California Air Resources Board

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This webpage contains information about CARB's community expert solicitation for co-developing the Community Engagement Model. CARB staff are currently finalizing the contracts with the community experts.  More information will be available soon.

The webpage includes:

• Background information on the Community Engagement Model and the selection process for interested community experts.

• Solicitation details, including the Scope of Work, Rating Criteria and Application are attached below.

• Solicitation frequently asked questions.

Over the years, community advocates have consistently shared the need for CARB to invest in training and development around meaningfully engaging and reaching out to communities. In 2022, CARB established a Community Engagement Capacity Building (CECB) Workgroup to work collaboratively with community experts to develop a community engagement model and curriculum to ensure that all CARB staff are sufficiently trained. It is critical that community expertise is not only obtained, but intentionally woven into the development and foundation of the Community Engagement Model. Once complete, this model will guide CARB’s community engagement efforts. See the Community Engagement Frequently Asked Questions for more information.

Community experts will advise CARB staff by co-developing the Community Engagement Model. Through this co-development process, community experts and CARB staff will work jointly for approximately eight months. Contracted community experts and CARB staff will set guiding principles for mutual collaboration during the kickoff meeting for this contract. Community experts’ responsibilities and expectations are listed in the “Who Can Apply?” section below.

More Information

Definitions

A “Community Expert” is a subject matter expert within their community, community-based group, neighborhood, and or field. They have lived, professional, and leadership experiences uncommon in government bodies and industry. The Community Expert will provide their expertise through an external ground truthing process.

"Ground truthing" is a process that informs the development of a project based on the lived and on-the-ground experiences from community experts. This ground truthing process will allow CARB to benefit from the expertise of community experts, develop and preserve relationships with community experts, and show that CARB will improve its engagement processes.

Background

On October 22, 2020, the Board adopted Resolution 20-33 to establish and advance racial equity and social justice proactive measures in all CARB actions. In this resolution the Board committed to advance racial equity and social justice by calling for all staff to identify and implement best practices for community engagement to treat communities without prejudice, bias, and contempt. This commitment emphasizes the importance for staff to reevaluate our relationships with communities and how we engage with them through all CARB actions. 

Across CalEPA Boards, Departments, and Office (BDOs), programs are being transformed to embed racial equity and uplift community voices, as directed by the Governor's Executive Order N-16-22. Community engagement and open public processes are commonly leveraged by BDOs to set priorities and drive program needs. There is a clear need for a more collaborative process—designed and driven with communities at the forefront—to ensure that community engagement is not a "check the box" exercise. The Governor’s Executive Order and the Board Resolution underscore the need for robust community engagement. CARB is committed to expanding and co-developing its public engagement efforts, understanding that it will need to continually improve its engagement process.

Who Can Apply?

The CECB Workgroup is anticipating to contract with up to fifteen Community Experts and paying a flat rate of $5,000 per individual. The following sections highlight criteria and expectations a community expert must fulfill for this effort.

Eligibility Requirements

Community Experts that express interest would have to be:

• A resident of California and or a California Tribal Government. Geographic representation is essential for successful interested community experts. Residents may reside in the following regions (priority will be given to those from or representing a disadvantaged/low-income community as defined in the Priority Populations Map):
  • Northern California Region
  • Sacramento Valley Region
  • Bay Area Region
  • Los Angeles Region
  • San Diego Region
  • Central Coast Region
  • Southern California Region
  • San Joaquin Valley Region
• Must either represent themselves as a resident or be affiliated with a Community Based Organization (CBO).
• Must have a proven track record of at least two years of community engagement experience (e.g., lived experienced, worked on campaigns, engaged residents and multiple stakeholders, worked in coalitions, participated in the community (e.g., PTA, advisory group, etc.)).
• Must have experience interacting with CARB or other government agencies.
• Must have a vision for CARB to improve community engagement and be willing to share that vision.
• Limit to one individual per organization/CBO (not including coalitions, who may have members representing different groups), there can be more than one individual from the same community; this will be considered on a case by case.
• The individual cannot be a part of an existing CARB advisory committee (e.g., Environmental Justice Advisory Committee, Research Screening Committee, AB 617 Consultation Group, and Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants).
• Must have a tax identification number (i.e., social security number or federal employer identification number) and be authorized to work in the United States.

