Participatory Research Opportunity for Certification of Preference RFP

Are you a community-based organization interested in collaborating on a Request for Proposal (RFP) to locate and provide current contact information of individuals who were displaced from their residence decades ago by the former San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and qualify as Certificate of Preference (COP) holders? 

Individuals are eligible for a COP if their household was displaced from addresses affected in the Western Addition Area Two (A2) and Hunters Point in the 1960s and 1970s. The Certificate of Preference gives individuals the highest priority in City-sponsored housing lotteries. In addition, COP holders may use their certificate twice; once to rent a unit and once to buy a unit. Time is running out. The city only plans to honor the COPs until January 1, 2026.

The lead organization on this project is the New Community Leadership Foundation who will be using a participatory research process modeled after the Smithsonian. Using online crowdsourcing the Smithsonian uses digital volunteers to transcribe historical documents remotely.  The opportunities are listed as follows and summarized below: 1) Interviewing, 2) Outreach, 3) Records Research, 4) Data Entry, and 5) Transcribing. Training will be provided.

1) Interviewing: Community members with empathetic interviewing skills will perform semi-structured interviews in person, by phone, or video chat to collect data related to family composition and lived experiences. 

2) Outreach: Public outreach campaign to notify and educate the public about COPs.  Methods might include, but not limited to social media, radio, websites, and other forms of media to get the word out. 

3) Records Research:  Vital records, Department of Health public records, SFUSD public records will be combed to update the family composition of displaced household members to locate everyone who is eligible for a COP.

4) Data Entry: Individuals will be needed for data management and entry using Access, Excel, and Salesforce to create a comprehensive database of those displaced and/or eligible for a COP. 

5) Transcribing:  The City has about 5000 historical documents that have been scanned into pdf files.  However, handwritten documents are not electronically searchable. Community members will be needed to participate in the transcribe-review-approve process modeled after the Smithsonian.

The RFP is issued by the Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure on Dec. 3^rd, 2020 and due on Feb. 18^th, 2021. NCLF’s participatory research model provides an innovative and comprehensive way for community-based organizations with deep roots, relationships, and historical knowledge in the Fillmore and Hunter’s Point to play a critical role in identifying COP holders. These opportunities will also allow community-based organizations to learn new skills in historical research and data management important to ensure reparations in the Black / African American community.

If you are interested or for more information: email info@nclfinc.org, phone 415-857-1136 or website, www.nclfinc.org.