Turning the Abstract into Practice

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.

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, [...]

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.

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 [...]

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 inequities