The social services sector is transitioning from a focus on ‘outputs’ measuring activity levels towards ‘outcomes’ measuring life impacts. Third Sector advises public agencies seeking to use the tools at their disposal, such as procurement, policy, and data, to better align with long-term success for their communities. While we want success to be defined in terms of outcomes and encourage this evolution of the field, we still see value in assessing outputs for several reasons.

Throughout 2017, Third Sector and its partners have delivered improved outcomes for vulnerable Americans while accelerating the nation’s transition to a performance-driven social sector. With over $1 trillion in public funding dedicated to social issues each year, our work provides catalytic implementation support that enables communities to effectively address problems such as lack of meaningful jobs, recidivism, and overuse of foster care. See below for highlights on how Third Sector moved over $260M in total public funding to outcomes in 2017 and is leading the effort to implement solutions so

The Pay For Success (PFS) field is evolving from initial Social Impact Bond-style projects launched by governments and supported by third-party (i.e., non-government) funding to agency and multi-agency engagements that shift the practice of how existing public funding streams are deployed for specific social programs. Across these projects, traditional cost reimbursement service contracts are being amended or replaced with outcomes-oriented contracts.

Part two of two.

In October, LA County launched their first Pay for Success project. Third Sector has been a PFS advisor to the County since 2012. In this series, Third Sector director Dan Peck reflects on Third Sector’s work and the lessons we learned from the project. The following are second and third takeaways that can be applied to other governments looking to replicate LA County’s transition towards PFS and outcomes-based contracting. To read Part 1 which includes the first takeaway from the project, please click here.

This is the first part of a two part series.

Last month, Los Angeles County announced the launch of the County’s first Pay for Success (PFS) project: “Just-in-Reach.” The “Just-in-Reach” PFS project is an outcomes-oriented, health-based housing program that will reduce jail recidivism and help end homelessness among people experiencing repeat jail time. Over four years, the project will place 300 homeless individuals who are currently in custody within the LA County jail system and have a mental health and/or substance use disorders into permanent supportive housing. The project is a

Last month, Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP), Third Sector’s data integration partner, convened government leaders from around the country to explore ways to embed administrative data into government programming and decision-making.

The three-day seminar marked the first in a series of Learning Community meetings over the next two years, during which ten jurisdictions will be building out and improving upon Integrated Data Systems (IDS), that embed ongoing administrative data sharing and evaluation across multiple government agencies.