Description

On behalf of Kaiser Permanente, I am pleased to share a funding opportunity to support the evaluation of our California Community Behavioral Health (BH) Initiative. We invite interested and qualified organizations to submit a proposal for the Request for Proposals (RFP): Evaluation of Kaiser Permanente’s California Community Behavioral Health Initiative by July 8, 2026.

Kaiser Permanente is investing $150 million over five years, beginning in June 2026, to expand and improve behavioral health services across California. This initiative focuses on strengthening access to care, expanding the behavioral health workforce, and reducing disparities through innovative care models.

The selected evaluator will assess the impact and implementation fidelity of programs across three key workstreams:

Advancing care models with paraprofessionals, including peer support services for youth, older adults, and individuals in crisis (virtual and in-person)
Expanding the licensed behavioral health workforce, through training, licensure support, and career pathways
Continuous improvement and implementation, to inform future investments and scale what is most effective 
 

Award Information:

Up to $400,000 per year (up to $2,000,000 total)
Anticipated 5-year grant period (60 months), beginning January 2027
 

Eligibility Requirements:
To be eligible, organizations must have a 501(c)(3) public charity designation and be in good standing with the IRS, or have a qualified fiscal sponsor.

Proposal Submission Guidance:

Submissions should be sent via email to Renee Gross at [email protected]. Proposal submissions are due on July 8, 2026 at 5pm PT via email.  Submissions  should not exceed 15 pages in length (excluding C.V.’s/Resumes and a detailed budget) and include the following:  

• Primary Contact: Provide the name, title, organization, phone number and email address for the primary contact for this proposal.
• Organizational Overview: Provide a summary of your organization’s monitoring and evaluation practice and experience, as well as any areas of specialty.
• Expertise: Include a list of at least 2 evaluation assignments relevant to the Evaluation of the DMHC-approved BH initiative strategy. Include examples of reports and products.
• Team: Provide a short profile of your proposed team identifying who the lead evaluator will  be. Include C.V.’s or resumes for each team member. Identify partners if applicable.
• Approach: Provide a summary of your approach to this evaluation, including your approach to large scale, complex, and mixed methods evaluation.
• Budget: Provide a detailed breakdown of the associated costs to complete the evaluation in an excel file.  
• References: Please provide two references who are knowledgeable about work relevant to your organization’s evaluation expertise. Include a description of working relationships and contact information. 
   

Support & Questions:

We encourage interested organizations to reach out with questions as you develop your proposal. This is a competitive process, and we are committed to supporting applicants in submitting strong and thoughtful proposals.

For questions regarding the funding opportunity, please email Renee Gross ([email protected]) Please put “KP Behavioral Health Evaluation” in the subject line of the email.

Attached Materials: Link to Full RFP

We appreciate your interest in partnering with Kaiser Permanente to advance behavioral health access and outcomes for all and look forward to your participation.

Requirements

Project Scope. 
Over five years, the evaluation will assess the impact of KP’s overall BH initiative strategy, assess the fidelity to the stated KP BH strategy, and assess the individual BH workstream programs. 

The overarching goal of KP’s investment is to increase availability of services and grow the workforce to improve and sustain BH outcomes and reduce disparities for individuals residing in California. The evaluator will produce annual reports and a final report measuring the impact of interventions, including metrics on workforce demographics and distribution, access availability, impact on existing workforce, and scope of practice for new paraprofessional roles. The evaluation will include a mix of primary data collection and analysis of secondary or partner-collected data. Information from the evaluator’s annual reports will be used to make additional investments in years 3-5 to ensure effectiveness and alignment with the approved strategy. Investments made during this period will also be included in the evaluation. 

Project Objectives.

The evaluation team will be responsible for assessing KP’s BH initiative strategy as well as the individual workstreams:  

• Workstream 1: Advancing care models with paraprofessionals  
  • Objective 1: Assess how the use of paraprofessional providers in community and care delivery settings impact access and availability of care (specifically peer support services provided to youth, older adults, and people in crisis). Note that organizations providing these services have their own evaluations that should be leveraged (and not duplicated) in service of this work.
• Workstream 2: Expanding the licensed BH workforce  
  • Objective 2: Assess how BH training and support programs support pathways to licensure for BH professionals in targeted settings and locations through training and clinical supervision.  
• Workstream 3: Continuous improvement and implementation
  • Objective 3: Assess how investment in years 3-5 align with overarching BH initiative strategy and goals
  • Objective 4: Develop and implement a dissemination strategy that translates findings from innovative care models into scalable tools and a statewide blueprint for adoption.
• Overall Strategy  
  • Objective 5: Assess adherence to KP’s BH initiative strategy and progress made across individual workstreams.  
  • Objective 6: Determine the extent to which the project has achieved its stated objectives, including reducing BH disparities among at-risk populations, improved access to care, and growth of the BH workforce in California.  
  • Objective 7: Identify successes, challenges, and lessons learned to refine and guide investments in years 3-5.