Culturally specific participatory research on the needs of marginalized survivors of sexual violence.
Introduction
You are invited to submit a proposal to conduct community-level focus groups, interviews, and listening sessions with marginalized community members impacted by sexual violence to learn the ways and spaces in which they prefer to communicate and receive information, their current knowledge about the legal help that is available to them, their current perceptions of the justice system, and most importantly – what justice looks like from their perspective.
Who We Are
Founded in 1981, Texas Legal Services Center (TLSC) is a nonprofit organization that provides legal advice, advocacy, representation, and education to underserved people across the state. With more than a dozen practice areas, our work touches almost every aspect of civil law that impacts low-income Texans. Much of TLSC's work has been to shepherd innovative delivery models and to fill legal services gaps for underserved population groups. TLSC works with interrelated organizations to teach the intersections between civil law, public benefits, healthcare, law enforcement, retirement, housing and more. TLSC also works to affect systemic change through impact litigation, community relationships, and public policy reforms that benefit all low-income Texans. For example, TLSC works closely with the Texas Access to Justice Foundation and the State Bar of Texas’s Legal Access Division on access to justice issues.
Through its Crime Victims program, TLSC has represented survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse, stalking, dating violence, and human trafficking since 2011 -- with funding from the Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) and the Office of the Governor. With funding from the Texas Access to Justice Foundation (TAJF), TLSC has also operated the statewide intake hotline and provided network coordination for the Legal Aid for Survivors of Sexual Assault (LASSA) Network since 2015. LASSA is a statewide network of nine legal service providers funded by TAJF. TLSC LASSA attorneys conduct holistic, trauma-informed, survivor-centered interviews and intakes with safety planning; provide advice and counsel; offer limited legal services; and make appropriate referrals to network partners for legal representation. TLSC also houses a Network Coordinator who coordinates communications between Network Partners and supports the execution of the Visionary Network Plan.
TLSC must periodically assess the legal needs of the eligible populations in its designated service area.
The Need
During the second quarter of 2022, Black individuals represented less than 0.1% of all callers to TLSC’s statewide LASSA Hotline. Applying an intersectional lens to our work begins with the understanding that (1) these numbers in no way reflect the impact of sexual violence on Black women and girls in Texas, and (2) this is not a problem we can solve with traditional outreach alone. Extensive evidence demonstrates that Black women and girls, who are disproportionately impacted by sexual violence, also face uniquely intersecting justice barriers that discourage reporting to formal or informal support systems.
Priority Service Populations
Black female survivors of sexual violence in Travis County and Harris County, Texas whose household income does not exceed 200% of the federal poverty guidelines.
"Survivor" means an individual who is a victim of a sexual assault, regardless of whether a report or conviction is made in the incident.
Because this trust-building work is necessarily locally focused, TLSC reserves the right to award contracts to different partners in different priority service areas.
Purpose Areas
Increase racial justice and equity.
Include perspectives of communities of color in developing service priorities.
Ensure that services are delivered in a culturally competent manner.
Identify the impact of historical events, racial discrimination, implicit bias, and other socio-ecological factors that impact help-seeking among the priority service population.
Ensure that staff has the awareness, attitude, skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to provide assistance in a culturally competent manner and in order to provide appropriate outreach, be responsive to, and be aligned with, the interests of those people most affected by poverty, racism, discrimination, and other forms of structural oppression.
Center survivor voices as we develop service and outreach delivery methods, metrics, and goals.
Scope of Services
The successful contractor will design and develop qualitative surveys, in-person interviews, and other qualitative data methods or tools as necessary in conjunction with TLSC. The data collection methods and tools will be designed to allow responders to easily identify safety needs, justice barriers, and important factors in their lives that may not initially present as legal needs. The data collection will be designed to incorporate staff members of TLSC where appropriate. The contractor will then collect the data, analyze it, and produce a report that delineates the findings, highlighting important demographic details and legal needs data such as:
Zip code
Household size
Household income and source
Household composition
Language
Ethnicity
Number and types of legal needs each household has experienced in recent years (The lookback period will be negotiated with the successful vendor)
Most important issues facing the household, legal or non-legal
Awareness of legal rights and remedies
Justice barriers
Sources of support and trusted community assets
Project Schedule
The target date for delivery of the report is July 31, 2023.
Due Date and Method for Submission
Inquiries
Any inquiries about this proposal must be sent in writing to Shelli Egger at segger@tlsc.org.
Confidentiality
The proposing firm agrees to keep the information provided herein and related to all future agreements in strict confidence. Other than the reports submitted to TLSC, the proposing firm agrees not publish, reproduce, or otherwise divulge such information in whole or part, in any manner or form or authorize or permit others to do so, taking such reasonable measures as are necessary to restrict access to the information.
Proposal Requirements
In addition to standard product or service information, please include answers to the following questions in your proposal:
Does your business fall into any of the following categories: small business, minority owned business, or women’s business enterprise?
Do you plan to subcontract any of the work involved in this project? If so, please name and provide information about the subcontractors, including whether they are small and minority businesses and women’s business enterprises.
Please provide the name, title, contact information, and relevant experience of the person who will be responsible for leading this project.
Please describe TLSC’s responsibilities for successful project completion.
Describe the Scope of Work in its entirety.
How long will it take to complete the project? Please describe the timeline in detail.
Describe the elements included in the final written product.
How will you support our capacity building efforts in each of the purpose areas identified above?
If our internal team has feedback, what is the process to provide it and implement changes?
Evaluation Criteria
Each proposal will be qualitatively evaluated on criteria including: the scope of offerings, experience level and qualifications of staff, price, and extent to which proposal shows an understanding of the work to be performed.
Notification of Award
Ms. Egger expects a decision to be made by TLSC by March 31, 2023, and will notify all respondents of the selected firm once the final decision has been made.
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