TITLE
Adopt resolution authorizing City Manager, or designee, to execute a contract, and any necessary documents including any necessary subsequent amendments, with The Regents of the University of California, a California Constitutional corporation, on behalf of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Child Health Policy (UCLA) to fund a LB Recovery Act program, in a total amount not to exceed $40,000, through May 31, 2023, consistent with City Council approval of the LB Recovery Act. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
Long Beach Recovery Act
On March 16, 2021, the City Council adopted the LB Recovery Act, becoming one of the first major cities to approve COVID-19 recovery programs made possible through the Federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and other federal and State funding sources. Additional funding and program detail adjustments to the LB Recovery Act were made as part of the Adopted Fiscal Year 2022 (FY 22) Budget and periodic adjustments have been brought to the City Council as needed. The Citywide LB Recovery implementation team (Staff) has continued to develop over 84 programs with collective impact and equity in mind focused on the three main funding categories: Healthy and Safe Community, Economic Recovery, and Securing Our City’s Future. City staff has communicated updates to the LB Recovery Act programs through reports to the City Council and in Biannual Reports posted on the LB Recovery Act website at www.longbeach.gov/recovery. As part of the LB Recovery Act, under the Healthy and Safe Community category, approximately $2.78 million has been allocated for the Early Childhood Education (ECE), Childcare, and Literacy Development Program to address financial hardship that has been created by COVID-19.
LB Recovery Act Program Contracts
The following programs require City Council to adopt a Resolution and authorize the City Manager, or designee, to execute an agreement with selected vendors to continue implementation of the of the over 84 LB Recovery Act programs:
A. LB Recovery Act Program: Early Childhood Education, Childcare, and Literacy Development - Enrollment Hub (Healthy and Safe Community)
Selected Vendor: The Mayor’s Fund for Education with Community Partners as fiscal agent
Contract Duration: Eighteen Months
Contract Amount: $600,000
City Council approval is requested to enter into a contract with the Community Partners, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization serving as fiscal sponsor for the Mayor’s Fund for Education, to develop and pilot the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Hub, a digital early childhood enrollment hub for use by both community members and early childhood education providers. The Mayor’s Fund for Education, an unincorporated nonprofit, will be working with Community Partners to contract with the City of Long Beach (City). Community Partners will provide the structure, finance and accounting services, and administrative support to ensure the success of the ECE Hub creation.
The creation of the ECE Hub will have a long-term impact on the early childhood landscape in Long Beach by easing access to early childhood education by streamlining enrollment services for early childhood education programs to a single location. In addition to creating the digital enrollment component of the ECE Hub, this contract will include coordination efforts among the Long Beach’s early childhood education providers including the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), marketing efforts to promote the ECE Hub, as well as the distribution of early childhood education tuition assistance for those in need. The Mayor’s Fund for Education has a history of working with the Long Beach Early Childhood community, including LBUSD, on innovative efforts to stabilize the Early Childhood Education landscape. LBUSD, the largest early childhood serving organization, will also work in partnership with the Mayor’s Fund for Education on the ECE Hub to streamline LBUSD’s early childhood enrollment system. Therefore, the Mayor’s Fund for Education is the only nonprofit provider that can coordinate the development of the ECE Hub based on the Mayor’s Fund for Education’s existing relationships and position of trust with the bulk of childcare providers in the community, knowledge of available early childhood education funding streams, understanding of the data components for the ECE Hub platform and the school identifiers, and working partnership with LBUSD.
City Charter Section 1801 requires that contracts for City purchases be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder after a competitive bid process but allows for awards without a competitive bid process when authorized by a Resolution adopted by the City Council.