Roles, Responsibilities and Expectations

Each Community Expert will:

• Commit to collaborate with the CECB Workgroup for about eight months, beginning in the summer or fall 2023. Community experts will provide approximately five hours of their time every month to work on the contract tasks.
• Attend four virtual meetings with the CECB Workgroup members to consult and co-create the Community Engagement Model throughout the duration of the contract.
  • Must review and prepare feedback on the Narrative, Plan, Implement, and Close templates.
  • Share specific experiences in community engagement with CARB or other government agencies and how it could be improved.
• Review and contribute to the Community Engagement Model by providing input on work products created. 
• Provide expertise on community engagement and outreach.
• Provide expertise on challenges that they have encountered in CARB and other government actions.
• Provide expertise on embedding racial and health equity into CARB actions and the role community engagement plays into informing research and providing tools and resources to communities.
• Consider assisting CECB Workgroup to conduct additional outreach or get feedback on the Community Engagement Model from their respective communities.
• All work will be done remotely. Travel is not required and is not covered by the $5,000 flat rate.

Please refer to the Application Scoring Criteria and Scope of Work for more details.

Application Process

Apply

If you are interested in contracting with CARB to help co-develop the PIC Model, please submit your application to communityengagement@arb.ca.gov by 5 P.M. PST on March 31, 2023.

• Your application would include an Application Form, Statement of Interest, and a Resume or Curriculum.
• If you have further questions, you can reach out to communityengagement@arb.ca.gov with the subject title “CE Questions."
• By May 2023, the fifteen most qualified candidates will be contacted to move forward in this process.

Scope of Work

The Community Expert will lend their expertise, through verbal and or written recommendations, to the CARB Community Engagement Capacity Building Workgroup (CECB) by ground truthing CARB’s Draft Plan, Implement, and Close Race and Equity Focused Community Engagement Model (Community Engagement Model) and associated training curriculum. In 2022, CARB established the CECB Workgroup to collaborate with community experts to develop a community engagement model and curriculum that will be used to sufficiently train all CARB staff. Once complete, the Community Engagement Model will guide CARB’s community engagement efforts.

Project Schedule

The project is expected to begin in the summer or fall 2023. The contracted community experts will be compensated on a per task basis and will receive their payment every time they complete their task. Community Experts will invoice CARB after completing each task. Table 1 below provides a detailed breakdown of the compensation per task and planned work schedule. Note that community experts are not working for seven months straight. For example, during the series of community meetings between months three and four, community experts are not expected to perform any work.

Table 1: Contract, task, and compensation for fiscal year 2022-2023.

Table 2: Task Schedule

Tasks

Task 1: The Community Expert Will Meet with Members of the CECB Workgroup to Discuss this Contract (First Virtual Meeting)

Deliverable: The Community Expert and members of the CECB Workgroup will meet virtually to discuss the various aspects of this agreement including the project plan, details of performing tasks, budget, invoices, expectations, challenges, and other items that should be addressed before work can begin.

Task 2: The Community Expert Will Familiarize and Review CARB’s Draft Community Engagement Model

Deliverable 1: The Community Expert will review CARB’s Draft Community Engagement Model and use any personal community engagement efforts experienced with CARB or other government agencies to develop initial comments and or recommendations that will support deliverables for Tasks 3 and 4.

• Task 2.1. The Community Expert will review the Narrative of the Draft Community Engagement Model.
• Task 2.2. The Community Expert will review the Plan Template of the Draft Community Engagement Model.
• Task 2.3. The Community Expert will review the Implement Template of the Draft Community Engagement Model.
• Task 2.4. The Community Expert will review the Close Template of the Draft Community Engagement Model.

Deliverable 2: The Community Expert will provide written or verbal comments for the Narrative and the three templates (Plan, Implement, Close) of the Draft Community Engagement Model document. Additionally, the Community Expert will provide a written summary of recommended edits to the Draft Community Engagement Model.

Task 3: The Community Expert Will Attend the Second Virtual Meeting

Deliverable: The Community Expert will attend the second workgroup meeting to discuss initial comments on CARB’s Draft Community Engagement Model, CARB’s approach to the community engagement meetings on the Community Engagement Model, outreach efforts, and potential contacts.

Task 4: The Community Experts Will Attend the Third Virtual Meeting

Deliverable: The Community Expert will attend the third workgroup meeting to discuss their comments regarding CARB’s Draft Community Engagement Model and community responses from the community engagement meetings.

