News and Insights

The U.S. economy today paints a picture of polarization. Despite the longest economic expansion in U.S. history, the decade preceding the COVID-19 crisis saw tremendous growth and innovation that did not benefit all Americans equally. While the GDP soared, millions of people worked jobs that didn’t pay family-sustaining wages or offer the opportunities for upskilling that have traditionally been pipelines for upward mobility. For certain marginalized populations, such as Non-Traditional Career Starters (NTCSs), people of color, or justice-involved individuals, the barriers are even greater. People of color continue to face …

“In 2018, Congress passed one of the most substantial changes in U.S. child welfare policy in decades. The Family First Prevention Services Act provides states with the opportunity to access federal dollars to prevent children from coming into foster care. States can draw down these unlimited federal funds to support a specific set of evidence-based policies, including home visiting services, services to help parents address substance abuse and mental illness, and kinship navigation services designed to support placement of children with extended families.” The Chronicle of Social Change recently published a …

At Third Sector, we work with government, nonprofit organizations, and communities to design and implement social services contracts that promote long-term outcomes like meaningful employment, healthcare access, and stable housing for people in need. Over the last decade, we’ve found that a sustained focus on outcomes like these can help government and communities work together to improve social services — and use resources in innovative ways — to deliver better results for individuals and families. In the face of the COVID-19 crisis, our partners in state and local government are …

With the recent spike in unemployment and economic precarity, we are reminded of lessons learned from prior economic hardships to support job seekers. During the Great Recession, families in tight labor markets were in immediate need of support services and paths for economic opportunity became steeper for people with life barriers such as prior incarceration and foster care.  Faced with limited resources and high need, government, philanthropy, and employers found themselves asking: Which initiatives lead to employment in my community? What are the social and economic outcomes of the most …

“Since Family First was first enacted by Congress in February 2018, states have begun the important work to remake their systems and make a real, positive difference in the lives of children surviving abuse and neglect. Now with the added tools and funding available through FFTA, if developed well, these new systems will help thousands of children stay with birth parents and siblings through interventions and supports that address the root issues that families face.” In a recent piece in Youth Today, Third Sector Director, Debra Solomon, spoke about three …

Dear Third Sector Clients and Partners, In these extraordinary times, our thoughts are with all who are being impacted. As we adjust to the current uncertainty, we realize that the situation is unsettling for everyone and our clients and partners will be addressing competing demands and new priorities. We are fortunate to be part of a caring and resilient community as we navigate through these unprecedented times. Given the rapidly evolving understanding of COVID-19 and how we can assist in population health and safety, Third Sector has put in place …

We’re launching a new Southeastern Cohort focused on improving outcomes for young parents and their families and Third Sector CEO and co-founder, Caroline Whistler, honored in San Francisco Business Times 40 under 40.

Third Sector has expanded its reach to new states in the South through the organization’s new Southeastern Cohort on Young Parents and Families – an effort focused on improving stability and economic self-sufficiency outcomes for young parents and their families. Through the cohort, three State and non-profit provider agencies in Georgia, Kentucky, and South Carolina are receiving outcomes-oriented technical assistance from Third Sector to enhance and align programs, policies, and systems to better support young parents and families. The need for this work and our focus in the Southeast stems …

In February 2019, with generous support from The Kresge Foundation, Third Sector launched the Pay for Success (PFS) in Higher Education National Cohort — a first-in-the-nation cohort of public systems of higher education, college access and success providers, and funders — to use PFS as a way to systematically fund wraparound student support services that improve matriculation, persistence, and graduation outcomes for underserved students. After six months of training and technical assistance (TTA) supporting four state and system partners in exploring PFS, it is clear there is an immediate opportunity …

Learn about the results of the Empowering Families cohort and the launch of a new cohort focused on improving workforce outcomes across California.

Social service delivery is serious, complex, and expensive. The federal government spends hundreds of billions of dollars per year on these programs. And yet, this massive universe of funding is often not allocated based on which programs are the most effective or in a way that measures the impact of programs over time. We see a need to change that by supporting the federal government in connecting resources to results and driving the adoption and implementation of outcomes-oriented funding.

In a recent piece in CommonWealth Magazine, Third Sector Director, H. Kay Howard, argues for more funding in the form of a pay for success model to ensure better post-secondary outcomes for Massachusetts students.

New partnerships and a growing field of knowledge allows us to make greater impact with your community. In this newsletter we look back on a few of Third Sector’s 2019 highlights.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” – Albert Einstein Washington State (WA) Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) Secretary Ross Hunter opened with the quote above at the 2019 National TANF State Directors’ Meeting, Helping Families to Overcome: Partnering to Build a Stronger Society on September 18, in a session that was live streamed and recorded. Along with Ballmer Group’s Washington Executive Director Andi Smith and Third Sector CEO Caroline Whistler, Secretary Hunter presented on DCYF’s agency-wide journey to transition ~$1 billion across over 1000 social …

Over the past few months we have had many opportunities to reflect on how our work is constantly evolving and adapting to new needs and lessons learned. Read about our latest work.

Creating a national outcomes-based financing Data Advisory Council (DAC) to capture and share best practices for using data to measure the social impact of outcomes-based financing.  The investment community’s understanding of the impact made by outcome-based financing is hampered by a lack of data. As of now, there are no centralized, holistic databases of impact investing data (e.g. benchmarks, sample portfolios, returns and/or performance ranges, market deal terms) that the broader finance community typically uses. As such, investors do not have the same tools to evaluate their investments’ impact that …

This blog series is centered on Third Sector’s assessment on applicability of Pay for Success in higher education in partnership with a new cohort of stakeholders. This is post #4 of the series. “Systems achieve the outcomes they are designed to achieve,” Alex Bernadotte, founder and CEO of Beyond12 shared during a plenary at the National College Access Network (NCAN) conference in Indianapolis last month. Bernadotte explained the Higher Ed system is “inequitable by design” and failing underrepresented student populations: students of color, low-income, first-generation, and adult students, student-parents, English language learners, …

What does a low-income community look like? What systems and programs, while often well-intentioned, serve as the foot of oppression for keeping this neighborhood economically poor? After conducting this power analysis as part of the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond’s Undoing Racism Workshop, hosted by Living Cities, there was no denying the immense privilege and power Third Sector has to influence systems and their outcomes for low-income communities and communities of color. This was a wake-up call for us. It helped us to understand the role we potentially play in perpetuating systemic …

Learn how Third Sector is leading the movement toward better outcomes for communities.

Updates on Administrative Data Pilot projects, a new workforce project in California, and more!