Data-driven Storytelling Consultant

Focus:

Eligibility:

Open to all applicants.

Deadline:

May 10, 2024

Request for Proposals

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (“CPB”) intends to contract with a Consultant (“the Consultant”) with the goal of increasing public media stations’ capacity to effectively communicate to funders and state-level partners, including state agencies and nonprofits with statewide reach, the impacts of their work to improve young children’s school readiness and early school success.

CPB, with support from a Ready To Learn programming award from the U.S. Department of Education and in partnership with the Public Broadcasting Service (“PBS”), is working with twenty public media stations to maximize the impacts of Ready To Learn resources through collaborations with state agencies and other organizations with statewide reach in early childhood education (“RTL State Project”). The Ready To Learn program aims to improve school readiness and school success in early grades for all children and especially for children in low-income households. The goal of the RTL State Project is to scale access to, and high-quality use of, educational children’s media, family engagement programs, educator professional learning courses, and other resources developed by CPB and PBS and designed to improve children’s educational outcomes.

The Consultant will develop and offer training workshops and coaching to support leadership teams from participating stations to identify, select, and use data to effectively communicate the impact of the RTL State Project to funders and state-level partners, including state agencies and nonprofits with statewide reach.
The Consultant will collaborate with CPB and PBS in summer 2024 to develop and lead approximately 6-8 hours of virtual training. Training will take place approximately during July – December 2024 and may occur over multiple sessions with approximately 90-110 participants. The Consultant will respond to follow-up requests from participating stations between sessions and for up to two months following the last session.

Respondents should demonstrate relevant expertise, and organizational and proposed staff experience, in these areas:
- Effective strategies for identifying and selecting data and developing concise, engaging data-driven narratives about organizational impacts
- Effective communication with leaders and staff of state agencies and nonprofits, and other stakeholders, especially related to improving educational outcomes for young children in low-income families
- Experience leading and developing similar trainings, knowledge of adult learning principles, and experience in asset-based approaches
- Knowledge of education and education policy, particularly in early learning through early elementary grades
- Knowledge of public media for children, family and community engagement, and community partnerships.

The RTL State Project is funded through a Ready To Learn Programming grant by the U.S. Department of Education for a project entitled, “Learn Together: Connecting Children's Media and Learning Environments to Build Key Skills for Success” (PR Award No. S295A200004/ CFDA No. 84.295A). The total amount of funds available for the Consultant’s work is $49,560.

Please download the Request for Proposals below for detailed information, including application requirements.

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Request for Proposals	286.24 KB

Application Procedure and General Questions:

To gain access to the CPB’s grants management system, please send an email request to Kea Anderson, Director, Research and Evaluation, kanderson@cpb.org, no later than Friday, May 3, 2024, at 5:00 PM ET. CPB will provide access within two business days.
Applications are due no later than Friday, May 10 at 5:00 PM ET.

All questions must be submitted in writing to Kea Anderson at the email address above. CPB will post all questions (without attribution) and responses on CPB’s website. The deadline for submitting questions is Friday, May 3, 2024, at 5:00 PM ET. Please include “data-driven storytelling” in the subject line of all emails. The consultant will be selected in May or June 2024.

Questions from Potential Respondents, with CPB Answers:

FAQ Topic:

General

FAQ:

1. Are you looking for a larger company or organization to do this work, or are individual contractors/ single-member companies eligible as well?

The RFP is open to all applicants, including individuals and larger organizations.

2. Is there flexibility to incorporate asynchronous elements or is there a requirement that all training be live?

CPB is open to a range of training designs but please keep in mind station staff are likely have limited time. Please make the rationale for the design clear in the proposal

3. Does the 6-8 hours of virtual training session need to be delivered in one single day or will it be split up in two different sessions of 3-4 hours each on different days?

Six to eight hours is an estimate of the total training time. CPB asks applicants to propose the approach they deem best to allocate approximately that amount of time among the topics. Please make the rationale for the design clear in the proposal.

4. Is there a requirement that the training be for all 90-110 folks together, or are you open to separate sessions for the individual station teams?

There is no requirement that all participants must be trained together. In proposing to divide participants into smaller groups, please take into account the budget and the implications for CPB and PBS staff who plan to participate. Please make the rationale for the design clear in the proposal.

5. What is the preferred cohort size?

There is no preferred cohort size. In proposing to divide participants into smaller groups, please take into account the budget and the implications for CPB and PBS staff who plan to participate. Please make the rationale for the design clear in the proposal.

6. What is the connection between this training and the resources that have already been created by EDC?

EDC is an RTL research partner, responsible for conducting context and implementation studies as well as large-scale randomized controlled trials for the CPB-PBS Ready To Learn Initiative, in partnership with SRI. Related to the state collaborations, EDC’s work aims to help stations communicate the evidence base of RTL-supported children’s media and related media. This RFP focused on helping stations communicate the impact of their work using those resources in their communities and regions.