Specifications include, but are not limited to: Under this Request for Response (RFR), the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants (ORI) seeks to purchase Refugee Health Promotion supports, a service component of the Massachusetts Refugee Resettlement Program (MRRP). Refugee Health Promotion services shall be designed to coordinate access to health screening and preventive health services for Massachusetts refugees. Eligible service areas include locations with significant current refugee resettlement. Formalized partnerships between refugee resettlement agencies, community health centers, Ethnic CBOs are strongly encouraged. Partnerships that include ECBOs as lead agencies or subcontractors will be given particular priority, wherever possible, to provide Refugee Health Promotion Services to refugees in their communities. The use of qualified refugee Ethnic CBOs in the delivery of social services helps to ensure the provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate services based in the community and increases the effectiveness of the overall service system. Consideration will also be granted to service providers who do not meet the Ethnic CBO criteria but that are actively working to build an ethnic community-based organization network that serves refugee populations. Ethnic CBOs are defined as organizations that meet the following criteria: • The organization is legally incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization; and • The organization’s governing board reflects the major target population to be served; generally, not less than 51% of the Board of Directors or governing board is comprised of refugees or former refugees, including both refugee men and women.
