Generating Innovation with an RFI in New Hampshire
How did New Hampshire use a Request for Information to generate innovations in prevention programming?
In New Hampshire, the number of children with child protection cases who entered out of home care increased by more than 75 percent between 2014 and 2018, one of the largest increases in the country over this time period. The state recognized the need to enhance the availability of family strengthening services that could enable more children and their families to safely stay together. To this end, in 2019 the state Legislature authorized $53 million in new funding to expand and improve the services available to New Hampshire families over the following two years.
In an effort to maximize the impact of this additional funding, New Hampshire used a Request for Information (RFI) to rapidly gather community and provider input to shape the design of the state’s new child welfare prevention service array. Unlike Requests for Proposals (RFPs), RFIs do not result in any contracts being awarded but instead are used as fact-finding activities to gather information about the marketplace of services and providers. RFIs are underutilized tools available to public child welfare agencies seeking to add new services or change the service mix already in place to support children and families. With the RFI, New Hampshire’s Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) sought to learn from local service providers, youth, parents, foster parents, advocacy organizations, and academic institutions. These stakeholders were asked to share first-hand knowledge from their experience on the frontlines of care to describe the particular needs of local families and communities, suggest specific program models for the agency to consider, and describe what resources would need to be invested in providers to deliver these programs effectively.
This strategy brief details seven steps that DCYF took to develop and issue its RFI, including crafting a strategic vision and selecting priority topics for feedback, drafting specific open-ended questions, and engaging respondents through a strategic communications effort.