Creating Positive Change with Data and Evaluation – Part I
Brian Beachkofski leads Third Sector’s efforts in data, evaluation, and modeling to include developing and executing strategy, capturing best practices, and providing training. This post is based off a recent speech I made at the Harvard University Center on Education Policy Research for a meeting of the Proving Ground partners. Proving Ground is an initiative committed to helping education agencies meet their practical needs, by making evidence cheaper, faster, and easier to use. Their goal is to make evidence-gathering and evidence-use an intuitive part of how education agencies conduct their …
The Unique Value of PFS for Asia
The Pay for Success (PFS) movement has spread to countries around the world. Each country has done PFS for slightly different reasons. For example: in the United Kingdom, PFS has generally angled as a way to get ‘more for less’, whereas in the US, PFS has been viewed by many as a way to test and scale up innovative social programs. I grew up in Singapore and Hong Kong, and have spent the past two years executing PFS projects around the US. I believe that PFS could provide a unique …
Third Sector Capital Partners Announces New CEO Caroline Whistler
Third Sector Capital Partners, Inc. (Third Sector) Board of Directors formally announced today new roles for co-founders Caroline Whistler and George Overholser. Beginning March 15, 2017, Caroline Whistler will be promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and George Overholser will transition from his current role as CEO to Board Chair. Whistler and Overholser, along with Third Sector board member Drew von Glahn, established the organization in 2011 to accelerate America’s transition to a performance-driven social sector. As leading innovators and implementers in the field of outcomes-based social policy, …
Illinois Announces Pay for Success Initiative for Dually-Involved Youth
Rauner Administration Moves to Improve Outcomes for Dually-Involved Youth Pay for Success initiative aims to reduce stays in institutional care, prevent repeat criminal behavior CHICAGO – Governor Bruce Rauner and Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Director George Sheldon today announced the next step to improving outcomes for youth who are involved in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems through a first-of-its-kind pay for success initiative. “Many youth in the juvenile justice system have endured a breakdown in their families,” said Governor Rauner. “This project is …
WIOA Pay-for-Performance is a Critical Tool for Equity and Opportunity
By Celeste Richie Along with other critical support services, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and its embedded Pay-for-Performance (P4P) provisions are critical to advancing performance-based contracting and improving long-term outcomes for those served by the workforce system. Despite the appetite for a better life for all individuals, many workforce programs today are unable to deliver similar high-quality results across all of their participants. Recent analysis has demonstrated the need to increase equity of outcomes, not just increased access to services, and WIOA P4P could be an active tool …
Third Sector Receives $2.4 Million Grant from Social Innovation Fund to Build Pay for Success Programs in Local Communities
Largest federal Pay for Success Round 2 grant will establish “Performance Hubs” and tools for communities to embed data analytics into service delivery programs for child welfare, homelessness, and juvenile justice services. Third Sector is pleased to announce that it has received a $2.4 million federal grant from the Social Innovation Fund, a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, to create a tech-enabled ecosystem of high-quality data for service providers and develop the pipeline of “Pay for Success (PFS)-ready” governments. The project is also funded by a …
Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality and Third Sector to Lead Innovation and Evaluation Program for Reducing Poverty and Inequality
White House Features New Social Innovation Award The Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality launched today a new $3 million partnership with Third Sector Capital Partners, the Social Innovation Fund, the Ballmer Group, and the White House Office of Social Innovation to build an administrative-data framework for measuring and evaluating the success of social service programs designed to reduce poverty and inequality. A $1.5 million grant was awarded by the Social Innovation Fund (SIF), a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, after a rigorous nationwide competition. The …
Third Sector Participates in SIF Convening
By Nadia Ahmed and Melissa Penney From September 7th to 9th, Third Sector joined other grantees for the Social Innovation Fund (SIF) Convening hosted by the Corporation for National & Community Service in Washington, DC. The event gathered government leaders, funders, service providers, and consultants to share their successes and lessons learned in implementing and expanding evidence-based services. The theme of this year’s convening was Risk, Agility, and Resilience, reflected in the many conference sessions on field disruption, course correction, and scaling change. Throughout the convening, themes of equity and …
Towards a Performance-Driven Social Sector
Click on the image to read the report Third Sector is pleased to present, in partnership with GuideStar and America Forward, the new survey, “Towards a Performance-Driven Social Sector: A Service Provider Perspective on Trends in Government Contracting.” Across the country, communities are changing the way they serve people in need. Local and state governments are taking a new look at how they contract for social services delivered to our most valuable citizens. Closer examination of current contracting practices may ultimately outline a path to healthier, safer, and more just communities, …
Caroline Whistler Recognized as one of Living Cities’ 25 Disruptive Leaders
In celebration of their 25th Anniversary, Living Cities recognized 25 Disruptive Leaders who are working to improve economic outcomes for low-income people in America’s cities. We are proud to share that Third Sector president Caroline Whistler was included on this remarkable list. Caroline was recognized for her leadership and work at Third Sector to bring together “governments, high-performing non-profits, and private funders in building evidence-based initiatives that address society’s most persistent challenges. As an architect of some of the nation’s most promising Pay for Success projects, it is helping to change …
