Government Services

We work with federal, state, and local agencies to help ensure that public funding drives positive and equitable results.

We engage stakeholders across communities, providers and multiple human service agencies.
We work from an implementation mindset. We transform a vision into actionable plans and support agencies all along the way to see results.
We pinpoint policy hurdles and embed continuous learning into service procurement, leading to agency-level transformation.

Simply put, we’ll help you fundamentally change the way funding serves people.

Our Services

Outcomes
Strategy

Draw a holistic roadmap aligning funding and data with community goals.

Outcomes
Strategy

Draw a holistic roadmap aligning funding and data with community goals.

The Third Sector Fundamentals We start with an implementation mindset, engage stakeholders across agencies, providers, and within the community to collectively articulate a vision. We put the human experience of a defined population at the center of the strategic priorities. We identify policy and data sharing hurdles essential to outcomes measurement and achievement. This leads to a holistic and actionable plan supporting the overall outcomes vision.

FEATURED PROJECT:

Connecticut Office of Early Childhood

Bridged information silos within the agency, collaboratively developed the Federal Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) Plan and overall 3-year strategic plan. Legislative action spurred by the project authorized a 2% funding carve out for piloting program improvements and evaluation.

We wanted Third Sector to help us mature as an agency by engaging a broad group of stakeholders to focus on goals and impact across the Early Care and Education system to better serve families.
Mary Farnsworth, Director of Strategic Planning, Office of Early Childhood

Data-Sharing
and Analysis

Define, collect, share and utilize data in a practical and sustainable way.

Data-Sharing
and Analysis

Define, collect, share and utilize data in a practical and sustainable way.

The Third Sector Fundamentals We build a baseline of understanding from existing and accessible data sources. This includes both quantitative data and qualitative data from agencies and community stakeholders. We identify data-sharing pathways, potential for interagency agreements, and continuous improvement forums and practices. The development of this layered and shared understanding unleashes the story behind the numbers, builds collaborative partnerships, and leads to real-time program improvement and long-term policy changes.

FEATURED PROJECT:

Massachusetts MOUs

TBD

We have to do something different to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty… We are in the business of buying positive outcomes.
Commissioner Jeffrey McCue, Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance

Contract
Performance

Improve systems and processes to advance equity and outcomes for the people they serve.

Contract
Performance

Improve systems and processes to advance equity and outcomes for the people they serve.

The Third Sector Fundamentals Procurement of human services is where the desire for outcomes connects to funding. We look at whole systems and the full service life-cycle from concept inception to measurable results. We question the status quo and assist to reshape participatory stakeholder relationships. We provide practical starting points and assist to devise procurements to support new efforts.

FEATURED PROJECT:

Advancing Equity and Outcome Goals through Agency-Provider Co-Creation in Broward County

Broward began reshaping provider relationship and procurement practices with their Family Strengthening Services. These services seek to reduce the incidence of abuse and neglect and improve family functioning. Together they make up ~17% (~$19 million) of CSC Broward’s annual budget.

... made us look critically at our provider contracts, our processes, and where we had been struggling in our relationship with providers. We completely revamped the language in our RFP to focus on outcomes… now it is about moving forward to implement learning outcomes in the spirit of partnership with providers.
Laura Ganci, Director of Research & Evaluation, CSC Broward

Shared
Incentives

Craft structures that help providers exceed their goals and continually improve outcomes.

Shared
Incentives

Craft structures that help providers exceed their goals and continually improve outcomes.

The Third Sector Fundamentals Small incentives can lead to tremendous change. We begin by engagement with stakeholders to understand needs. We analyze existing local data and services to develop customized outcomes and incentive structures. Payment and process incentives are designed to accelerate investment in new systems, capabilities, and shared goals that lead to positive and equitable results.

FEATURED PROJECT:

Colorado Surpasses Workforce Placement Goals with Pilot Program by Focusing on Outcomes.

