Public Outreach and Education

RFP: Charter Revision Commission Contract for Public Engagement and Voter Education
July 28, 2026
Request for Proposals for Public Outreach and Education in Connection with the City
of Buffalo Charter Revision Commission 2026 Proposals
RFP emailed to vendors: July 28, 2026
Q's received until: July 31, 2026
Q's answered by: August 3, 2026
Proposals Due: August 7, 2026
The City of Buffalo Charter Revision Commission ("Commission") has been created to review
the City Charter of the City of Buffalo pursuant to Municipal Home Rule Law Article 4, Section
36. Information on its activities can be found at https://www.buffalony.gov/1802/City-of-
Buffalo-Charter-Revision-Commiss.
By the end of July 2026, the Commission intends to adopt a set of proposals for amending the
Charter. Subsequently, the Commission will finalize its proposals and will conduct a public
education and outreach program on the same.
These proposals will be submitted to the Erie County Board of Elections no later than 8 August
2026 for placement on the November 2026 ballot. On Election Day, November 3, 2026, these
proposals will be offered in a referendum on the ballot for all city voters.
The Public Outreach Committee of the Commission, as well as a large number of community
members, have been doing work to educate residents about the Charter and solicit ideas about
changing the Charter and improving Buffalo. Now, the Commission intends to conduct a
community education and outreach program to inform, engage, and educate city residents
specifically about these proposed amendments.
Therefore, the Commission is soliciting proposals to run a city-wide public outreach and voter
education campaign.
PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS:
At least five substantial public educational forums, in locations accessible to each council
district. These are to be conducted between August 15, 2026 and October 15, 2026, in
preparation for the submission of these proposals at the general election. Each of these meetings
should be organized and advertised to ensure a maximum turnout of residents; meetings should
have a minimum of 20 people in order to qualify as sufficient outreach.

Robust use of social and earned media. Successful bids will include a comprehensive plan for
media outreach.
A final report detailing activities, public hearings, and other public outreach efforts, including
statistical data including meetings held; communications strategies; numbers and districts of
voters reached; and feedback from members of the public.
We encourage proposals which include:
One mailing to every registered City of Buffalo voter. Proposals should include an estimated cost
for this mailing.
Additionally,
The desired consultant should work well with the community, including robust connections to
community associations and organizations. These community associations and organizations
have been essential to the Commission's current public outreach and engagement efforts, and we
hope for their continued support.
The selected proposal will address language access issues.
QUALIFICATIONS:
The winning bidder will have experience doing broad public engagement campaigns, and will
have the capacity to contact and communicate with various neighborhoods and demographic
across the city.
Bidders must submit prior to the awarding of a contract, a statement indicating that the bidder
will work toward a minority workforce goal of 25%, and women workforce goal of 5%. In
addition, a statement must be submitted prior to the awarding of a contract indicating that the
bidder will work toward a business utilization goal for minority business enterprise of 25% and
women business enterprise of 5%.

SCORING MATRIX:
Criteria Total Possible Points Actual Points
Quality of public educational forum 25
and outreach proposal with
consideration given to:
Proposed locations for
hearings
Outreach strategy for
attendance at hearings
Targeted number of
people in attendance
Evidence of experience doing
successful public outreach will be
considered.
Quality of social and earned media 20
proposal
Evidence of experience developing
and executing media campaigns
will be considered.
Quality of proposal for direct voter 15
contact (eg. mailing, direct
outreach, community presentations)
Quality of proposed community 20
partnerships with consideration
given to:
Number and nature of the
proposed partners
Diversity of constituents
served by the partners
How respondents propose
partnerships will be used
Evidence of experience working
with community groups will be
considered.
Offeror's minority 15
workforce development,
community involvement
and vendor policies
Offeror's women 5
workforce development,
community involvement
and vendor policies

PROPOSAL CONTENT
Proposals shall be in writing. Proposal format may vary, provided it includes a comprehensive
plan for engaging and educating all voters in the City of Buffalo. Feel free to include additional
items or links to items illustrating past work on projects of this nature.
References: The proposal should include two professional references who Commission may
contact to inquire about similar past/current services provided by proposer.
Additional Information: The proposal should include a thorough description of the proposer,
including its location, years in business, history, unique qualifications, and philosophy.
Time-Frame Plan: The proposal should include a plan describing how proposer will prepare for
and execute this plan over the next three months.
The Commission encourages proposals from MBE's, WBE's and DBE's.
The Commission has a limited budget not to exceed $34,000 for these services including
materials, supplies, printing and venue costs.
Responses are due August 7, 2026 at 9:00am.
Submission by e-mail only, please.
Responses should be addressed to:
Laurence K. Rubin, Chair
City of Buffalo Charter Revision Commission
Lrubin@ch.ci.buffalo.ny.us