ATTACHMENT C: FY 2026 – 2028 OFCY RFP Background Information
1 REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) LAUNCH
On Friday, October 24, 2025, the OFCY released the FY 2026 - 2028 RFP in alignment with the 2025 - 2028 OFCY Strategic Investment Plan (SIP). The FY 2026 - 2028 RFP had eight funding strategies:
Strategy 1: Family Resource Centers & Parent Engagement Strategy 2: Elementary School-Based Expanded Learning
Strategy 3: Middle School-Based Expanded Learning
Strategy 4: Youth Development & Leadership
Strategy 5: Career Access & Employment
Strategy 6: Youth Summer Jobs/Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program Strategy 7: Independent Living
Strategy 8: Placed-Based Innovations for Safety
The RFP Application Timeline is below:
• RFP Released: October 24, 2025, at 12:00 pm
• Pre-Proposal Conference: October 30, 2025, at 11:00 am – 12:30 pm • Technical Assistance Sessions: Weekly, November 7, 2025 – December 4, 2025 • Question Period Ended: November 7, 2025, 5:00 pm
• Proposal Application Due: December 12, 2025, at 11:59 pm.
RFP COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
OFCY staff developed a communications campaign to meet the following goals:
1. Raise awareness of the funding opportunity, particularly for non-profits, community- based organizations and public agencies serving children in Districts 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7
2. Facilitate ease of participation in the RFP through effective and clear instructions, terms, and available support resources
3. Expand the applicant pool to diverse and new agencies/non-profits, including those not funded in the past
4. Enhance and foster trust in the competitive RFP submission, review, and award processes
5. Provide critical information to applicants quickly and effectively
6. Inform the public of the grant-making process for OFCY
The RFP was advertised in the Oakland Tribune, El Reportero, the Oakland Post and the Oaklandside publications. The launch advertisement was translated into Spanish and Chinese.
A Press Release was distributed on the launch day, as well as a City of Oakland email ATTACHMENT C: FY 2026 – 2028 OFCY RFP Background Information
2 announcement to all staff.
The RFP was also advertised on the IKE Kiosks around the city, delivering 1,694,747 impressions and 183,009 plays1.
Social media posts were also shared on the City’s Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn to announce the RFP launch, to distribute the link for the Pre-Proposal Conference recording and to send a “one week left” reminder to submit applications.
A weekly email was sent to the OFCY mailing list with resources, information and due date reminders. The RFP, all reference documents, training materials and recordings were available on the OFCY website.
PROPOSAL APPLICATION SUBMISSION OVERVIEW
OFCY received 333 completed proposals across the eight funding strategies by the deadline of 11:59 pm on December 12, 2025. This is a 45% increase from 2022, when 229 proposals were received.
The cumulative annual amount requested by all proposals was $62.2 million. This is approximately a 65% increase from 2022, when $37.8 million was requested.
1 Data from Orange Barrel Media + IKE Smart City. Generated on 4/17/2026. For more questions, contact the City Administrator’s Office IKE contact.
ATTACHMENT C: FY 2026 – 2028 OFCY RFP Background Information
3 PROPOSALS RECEIVED BY FUNDING STRATEGY
Table 1: Proposals Received by Funding Strategy
Funding Strategy # Submitted
Proposals
Total OFCY Funds
Requested
Career Access and Employment 56 $11,720,538.68
Elementary School Expanded Learning 74 $8,308,768.77
Family Resource Centers & Parent Engagement 33 $7,922,876.64 Independent Living 12 $2,567,955.00
Middle School Expanded Learning 27 $3,580,388.26
Place-Based Innovations for Youth Safety 22 $5,886,476.93 Summer Youth Employment 13 $2,320,892.52
Youth Development and Leadership 96 $19,898,341.06
Grand Total 333 $62,206,237.86
The Youth Development and Leadership Strategy received the most proposals, with 96 proposals submitted (29% of all proposals received).
33 programs, including 13 for Strategy 6: Youth Summer Jobs / Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program, submitted proposals for the Summer service term. The remaining 300 proposals submitted proposals for year-round programming.
Table 2: Proposals by Funding Strategy Summer & Year Round
Proposals by Funding Strategy Summer Year-round Total
1. Career Access and Employment 3 53 56
2. Elementary School-Based Expanded Learning 7 67 74
3. Family Resource Centers and Parent
Engagement - 33 33
4. Independent Living 1 11 12
5. Middle School-Based Expanded Learning 3 24 27
6. Place-Based Innovations for Youth Safety - 22 22
7. Summer Youth Employment 13 - 13
8. Youth Development and Leadership 6 90 96
Total 33 300 333
ATTACHMENT C: FY 2026 – 2028 OFCY RFP Background Information
4 Agencies with Most Proposals Submitted
8 agencies submitted more than 5 proposals. The most proposals received from a single agency was 22, from Bay Area Community Resources.
Table 3: Agencies with Most Proposals Submitted
Agency # Submitted Proposals Current OFCY grantee
Bay Area Community Resources 22 Yes
Safe Passages 12 Yes
Girls Inc of Alameda County 9 Yes
East Bay Asian Youth Center 8 Yes
Oakland Leaf Foundation 8 Yes
East Bay Agency for Children 6 Yes
Living Jazz 6 No
Trybe Inc. 6 Yes
City of Oakland Parks, Recreation,
and Youth Development 5 Yes
READER RECRUITMENT AND ASSIGNMENT
Reader Recruitment
Once the RFP launched, OFCY staff began recruiting Readers to ensure all submitted proposals to execute a fair, community-driven grant selection process. To promote equity and inclusion, OFCY recruited youth to serve as readers and evaluate proposals and offered stipends for all non-City of Oakland staff to compensate them for their work.
To develop a diverse reader pool, OFCY partnered with local universities, other city departments, community-based agencies, local elected officials and the OFCY Planning and Oversight Committee to recruit interested readers. A total of 250 people either filled out the reader interest form or reached out to OFCY directly to sign up.
OFCY hosted three live training sessions upon closure of the RFP. To accommodate different schedules, sessions were held during Saturday morning, Tuesday evening, and Thursday afternoon. The training was recorded so that readers could also watch it on their own time.
Of the 253 people who signed up to be readers, 175 completed the training and scored proposals. To support readers through the scoring process, OFCY hosted weekly office hours for readers to come bring questions and review scoring decisions.
Reader Assignment
The Confidentiality and Impartiality statement developed for the readers was revised and approved by the Public Ethics Commission. Before reviewing any proposals, readers were required to attest that they read the Confidentiality and Impartiality Statement and did not have a conflict of interest with the proposal. Readers were also asked if they served on the Board, were employed by the agency, or participated in any programs offered by the agency submitting the ATTACHMENT C: FY 2026 – 2028 OFCY RFP Background Information
5 Proposal within the last three years before they could review it. Any individual who was affiliated with an agency that submitted a proposal was not permitted to serve as a reader.
No reader reviewed and scored more than 10 proposals each, and all proposals received three scores.
66 readers (61%) were Oakland residents. Readers represented all Council districts. 22 reader survey respondents identified as having a disability or being neurodivergent. 20 readers were under the age of 21, including 4 Oakland Youth Commissioners. 21 readers were City of Oakland staff, primarily within the Human Services Department and the Community and Economic Development Department.
Readers had subject matter expertise in:
• Workforce development programming
• After School Program Implementation
• Youth Development and Leadership programming
• Violence Prevention
• Education
• Public Policy
• Public-Private-Nonprofit Partnerships
• Lived Experience within OFCY-funded programs