The New Orleans Business Alliance (the Business Alliance) is seeking an external evaluator to perform Process and Outcomes Evaluation services for a three-year program in partnership with the City of New Orleans and YouthForce NOLA. With our partners, the Business Alliance will impact small business and workforce development in the water innovation cluster, specifically focused on blue/green/grey infrastructure. The program will begin in early 2021 and wrap at the end of 2023.

The Business Alliance seeks applications from evaluators, both one or more individuals and organizations, with the following qualifications and experience:

• Ability to collaborate with client to create an evaluation plan
• Expertise in both process and outcomes evaluation
• Experience with establishing and maintaining performance dashboards
• Ability to interpret large data sets from multiple sources
• Expertise in drafting surveys to gather both qualitative and quantitative data
• Responsive to client for regular reporting
• Understanding of municipal service

The evaluator will be responsible for assisting in the creation of the program review process, evaluating program curriculum and materials, conducting stakeholder and participant interviews and surveys, and producing comprehensive biannual interim and final assessments. The final report should include descriptions of the key elements that comprise the program; analysis of the approach(es) deployed by collaborative partners; and provide a summary of the applicable outcomes and metrics to support future iterations of the program.

A proposal of no more than 5 pages and a detailed budget not to exceed $50,000 per year should be submitted to Kat Milligan at kmilligan@nolaba.org including one (1) electronic copy in PDF format by 5:00 PM (central) on Friday October 23, 2020 with the subject line "NOLABA RFP: Small Business and Workforce Development Evaluation.”

The New Orleans Business Alliance reserves the right to accept or reject any and all proposals and/or any portions of proposals. All documents submitted are subject to the Louisiana Public Records Act (La. R.S. 44:1 et seq.). Any emails sent or received by NOLABA employees are potentially subject to these laws. Unless otherwise exempted from the Public Records Act, senders and receivers of NOLABA email or other records should presume that all information sent is a matter of public record, and is therefore subject to public inspection upon request. To comply with the Public Records Act, NOLABA keeps all hard documents and electronic correspondence in accordance with its Document Retention Policy.

Additional information may be obtained by contacting the New Orleans Business Alliance at 504-291- 4635 or kmilligan@nolaba.org. Submittals that are incomplete, unclear, or fail to comply with the requirements as outlined in the instructions may be rejected.

For more information see below.

Social unrest and the drive for racial equity is top of mind right now. Today, Carla talks with Quentin L. Messer, Jr, who recently wrote a powerful article about his experiences as a Black man in America. Quentin graciously joined the C2 O’Clock call on Friday, June 12 to dive deeper into his insights and share his wisdom for the path forward. He reminds us that economic developers have a unique role in the conversations about driving equity. Quentin also shares three things that economic developers should know about racial equity conversations and emphasizes the importance of hope in the future we are creating. Tune in now to hear this transformative conversation!