CDHS achieved strong community-level outcomes that surperceded goals for subsidized employment and training placement and surpassed goals for participants transition to employment.

As a government entity we often feel disempowered to do anything outside the mold. I hypothesized that having someone to guide and push us would let us change that culture around contracts.
Ki’i Powell, Director of the Office of Economic Security, Colorado Department of Human Services

Government Services Insights

“Education is the one thing that can’t be taken from you…”“Education is the one thing that can’t be taken from you…”

Alysha Alani
October 23, 2023

Third Sector values deep and authentic relationships - amongst our staff as well as with our partners and clients. We had an opportunity to reflect on these relationships during our Spring 2023 Retreat where we focused as a team on “Why we do the work.” It was a privilege to welcome our long-time client, Dr. Cynthia Armendariz, Managing Director of the Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative, to the retreat for a conversation with Alysha Alani, our Director, Economic Mobility, about her expertise in the college access and success field and her experience working with Third Sector over the last five years. We’ve captured some key insights from this “Fireside Chat” with Dr. Armendariz below.

Prioritizing Peers with Lived Experience to Address the Behavioral Health Workforce Crisis Prioritizing Peers with Lived Experience to Address the Behavioral Health Workforce Crisis

Nicole Kristy & Jessica Headley Ternes
August 16, 2023

As the demand for behavioral health treatment skyrockets alongside rising staff vacancy rates, behavioral health agencies are facing a true crisis in building enough capacity to meet the need. After an extensive literature review and working with more than a dozen behavioral health agencies, Third Sector believes one of the most strategic shifts agencies can make to confront this crisis is to invest heavily in roles for individuals with lived experience, known as peers.

Rethinking Step Down: The Next Step in Transforming Mental Health Services Rethinking Step Down: The Next Step in Transforming Mental Health Services

Zachary Kamin
June 14, 2022

At Third Sector, our mission is to transform our government agencies' ability to serve everyone in our communities, no matter their race, background, or circumstance. One of the most exciting and challenging things about this work is how trying to solve one set of problems reveals some other challenges we might not have understood in the same way. This is particularly true in the work we've been doing over the last five years in California to transform how nine counties in the state are serving and supporting tens of thousands of people with the most severe mental health challenges.

Five Takeaways on Using Human Centered Design to Improve Service Delivery Five Takeaways on Using Human Centered Design to Improve Service Delivery

by T. Peake
June 7, 2021

Through working with the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) in GA and the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) in KY in the Southeast Cohort on Young Parents and Families, Third Sector has identified five major takeaways for how to establish a human-centered approach to service delivery by centering a population’s long-term economic mobility outcomes.

Colorado and Ohio Departments of Higher Education Make Strides in Collaborative Efforts to Improve Student Success Outcomes Colorado and Ohio Departments of Higher Education Make Strides in Collaborative Efforts to Improve Student Success Outcomes

by S. Walton
April 6, 2021

Over the last two years, the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) and the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) have worked alongside Third Sector to develop projects that finance evidence-based services to improve student outcomes to and through college. Collectively, these efforts are known as the Partnerships to Achieve Student Success (PASS) initiative and have been philanthropically supported by the ECMC Foundation and the Kresge Foundation.

How to Design An Outcomes Focused Federal Government How to Design An Outcomes Focused Federal Government

by T. Pennell & J. Croan
March 24, 2021

When state and local government agencies have the necessary knowledge, resources and support to change the way they design, deliver and assess human services, people served by public systems measurably improve their lives.

New Partnerships to Stem COVID Learning Loss: School districts and tutoring providers explore outcomes-based contracting in K-12 math education New Partnerships to Stem COVID Learning Loss: School districts and tutoring providers explore outcomes-based contracting in K-12 math education

by S. Glover; E. Chang; H. Kay Howard
February 1, 2021

Third Sector and the Harvard University’s Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) collaborated to lead an Outcomes-Based Contracting (OBC) Summit, a four-workshop virtual series exploring outcomes contracting in K-12 math instruction.

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