Advancing Economic Mobility for MA DTA Participants

Third Sector has partnered with the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (MA DTA) since 2018 in order to advance outcomes-oriented and client-centered services across the agency in service of promoting economic mobility for the families and individuals MA DTA serves. Third Sector has provided ongoing technical assistance that has enabled MA DTA to strengthen its capacity to prioritize and achieve outcomes. Through MA DTA’s partnership with Third Sector, the agency has achieved the following:

1. Shifted $12M in annual funding, impacting 2,000+ families per year, to pay for long-term economic mobility outcomes indicating that participants are better off such as job retention, certificate attainment, or increase in educational functioning level through the Young Parents Program (YPP) and the Competitive Integrated Employment Services (CIES).
2. Strengthened data-driven feedback loops between providers and MA DTA staff by co-developing job descriptions to clarify roles, building implementation tools, and facilitating touchpoints where providers and MA DTA staff review outcome trends together and identify strategies to better support participants.
3. Increased the flexibility for providers to meet the unique needs of participants, such as young parents or individuals who are disconnected from work or education by paying for positive life outcomes rather than compliance  measures like attendance or strict program models. This increased flexibility advances equity by enabling smaller, non-traditional providers to leverage their expertise working with populations with high barriers like young parents and justice-involved youth, to customize services in the way they see fit.

Through ongoing work together, Third Sector is supporting MA DTA in finding opportunities to better support the individuals served across all its employment services programs.

If you’re interested in learning more about Third Sector's ongoing work with TANF agencies, please reach out to Third Sector manager Miranda Beggin at mbeggin@thirdsectorcap.org.

• Project Summary & Results (PDF)
• Empowering Young Parent-led Families in Massachusetts to Achieve Economic Mobility
• Strategies to Promote Two-Generational Outcomes
  • This webinar provides examples of how an outcomes orientation can help organizations implement a 2-Gen strategy to improve outcomes for young parents and their children. The webinar features an in-depth case study of how Third Sector and the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (MA DTA) have collaborated to transform 2-Gen theory into practice over the last 2+ years through the agency’s Young Parents Program (YPP). The YPP program is a TANF-funded program serving young adults under the age of 25 who are pregnant or parenting and is focused on education outcomes such as high school equivalency completion and parenting outcomes such as increased knowledge of child development.