Co-op housing sector organizations have always had close working relationships. Over the past several years, these ties have grown even stronger as co-op housing federations from across the country have been collaborating towards the Co-op Housing for All shared vision.

The latest collaborative venture is a National Education Committee that is steering a project funded by the Community Housing Transformation Centre: Co-operative Housing Sector Education Transformation (CHSET).  The purpose is to bring together our education community to share our work, make us stronger, and provide better, more relevant and accessible education initiatives across the country.

This week, the National Education Committee released a Request for Proposals for a project on equity, diversity and inclusion. This work has emerged as a priority. The goal is to support the co-op housing sector in implementing best EDI practices in co-op communities.

Sector Scan and Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Education Roadmap

Download PDF

Background

The National Education Committee (NEC) is comprised of representatives of co‐operative housing federations and associations across Canada, working together to meet the education needs of housing co‐op staff and managers, board & general members, and members of the public interested in co‐operative housing. Together, we have identified gaps and priority areas of work for development of education materials.

One priority that has emerged is the need for education and capacity building on issues related to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in housing co‐op communities. The work outlined in this RFP represents the first steps in undertaking the much larger project of providing education to housing co‐ops and relevant sector organizations on why attention to EDI is important, and how to implement best practices to support their communities and the housing co‐op sector.

Scope of Work

In collaboration with the members of the NEC working group assigned to this project, the chosen consultant(s) will complete one or both of the following phases of work:

Phase 1: Sector scan

Undertake a scan of professionals working in different areas of EDI across the country who could provide direct support to housing co‐operatives, regional federations, and relevant sector organizations. Create a directory of consultants who could be engaged by housing co‐ops to provide a variety of services related to EDI that they may be seeking.

Ideally, these organizations/professionals would be familiar with the co‐op movement and would understand the governance structure and functioning of housing co‐operatives. Services that co‐ops might be seeking from these organizations include but are not limited to:

• Educational resource development
• Trainings for boards, staff, and general members
• Internal equity audits
• Review and implementation of recommendations from audits
• Facilitation of sessions related to changing practices & shifting norms

Phase 2: Create an EDI Education Roadmap

The task of providing comprehensive EDI education to co‐op communities across the country is enormous, as well as extremely nuanced and complex. NEC members have identified several issues facing co‐ops related to EDI and have a general sense of topics we think are important to address.

Determining the process, pace, and method(s) of addressing these topics requires expertise and capacity beyond that contained within our group. In collaboration with the members of the working group, the chosen consultant will develop a roadmap for providing education to the sector on EDI best practices.

This roadmap should include a variety of types of interventions to provide co‐ops with tools, guidance, and practical steps to take to improve equity and inclusion in their communities. The roadmap must consider the many audiences and stakeholders present within the sector, including housing co‐op staff, board members and general members, co‐operative federations, and co‐op educators, among others. It must also consider the various levels of understanding and engagement on topics related to EDI within these audiences.

This phase will not seek to design or implement any education related to EDI within the sector, it will provide a step‐by‐step guide for the National Education Committee on where to begin and how to proceed with rolling out education on these important topics.

Below is a non‐exhaustive list of topics which are of crucial importance to include in this education roadmap. Each would require education on the concepts themselves, as well as how to put them into practice.

• Confronting power & privilege and working to create equity,
• Anti‐racism,
• 2SLGBTQIA+ allyship/accomplice‐ship,
• Supporting newcomers and refugees,
• Accessibility, and Disability Justice,
• Harm reduction,
• Unlearning harmful biases,
• Making co‐op communities safe and inclusive.

Consultants are invited to submit proposals for Phase 1, Phase 2, or for both phases of work. Please indicate in your proposal what phase(s) of work you are interested in.

Required Information

To apply, please send us a proposal that includes:

1. the name of your organization
2. name, contact information and website (if applicable) of project lead
3. list of project team members (if more than one)
4. CV(s) and/or description of experience and expertise related to the subject matter
5. proposed budget & total number of hours required
6. proposed workplan for the project including timeline (including availability to start project) stakeholders engaged, and touchpoints with committee members
7. references from prior clients on similar projects

Submission Deadline

Please submit your proposal by email no later than 5:00 p.m. EST, on Friday June 30th, 2023, to education@chfcanada.coop. Only proposals submitted by email will be reviewed.

Please submit questions regarding the proposal by email to education@chfcanada.coop. In order to ensure clarifications can be shared with all potential proponents, please submit any questions by no later than Monday June 26th, 2023.

CHF Canada will not be obliged in any manner to any proposer. At its sole discretion, it may choose to terminate the Request for Proposal process and not enter into any agreement or contract with any of the proposers.

The full RFP can be downloaded as a PDF.