Third Sector Participates in GHHI’s Executive Leadership Institute
By Nadia Ahmed On August 28th, Third Sector was invited to the 7th annual Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI) Executive Leadership Institute in Austin, TX. For the first time, the two-day conference, in addition to its sessions on the latest in the green and healthy housing movement, offered a parallel set of sessions on Pay for Success (PFS). This brought together government, foundations, providers, evaluators, and organizations with PFS expertise to discuss how such an innovative contracting model can work in the lens of healthcare. Third Sector participated in a …
Linking Pay for Success to Collective Impact Initiatives
Across the country, a growing number of governments are contracting for human services on a performance basis. Many are implementing innovative cross-sector models like Pay for Success (PFS), with many more considering the model for services in their own communities. This increased appetite for Pay for Success (PFS) partnerships has redirected taxpayer dollars toward interventions that provide data-driven solutions for social impact. Because PFS is well suited to complex social challenges, there are situations where it is unrealistic to expect a single service provider or intervention to address the multifaceted …
How WIOA’s ‘Final Rule’ Moves Pay-for-Performance Forward
On June 30th, the Department of Labor (DOL) released the Final Rule1 on the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). As the five workforce boards of Third Sector’s second cohort of Social Innovation Fund sub-grantees are working to leverage the Pay-for-Performance (P4P) provisions of WIOA to better serve youth, this guidance directly informs our efforts. It is also important to note that WIOA requires local areas to shift their focus, spending 75 percent of youth funding on out-of-school youth. The DOL’s Final Rule on WIOA provides the necessary information to …
Third Sector Featured in #AdvanceEquity Campaign
This month, New Profit, Inc. launched the #AdvanceEquity campaign. The creative campaign seeks to expand equity in America by sparking dialogue and action. It asks a critical question – “how do we change as a nation to reduce inequity?” Third Sector offered one answer to this question by highlighting its second cohort of Social Innovation Fund sub-recipients. With nearly 6 million youth in the United States disconnected from school and work, the time for progress in workforce development is now. Read the #AdvanceEquity Blog Post The impact of these programs …
Third Sector Collaborates with Urban Institute on PFS Early Childhood Toolkit
The field of early childhood education has been exploring how Pay for Success (PFS) can scale programs that work. To guide practitioners interested in the model, Third Sector partnered with the Urban Institute Pay for Success Initiative to create the PFS Early Education Toolkit. With contributions from organizations active in PFS projects across the country, the toolkit’s first three papers – The State of the Science, Using Data to Inform Decision-making, and Outcomes Measurement and Pricing – provide a “roadmap” for those looking to leverage PFS to deliver effective early …
Catalyzing an Outcomes Orientation: The Early Childhood Social Impact Performance Advisors Annual Conference
Last month, Third Sector joined over 300 social impact leaders in Denver for The Third Annual Conference of the Early Childhood Social Impact Performance Advisors. Hosted by the Institute for Child Success, ReadyNation, and the Sorenson Impact Center, the three-day conference explored how Pay for Success (PFS) can improve outcomes for children and families. David Wilkinson, Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, opened the event by walking through the numerous ways PFS can improve the delivery of early childhood services. By trying interventions on …
Moving America Forward: Caroline Whistler Featured by America Forward Coalition
Caroline Whistler, President of Third Sector Capital Partners, Inc., was featured by New Profit in the #AFPresidential2016 series. The ongoing blog series highlights the work of over 70 social innovators, presenting their solutions to our country’s most pressing social issues. This post was originally posted on New Profit’s blog. View the post here. In cities across the nation, Third Sector Capital Partners, Inc. (Third Sector) is leveraging Pay for Success to develop performance-based leadership by embedding data-driven decision-making into government contracting, and allowing communities to focus on delivering outcomes versus …
Pay for Success – A Catalyst for Having the Data Talk
What is the true cost to government of serving, or failing to serve, a family in need? When a government delivers services, what outcomes matter most? How can they be measured when critical information is siloed in various government agencies? And most importantly, where do governments and service providers even start the conversation on data access and analysis? Third Sector and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) explored many answers to these questions at the Social Innovation Fund Pay for Success (PFS) Data and Evidence Workshop in Portland, Oregon. The …
Webinar: Investing in Children’s Health and the New “Pay for Success” Approach
On June 6th, Senior Associate Emily Fabiaschi presented on a webinar panel hosted by The National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation. The webinar, titled “Investing in Children’s Health and the New “Pay for Success” Approach”, provided an overview of Pay for Success contracting and how it can be applied to the field of children’s health. Watch the Full Webinar Here Other panelists included: Rob Dugger, Co-Founder and Chair, Ready Nation Harvey L. Galloway, Executive Director, Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina Foundation Damien Thurman, Director of Social …
Connecting Data to Values Pay for Success at Do Good Data 2016
Third Sector coordinated a panel session on Pay for Success at the recent Do Good Data Conference hosted by the Impact Lab in Chicago. A standing-room-only crowd came to learn how we can use measured outcomes to bring effective programs to those most in need. Alongside Sarah Jalbert from Abt Associates, Sotun Krouch from Roca, and Eileen Neely of Living Cities, each providing their perspectives on Pay for Success, we were able to fully illustrate the innovative model why it is an effective way for communities to address social issues. …