Position Overview

Illuminate Colorado and the Colorado Partnership for Thriving Families (CPTF) are seeking support for local organizations who are developing and implementing local norms change strategies in coordination with the Colorado Connected campaign, a large-scale effort focused on increasing help-seeking and help-offering behaviors among Colorado caregivers and families. The norms change consultant partner will work with Illuminate Colorado Staff and CPTF members to provide coaching support to local partners around the state. Project details, key responsibilities, and qualifications of the norms consultant partner are described below.

Illuminate Overview

Illuminate Colorado is a statewide 501(c)(3) organization working to strengthen families, organizations, and communities to prevent child maltreatment. With a research-based approach that emphasizes building promotive and protective factors, we address systemic and multi-sector issues by collaborating with families and partners at the community, state, and national level to develop and implement powerful programs, policies, and initiatives that build brighter childhoods in Colorado. 

Our organization is working to build an inclusive and diverse team of passionate experts who value each other’s differing lived experiences and backgrounds. All of our work is grounded in the foundations of equity and inclusion, family and community driven, holistic, and multigenerational approaches – and guided by our core values of empathy, innovation, growth, and integrity. Learn more at https://www.illuminatecolorado.org/about/.

Key Responsibilities of the Norms Change Consultant

To offer support for local organizations who are developing and implementing local norms change strategies in coordination with the Colorado Connected campaign, this norms change consultant partner will have the following responsibilities:

1. Local survey interpretation, campaign integration, & strategy development: In coordination with Illuminate’s Evaluation & Communications Teams and contracted Marketing Partner, the norms change consultant will provide coaching support to local partners as they interpret existing local norms survey results in the context of behavior change models, leverage survey results to develop local norms change strategies, and integrate the Colorado Connected campaign into their efforts.  This responsibility will also include developing and sharing quarterly summaries of local work. 

• • • • Anticipated monthly hours (November 2023 – February 2024): 10

2. Ongoing local strategy implementation support: In coordination with Illuminate’s Strategic Initiatives and Home Visitation Teams, the norms change consultant will provide ongoing coaching support to local partners as they implement their local strategies. This responsibility will also include developing and sharing quarterly summaries of local work. 

• • • • Anticipated monthly hours (March – September 2024): 10

3. Expert consultation in monthly meetings: In coordination with Illuminate’s Strategic Initiatives Team, the norms change consultant will participate in the existing monthly Norms community of practice and Family Support through Primary Prevention Advisory Board as an expert panelist/advisor, including sharing verbal monthly updates on local progress to date.

• • • • Anticipated monthly hours: 3 

4.Identification of local tool and resource needs: In coordination with Illuminate’s Communications Team and contracted Marketing Partner, the norms change consultant will identify tools and resources needed to support local norms implementation efforts.

• • • • Anticipated monthly hours: 2

Experience, Skills, and Qualifications

The norms change consultant must bring the following:

• • At least 3 years experience leading and/or implementing norms change and/or behavioral change efforts. 
  • Knowledge and practical application of behavioral change theory/models.
  • Experience leveraging data to inform norms change efforts.
  • Experience offering coaching and technical assistance related to strategy development and implementation. 
  • Demonstrable success in closely collaborating, building trust, and capacity building with local, regional, and community-based organizations.
  • Strong understanding of family well-being systems in Colorado, including child welfare, human services, and public health.
  • Demonstrable commitment to racial and social justice, language justice, and equity-oriented action. 

Budget

$10,000. Annual contract renewal is possible, pending mutual interest and initial contract period.

Term of Contract

Upon execution – September 30, 2024, with the possibility of ongoing annual extension.

RFP Submission

Proposals should be digitally submitted by 5:00 p.m. MT on Monday, November 6, 2023 to tkorb@illuminatecolorado.org. Please include “Norms Change Consultant” in the subject line.

Candidate Selection & Virtual Interviews

Proposals will be reviewed by the Illuminate Colorado team, and final candidates may be invited for an interview in mid-November.

RFP Requirements

Each proposal should include the elements below to demonstrate both capacity and approach and should not exceed 3 pages.

1. About You: Describe your organization, agency, or position.
2. Qualifications: What makes you uniquely positioned to serve as the norms change consultant for this work? As applicable, in your response please describe your experience with the following: 

i. Norms and/or behavioral change efforts

ii. Leveraging data to inform norms change efforts

iii. Coaching and technical assistance related to strategy development and implementation

iv. Collaboration with, trust building, and capacity building with local, regional, and community-based organizations.

3. Proposed Scope of Work: Provide a high-level plan for how you would support the key responsibilities outlined above, including how you would coordinate with Illuminate staff to ensure ongoing alignment.

