with a variety of audiences, participating in the evaluation project, recording videos, giving input to evaluation staff on related aspects of this work, etc. These tasks will be upon request, and the selected consultants can accept them or decline them as they wish. CSH will provide funding for travel expenses as needed.
Funding Available:
This project requires a minimum time commitment of 90 hours over a 24-month period and is expected to require a maximum of 150 hours at a compensation rate of $50/hr, not to exceed $9,000. Please note, this contract requires a commitment from October 2024 to October 2026.
Application Process and Vendor Requirements:
To apply for this opportunity, please complete this online INTEREST FORM. Applicants may be asked to participate in one or two interviews with CSH staff prior to selection. Each interview will not be more than one hour. Any applicants not selected will be informed by phone call and email.
Required Qualifications:
Interviews scheduled before the deadline will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Lived experience of homelessness and housing instability, with a deep understanding of the challenges faced by supportive housing tenants.
- The willingness and ability to share lived expertise of homelessness with diverse audiences.
- Must be a current or former resident (within the last 12 months) of supportive housing in Orange County.
- Experience and/or interest in Medi-Cal healthcare services.
- Experience and desire to be part of and working with racially diverse people and communities.
- Demonstrated commitment to homelessness and housing planning and/or evaluation is preferred.
- Demonstrated ability to work well with a variety of individuals and/or agencies.
- Ability to track and report hours worked.
- A balanced perspective and understanding of the ups and downs of evaluation work.
- Ability to commit to the minimum number of hours.
CSH encourages individuals with a diverse array of experiences and backgrounds to apply.
Please note: CSH aims to be a responsible partner to the people we pay for time-limited work who are receiving public benefits by providing them with as much support as possible and appropriate to help them make informed choices about how much they want to work for us and/or for other organizations. Due to the highly specialized and individualized nature of this work, however, CSH does not currently have the expertise to provide benefits counselling to individuals but will provide as much support as possible to connect individuals with outside partner benefits counselling, so they can make the most informed decision as it relates to their ability to commit to this position.
Please note that CSH requires subcontractors, including individuals and sole proprietors, to carry workers’ compensation insurance and general liability insurance while performing work under a CSH subcontract. CSH subcontractors cannot have existing, pending or expired debarments that preclude them from doing business with the United States government and cannot have convictions for, nor have any pending indictments for, fraud or a criminal offense in connection with a public contract or subcontract.
Please contact Peter Wang, Senior Program Manager with any additional questions regarding the CalAIM Housing Opportunities and Innovations Collaborative Evaluation (CHOICE) consultant opportunity and how to apply (Peter.Wang@csh.org).
