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Washington’s King County, which includes Seattle, is looking for proposals for an equity and social justice plan for the Dept. of Community and Health Services’ Behavior Health & Recovery Division.
In 2020, King County declared racism a public health crisis. It has budgeted $25M during the 2023-24 budget cycle to undo the harms of racism compounded by the COVID pandemic.
The BHRD serves 70K people each year in outpatient, residential, inpatient and crisis behavioral healthcare settings.
About 95 percent of the clients earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level and 48 percent identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color.
The RFP calls for building trust, cultural awareness and humility within the BHRD management team members.
That goal is to be achieved by “encouraging team members to share equity perspectives, concerns, ideas and proposals in an environment that promotes and encourages psychological and cultural safety where all staff are both supported and challenged to engage in equity, inclusive and anti-racist work,” according to the RFP.
The selected firm will recommend action-oriented trainings, workshops and/or continual education sessions.
It will create an action plan that allows for a streamlined communication and engagement structure to integrate line staff into the process for buy-in, management accountability and transparency.
King County has budgeted $80K for Phase 1 (one year) of the equity and social justice plan. It retains the option to renew for another one-year period.
Responses are due March 22. Interested firms must register at the King County e-portal.
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