Task 5: The Community Expert Will Review the Revised Draft Community Engagement Model That Incorporated Community Experts and Public Feedback Prior to Beginning Task 6

• Task 5.1. The Community Expert will review the Narrative of the Revised Draft Community Engagement Model.
• Task 5.2. The Community Expert will review the Plan Template of the Revised Draft Community Engagement Model.
• Task 5.3. The Community Expert will review the Implement Template of the Revised Draft Community Engagement Model.
• Task 5.4. The Community Expert will review the Close Template of the Revised Draft Community Engagement Model.

Deliverables: The Community Expert will provide written and verbal comments for the Narrative and three templates of the Revised Draft Community Engagement Model document. The revised draft will be an updated draft with incorporated input from the public and first round of comments from the Community Experts. Additionally, the Community Expert will provide a written summary of recommended edits to the Revised Draft Community Engagement Model.

Task 6: The Community Expert Will Attend the Fourth Virtual Meeting

Deliverable: The Community Expert will attend the fourth workgroup meeting and discuss their comments from Task 5 during the meeting regarding the Revised Draft Community Engagement Model and how it can be improved.

Application Scoring Criteria

The Community Expert application will be scored on the Criteria below. Priority will be placed on community experts with lived experience, specifically those who live and/or work in low-income and disadvantaged communities.

Criteria

• Interest: Communicates their specific interest to pursuing the objectives described in the solicitation and scope of work
• Experience: Demonstrates experience engaging stakeholders and other public entities from SB 535 and AB 1550 communities.
• Effective Communication: The written responses are articulate and effective (i.e., provide responses that stay on topic, answers the questions directly, clearly, and completely).
• Application of Experiences: The written responses draw links between the applicant’s experience and relevance to the contracting position.

Scoring Rubric and Criteria 

Additional notes are offered below as a guide for scoring of each question:

Question 1: Do you live in or does your organization represent an SB 535 (Disadvantaged Community) or AB 1550 Community (Low-Income Community)? If so, which one/ones. Guide to using the map: 1) locate the search bar, it is on the upper left-hand side of the screen; 2) type your location [e.g., zip code, address, city, or census tract]; 3) click on your census tract, a box will appear with the designations identifying your census tract as disadvantaged and or low-income. 

• The Applicant will receive 15 points if they answer the question fully, and if they live in or work in an SB 535 or AB 1550 community.
• The Applicant will receive 10 points if they answer the question fully, and they do not live in or work in an SB 535 or AB 1550 community, but the applicant is the only applicant from a certain region of the state that is not represented by another applicant, as this will help provide a regional balance of community experts.
• The Applicant will receive 5 points if they answer the question fully, but they do not live in or work in an SB 535 or AB 1550 community, and there are multiple applicants from their region.
• The Applicant will receive 0 points if they do not answer the question.

Question 2: Why are you interested in advancing equity? Why do you believe community engagement is essential? How does your skillset match the description of the criteria? 

• The Applicant will receive 7-10 points if they answer the question fully and clearly, and if they provide linkages to Criteria.
• The Applicant will receive 1-6 points if they do not answer the question fully and clearly, but they do provide some linkages to Criteria.
• The Applicant will receive 0 points if they do not answer the question.

Question 3: What experience do you have with equity and community engagement (can include experience with CARB or other government entities or lived, educational, or work-related experience)?

• The Applicant will receive 4-5 points if they answer the question fully and clearly, and if they provide examples of experience with CARB or other government entities along with lived, educational, or work-related experience linkages to Criteria.
• The Applicant will receive 1-3 points if they do not answer the question fully and clearly, but they do provide some examples of details about experience with CARB or other government entities along with lived, educational and/or work-related experience linkages to Criteria.
• The Applicant will receive 0 points if they do not answer the question.

Question 4: Share two to three ideas on how CARB can more effectively engage communities. If implemented, how will these ideas improve CARB’s future community engagement efforts to benefit your community?  

• The Applicant will receive 4-5 points if they answer the question fully and clearly and articulate engagement ideas and CARB’s potential impacts on their community.
• The Applicant will receive 1-3 points if they do not answer the question fully and clearly, but they do provide some examples of engagement ideas and CARB’s potential impacts on their community.
• The Applicant will receive 0 points if they do not answer the question.