B. LB Recovery Act Program: Early Childhood Education, Childcare, and Literacy Development - Resiliency Survey (Healthy and Safe Community)
Selected Vendor: The Regents of the University of California, a California Constitutional corporation, on behalf of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Child Health Policy (UCLA)
Contract Expiration: May 31, 2023
Contract Amount: $40,000
City Council approval is requested to enter into a contract with the Regents of the University of California, a California Constitutional corporation, on behalf of UCLA. Through this contract with UCLA, the Children’s Experiences Questionnaire (CHEQ) will be administered to collect data from parents/caregivers from LBUSD for children in the 2022-2023 Kindergarten school year. UCLA is the only research entity that runs the CHEQ study, as part of a CHEQ national support network. UCLA is currently working with LBUSD to collect population level data on children’s current developmental skills using the Early Developmental Instrument (EDI). UCLA will track student data at census tract level, mapping data for neighborhoods across Long Beach. By contracting with UCLA, the City will be able to build on the EDI data already collected by UCLA from LBUSD to map data collected from the CHEQ to show the correlation between early experiences and current developmental skills. Due to the timing of this work, not only will these data demonstrate the role of neighborhood context on early developmental skills but also the impact of COVID-19 on early developmental experiences. This will allow the City and community partners to create equity-focused, place-based initiatives in neighborhoods of Long Beach.
The City adopted an Early Childhood Strategic Plan in 2018, which included goals to “improve the quality of programs and services offered to children from birth through age 8,” and “strengthen alignment of existing birth through age 8 governance structures and early childhood supports.” This partnership effort, with LBUSD, to understand the early childhood landscape through shared data collection is a significant collaboration to improve the quality of programs and services offered to children and families.
City Charter Section 1801 requires that contracts for City purchases be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder after a competitive bid process but allows for awards without a competitive bid process when authorized by a Resolution adopted by the City Council.
This matter was reviewed by Deputy City Attorney Lauren Misajon on June 22, 2022 and by Budget Officer Dee Okam on June 29, 2022.
EQUITY LENS
The City has incorporated the Equity Toolkit in this recommendation, as requested by the City Council on April 21, 2020. Providing this action will allow for a streamlined process to efficiently implement Long Beach Recovery Act programming intended for community recovery from the effects of the pandemic. Long Beach residents, workers, and business owners are faced with economic and social impacts that require action and assistance from the City, especially for the communities of color that were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
Access to an early care and education is Goal 2 of the City’s Early Childhood Education Strategic Plan. The ECE Strategic Plan was used as a model for community engagement in the Equity Toolkit. Findings from 22 focus groups, 11 interviews with stakeholders (including children) lead to including access to quality ECE services as one of the goals of the ECE Strategic Plan. The services derived from these contracts will be directly serving the Long Beach Early Childhood Community.
Program data will be tracked by the Program Managers/Administrators and be reported as a part of the LB Recovery Act throughout the program's implementation. For more information, visit the Long Beach Recovery Act Reporting and Data page: <https://longbeach.gov/recovery/reporting-data/>.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
City Council action is requested on July 19, 2022, to proceed with contracts to support recovery in Long Beach.
FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation requests that the City Council grant authority to the City Manager, or designee, to enter into contracts and any subsequent amendments with the listed vendors related to LB Recovery Act programs. The contract costs will not exceed the following:
• Community Partners as fiscal agent to the Mayor’s Fund for Education: not to exceed $600,000 for a period of 18 months.
• The Regents of the University of California, a California Constitutional corporation, on behalf of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Child Health Policy: not to exceed $40,000 and set to end on May 31, 2023.
The funding for all the LB Recovery Act programs has been secured from a variety of State, federal and other funding sources, and implementing this recommendation has no additional fiscal impact on the City’s funds. No appropriation increase is necessary at this time. For administrative efficiency and for reporting and auditing purposes, the funding source for these programs is the General Fund based on funds made available as a result of the City's approach to using the majority of federal APRA funds to maintain existing City services in compliance with the U.S Department of Treasury's Final Rule, thereby freeing up General Fund monies for the LB Recovery Act programs. This recommendation has no staffing impact beyond the normal budgeted scope of duties for the Long Beach Recovery Office and Recovery-related staff, and is consistent with existing City Council priorities identified in the Long Beach Recovery Act in March 2021. The local job impact associated with this recommendation is undetermined at this time.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
BODY
[Enter Body Here]
Respectfully Submitted,
THOMAS B. MODICA
CITY MANAGER