Position Overview

The Colorado Partnership for Thriving Families’ (CPTF) Family & Caregiver Space (FCS) is seeking a research partner to support a participatory action research (PAR) project called the Story of the System (SOS). The research partner will work closely with the Family & Caregiver Space’s SOS Project Team to provide ongoing guidance on all stages of the research process, from project design to findings dissemination. The project’s initial budget is $10,000 which will be provided upon contract to support Phase 1 of this project. The deadline to submit proposals is 5:00 p.m. MT on Friday, October 20, 2023.

Family and Caregiving Space (FSC) Overview

The FCS is a group of Lived Experience Experts who identify as family leaders and who have experienced, been involved in, or otherwise touched various systems that influence family health and well-being in Colorado. The overarching goal of the FCS is to work collaboratively across the state to engage families in creating conditions that allow all families to thrive.

Story of the System (SOS) Project Objectives, Phases, and Status

The SOS project is a co-designed, multi-phase qualitative research project led by the Family & Caregiver Space’s SOS Project Team. Through this project, the SOS Project Team aims to explore the following research questions:

1. How do Colorado families navigate obstacles in the intersections of Child Welfare/Department of Human Services and Public Health/Prevention and other connected systems?

2. To what extent is the participatory action research (PAR) approach an effective method for promoting the adoption of family-centered research practices in child welfare and related areas of policy and practice?

In April, the Partnership met to discuss exciting updates on work in specific priority areas, updates on cross-cutting projects, and to share presentations on how systems can be better aligned to effectively serve families. 

A few highlights from Illuminate Colorado staff and partners involved with the Partnership!

The Partnership has three priority areas, which Illuminate staff and partners shared updates on at the April meeting. 

Jillian Fabricius, Deputy Director of Illuminate Colorado, shared updates on Community Norms work, specifically the launch of Colorado Connected.

The campaign will partner with Colorado counties to distribute a validated community survey to understand attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors surrounding support offering and seeking behaviors. The goal of COConnected is to build connections that surround families with supportive networks, so parents do not feel alone when faced with challenges. Doing so creates a safe, stable environment for children to grow up in and produce positive childhood experiences and outcomes.

Angelica Fox, Director of Home Visitation at Illuminate Colorado, shared Early Touchpoints updates on Family Connects Colorado, a program that provides nurse home-visits and connection to community resources for new parents. 

At Boulder Community Health Hospital, the Boulder Family Connects team has reached 100% recruitment for families who are visiting to deliver a newborn. Additionally, the Boulder team is planning to expand into a second hospital in June! 

Next, Angelica shared that the Boulder team will be hosting their first Family & Caregiver Space in April, which provides an essential place for families to make their voices heard about the development and expansion of Family Connects.

In Denver and Jefferson counties, a Community Alignment Specialist has been brought onto the Family Connects team, who will provide needed insight into the most effective resources to connect families with, as well as other program needs. Both counties are on track to launch Family Connects Colorado in early summer 2023!

In Eagle County, Family Connects is seeing high levels of recruitment, and the team is preparing to advance from the installation (or learning) stage into the implementation phase.

“We are learning a lot from Eagle as a rural area of how to implement [Family Connects] in similar communities.”

– Angelica Fox

Kendra Dunn, Director, Division of Community and Family Support at the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, shared Systems Alignment updates from the Government Systems Transformation Work Group.

The goal of the work group is to provide a space for government professionals to come together and get into the weeds about the ability that they have to make transformational change across systems. The Partnership is planning to host monthly meetings for the Government Systems Transformation Work Group to come together to collaborate around their collective power as government professionals. 

Courtney Everson, Senior Researcher/Project Director at the Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab shared updates from the Financial Well-Being Work Group.

This work group has met since late 2022, and provides a space for various Colorado agencies, community-based organizations, and family leaders to identify opportunities for promoting financial-well-being among Colorado families. The Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab developed a Financial Well-being Data Brief, with input from the Partnership as an initial way to inform policy and practice. Feel free to use and share this brief widely!

Heather Hicks and Kaylie Weese, Family and Caregiver Space Leaders for the Partnership, shared updates on new family leadership spaces to be launched in May-June.

The Partnership Family Engagement Consultation Office Hours, led by family leaders, will be a collaborative space for family leaders and professionals standing up and sustaining local family engagement efforts. The Family Voice Affinity Space will be a space by family voice leaders, for family voice leaders. If you or someone you work with is interested in either space, please share your interest here. To get to know Family & Caregiver Space leaders, and share your questions and ideas on family engagement, please register here for our first information session on May 31st, from 4-5pm MT.

Stay updated on the Partnership’s work!

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