At Third Sector, we provide outcomes-focused technical assistance (OFTA) directly to federal, state, and local agencies & their community partners. Through our OFTA engagement strategy, we assist agencies in reviewing, revising, and improving how they build, manage, and measure the impact of publicly funded social service programs. Our work is aligned to four practice areas: behavioral health, economic mobility, childcare/early education, and diversion/reentry.
Our Service Areas
We work with government partners and communities in six areas that collectively determine how well a social service system achieves its intended outcomes:
Data: Technology, methods, frameworks, and behaviors that affect data collection, data analysis, data sharing, and data use
Potential Project Areas: Data-sharing structures, Metrics and measurement structures, Continuous improvement practices
Services: The activities delivered by agencies to improve life outcomes of certain populations within a community
Potential Project Areas: Revised referral & enrollment practices, Revised service guidelines, Continuum of care structures
Funding: The contracting and delivery systems that deploy public funds into communities in alignment with policies
Potential Project Areas: Outcomes contracts, Equity-adjusted funding formulas, Inclusive service provider solicitations, Potential funding sources
Policy: Decisions in legislation, regulations, and official guidance that determine service priorities, restrictions, and funding levels
Potential Project Areas: Rule exploration and clarification, Recommendations to revise SOPs, rules & regulations
Internal Culture: Values, perceptions, and structures that drive people’s behavior within a government agency
Potential Project Areas: Organizational assumptions and agreements, infusion of equity techniques in all other building blocks
External Relationships: Formal and informal ways of interacting, power dynamics, and the level of trust between government agencies, service providers, and community members
Potential project Areas: Inter-agency coordination structures, Community-voice engagement structures
Equity-focused Technical Assistance
Third Sectors commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion means that all our TA is delivered using an equity lens. This means that we:
- Prioritize: Advocate for policies and practices that prioritize resource allocation and support to underserved and marginalized individuals and groups among government agency staff, community partners, and program participants
- Center Voices: Intentionally center the voices and perspectives of underserved and marginalized individuals and groups in decision-making in ways that build accountable relationships
- Consider Implications: Build systems to continuously understand and address implications of resource, policy, and operational decisions (including unintended consequences) on underserved and marginalized individuals and groups
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- Anti-racist Engagement: Use an anti-racist engagement approach with clients, partners, and communities with a particular focus on empathy, inclusivity, and equity
How We Work
Third Sector’s Outcomes-Focused TA is delivered through a variety of techniques: