Rio Grande Valley Communities are Unidos Contra Diabetes Through Collective Impact

Unprecedented effort to prevent diabetes in the RGV seeks a Backbone to support Community Partners

San Antonio, Texas – Over the last year, over two dozen Rio Grande Valley healthcare providers and institutions, non-profit organizations, education institutions and other civic and business leaders have been coming together to address what they see as an epidemic in South Texas: Diabetes. Those efforts have taken shape through a steering committee, aptly named 'Unidos Contra Diabetes,' and evolved through a Collective Impact process, to seek a systematic way of combating and ultimately preventing diabetes by addressing the underlying behavioral health challenges faced by those diagnosed with the disease or at-risk of succumbing to it. Unidos Contra Diabetes is now seeking an organization or collaborative partnership to sustain a "Backbone" to serve as the entity that will formally coordinate the implementation of a long-term, regional effort to carry out the efforts goals in the Rio Grande Valley. A Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued today to solicit a Backbone and is available for download at www.mhm.org.

The Unidos Contra Diabetes Steering Committee is currently comprised of community leaders from hospitals, community clinics, academia, community-based organizations, and faith-based organizations; Methodist Healthcare Ministries, the Meadows Foundation, and the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute support it. This Steering Committee is not final, and will change and evolve as the effort grows. In the future, the group plans to involve more organizations and partners in the Rio Grande Valley however, a full-time Backbone is necessary to facilitate this expansion.

Within this cross-sector, collaborative effort the Backbone will provide the supporting infrastructure to coordinate work among partners. The term Backbone refers to a set of dedicated staff whose job is to help facilitate and manage the work of the collective impact effort.

The RFP contains a full description of the collective impact effort, the roles and responsibilities of the Backbone, as well as a self-assessment and list of short response questions for interested applicants.

FSG, a mission-driven consulting firm, is helping the Unidos Contra Diabetes Steering Committee during the RFP process. If you have questions about the RFP, wish to find out more about the role of the Backbone, or are curious in learning about the Unidos Contra Diabetes effort, please contact Matt Duffy from FSG at matt.duffy@fsg.org.

About Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. is a private, faith-based not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing medical, dental and health-related human services to low-income families and the uninsured in South Texas. The mission of the organization is "Serving Humanity to Honor God" by improving the physical, mental and spiritual health of those least served in the Rio Texas Conference area of The United Methodist Church. The mission also includes MHM's one-half ownership of the Methodist Healthcare System, the largest healthcare system in South Texas, which creates a unique avenue to ensure that it continues to be a benefit to the community by providing quality care to all and charitable care when needed. For more information, visit www.mhm.org.

About FSG

FSG is a mission-driven consulting firm supporting leaders in creating large-scale, lasting social change. Through strategy, evaluation, and research we help many types of actors – individually and collectively – make progress against the world's toughest problems. To learn more about FSG visit www.fsg.org.

To download a PDF of the RFP, click here.

Two informational webinars will be held for prospective applicants on March 26th and April 9th from 1:00-2:30PM Central Time. This webinar will be hosted by FSG, a mission-driven consulting firm who is helping the Unidos Contra Diabetes Steering Committee with the RFP process. The webinar will consist of a 30 minute presentation by FSG on the RFP process followed by 60 minutes of open Q&A from participants. The content will be the same on both dates. Participants can join by the webinar to see the presentation, or simply call into the conference line for audio-only participation.