Great Minds Fellowship & Wellness Workforce Marketing for HAS

MISSION & GUIDING PRINCIPLES
The mission of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) is to provide statewide leadership of a high-quality mental health and addiction prevention, treatment and recovery system that is effective and valued by all Ohioans. OhioMHAS strives to be a national leader in implementing a comprehensive, accessible, and quality-focused system of addiction and mental health care and wellness for all Ohio citizens. PURPOSE
The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) is seeking proposals from qualified contractors to market, advertise, and promote the Great Minds Fellowship to college students enrolled in four-year colleges, universities, and community colleges throughout Ohio who will be beginning their coursework in one of several programs of study, using social media platforms, other digital and traditional media, on-campus marketing channels, search engine optimization, and other methodsIn tandem or in short succession, OhioMHAS would also like to market, advertise and promote opportunities within the state’s Wellness Workforce. This campaign would have a larger target audience and seek to encourage individuals to pursue opportunities in high-demand behavioral health fields, including social work, substance abuse and addiction counseling, marriage and family therapy, mental health counseling, and psychiatric or mental health nursing. This campaign would be similar in look and feel to the Great Minds Fellowship marketing, but would be different messaging and target a different, larger audience. The tactics could include, broadcast television, radio, experimental marketing, event planning, billboards, social media, OTT or any other channels deemed appropriate by the vendor. . BACKGROUND     
Each day, 19 Ohioans die prematurely from unintentional overdose or suicide, ranking these conditions alongside cancer, heart disease, and diabetes as leading causes of death in Ohio.​ An estimated 900,000 Ohioans live with a diagnosable substance use disorder or engage in substance misuse or problem drinking. An estimated 600,000 Ohioans live with a serious mental illness and an additional 1.4 million live with a mild or moderate mental health condition.The demand for behavioral health (mental health and/or substance use) services increased a staggering 353% from 2013 to 2019. Unfortunately, Ohio’s behavioral health  workforce – the counselors, social workers, psychiatric nurses, and other professionals who provide prevention, treatment and recovery services – increased at a much slower rate during that time at only 174%. And that disparity is only expected to worsen without deliberate intervention. Currently, 2.4 million Ohioans live in communities with an insuffienient number of behavioral health professionals to address the local demand for services.There are many factors that contribute to this phenomenon, including low staff salaries, relatively stringent education and licensure requirements in comparison to those salaries, relatively high student loan debt in comparison to those salaries, few financial incentives to join the field, poor employee retention efforts, and heavy caseloads that too often result in employee burnout. Additionally, the demographics of Ohio’s current behavioral health workforce do not closely reflect the demographics of the clients it serves, creating issues related to cultural and linguistic competency. Moreover, Ohio’s social, academic, and occupational landscape present many unique opportunities for expansion of the behavioral health field. Ohio is home to 14 four-year public universities with 24 branch campuses, 23 two-year community and technical colleges and more than 50 four-year private colleges and universities. Ohio closely approaches the national average in attainment of associate, bachelor, and graduate degrees, especially in the 25-34 and 35-44 year old age groups and exceeds the national average in degrees earned per capita, enrolling approximately 300,000 students into institutes of higher education each year. Ohio ranks 35th in the U.S. for attainment of at least a bachelor’s degree with approximately one quarter of Ohio’s adult population having earned one. One explanation of its slightly lower than average rate of degree attainment and declining enrollment could be its higher than average tuition.The Great Minds Fellowship (GMF) is a sensible, thoughtful approach to addressing the significant discrepancy between the growing need for behavioral health services and the dwindling pool of professionals committed to meeting that need. It is ideal for Ohioans looking to make a difference and contribute to growing a robust, diverse, engaged behavioral health workforce. The goal of the GMF is to increase the number of Ohioans entering and remaining in the behavioral health workforce within the next couple of years by incentivizing current college students in Ohio to pursue careers in this field. The GMF will help students jump start a successful future in their chosen career path by providing the following incentives: 15,000 in academic support via a student’s enrollment in an eligible program via a participating educational institution” 10,000 in recruitment and retention bonuses after employed by a Community Behavioral Health Center” 20,000 in loan repayment to former students who graduated in December 2023 through December 2024 who may have been eligible but not supported by a participating institution"
in the following programs of study: Social Work Clinical/Medical Social Work Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling Mental Health Counseling/Counselor Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling Clinical Psychology - Doctoral (pending)
Funding is available now.In addition to the aforementioned fellowship opportunity, OhioMHAS is committed to growing the behavioral health workforce by broadcasting the critical need for these professionals and highlighting the benefits that come along with a career serving others, including sense of purpose/value, contribution to the greater good, career advancement opportunities, and more.  SCOPE OF WORK AND DELIVERABLES
The contractor will be responsible developing a comprehensive marketing strategy to most efficiently hyper-target the intended audience for Great Minds Fellowship, as well as the larger audience of Ohioans seeking work or interested in transitioning to a different career path. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS OF CONTRACTOR
The contractor: The contractor will develop an ad set that will convey the requirements of the GMF and the availability to obtain monetary support for a commitment to enter the behavioral health workforce; Will be a multi-media marketing or advertising agency with expertise in behavioral health or public health media messaging; Will have the expertise and tools to conduct market research on this market segment, identify relevant sub-segments if applicable, describe this segment(s) media consumption habits and quantify which creative strategies are most successful with this segment(s); Will have expertise in designing ad sets for public health campaigns, including art direction, graphic design, photo manipulation, branding, copywriting, production, etc., that align with marketing strategy and goals; Will have expertise with media buying and placement and selecting the appropriate channels for each creative asset, based on segment(s’) documented media consumption habits. Will have a solid understanding of all advertising channels deemed efficient and effective which may include, but is not limited to, television, cable, paid search, digital, paid social, streaming and terrestrial radio, print, experiential, outdoor, etc. Will demonstrate how it will facilitate and optimize digital campaigns to gain media efficiency and performance ownership. • Will be experienced with tagging and tracking against the digital buy to provide timely optimization and analytics. • Will optimize campaigns daily and report metrics that quantify campaign effectiveness on at minimum monthly and quarterly basis. • Will demonstrate how it will facilitate and track the broadcast media buy and provide tracking of performance including reach, frequency, impression, etc.; Will be responsible for evaluating all paid advertising opportunities on behalf of OhioMHAS, providing analysis of media value and recommended action; Will have knowledge and capabilities necessary to track overall success of campaigns, by measuring number of individuals enrolled in the Great Minds Fellowship, as well as growth in key behavioral healthcare fields.
Contractor shall not be subject to an “unresolved” finding for recovery under Section 9.24 of Ohio Revised Code.