Practice Areas

As an outgrowth of its work with four states during the first PASS cohort, Third Sector is continuing to support the Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative (COSI) by implementing the Postsecondary Grant Redesign, which revamps its financial and wraparound support grants into one joint program aimed at ensuring all students are equipped to succeed in their post-secondary education. Setting up a joint program was a key recommendation coming out of the original PASS cohort work.

Third Sector is partnering with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation to support cross-sector partnerships in Indiana, Michigan, and Tennessee in designing and developing pilot Lifelong Learning Account (LiLA) implementation plans. These pilot programs will provide working people in their states with access to job training and ongoing educational opportunities to grow or build new careers.

Third Sector worked with the City of Boston's Office of Workforce Development, Community Advocates for Young Learners (CAYL) Institute, the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, training partners, and workforce boards to build and strengthen sector partnerships in the field of early care and education. This effort helped to identify collaborators to recruit, train, and place teachers in the Greater Boston area to scale up the pipeline to careers in early childhood education. This initiative is one of two projects awarded to Third Sector through the U.S. Department of Commerce's Good Jobs Challenge.

Sutter-Yuba’s iCARE Innovation Project seeks to increase access to behavioral health care for underserved groups not currently engaged in traditional behavioral health services. Third Sector is supporting outcomes framework design and outcomes impact assessment for iCARE by soliciting and integrating input from consumers to both inform continuous improvement efforts and contribute to consumer-defined recovery metrics.

Third Sector is working with Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area, Workforce Network, Inc., Smithville Workforce Training Center, training partners, and employers to build and strengthen sector partnerships in the skilled trades, health care, finance, and IT sectors. This effort will recruit, train, and place working people in seven rural counties in central Texas into quality jobs. This initiative is one of two Third Sector projects awarded funding through the U.S. Department of Commerce's Good Jobs Challenge.

From March 2022 to December 2023, Third Sector advised counties receiving Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) funds on how to improve state performance goals through various outcomes contracting and continuous improvement strategies. Third Sector also advised the 13 state departments in the state's Funding and Programs Working Group to act on various policy and program priorities by developing a racial equity data plan to improve system coordination and administrative efficiency, a pathway for counties to escalate persistent challenges that require more state support, guidance, or collective problem-solving; and peer-learning forums across state and county departments.

The Better Careers Design Group was a multi-year initiative across four California counties that brought together government agencies, nonprofits, and local community members to design  human-centered and outcomes-oriented solutions for systemic workforce challenges and to advance the equitable economic outcomes in California. Third Sector led the group of 20 participating organizations through each phase of the human-centered design process so that local teams could apply lessons learned to engaging members of their local community.

Third Sector partnered with ProsperOK to design and launch JusticeLink, a free community center for justice-involved Oklahomans who need assistance navigating the criminal-legal system as they reenter their communities. The new center streamlines and simplifies the many services available to people dealing with criminal cases.

Third Sector partnered with The W. Haywood Burns Institute and the LA County Chief Executive Office to establish the county’s Department of Youth Development (DYD). DYD sets more responsive and equitable ways for the county to deploy funding and resources to community-based prevention and support services for youth at risk, currently engaged, or previously involved with the criminal-legal system.

Third Sector facilitated a design process with the Healthy Marin Partnership (HMP), a collaborative of Marin Country health care stakeholders, and training partners to develop an action plan for workforce system improvements. Through this initiative, the HMP and training partners will investigate challenges in achieving well-paying health care jobs and design solutions in collaboration with jobseekers and workers.

In 2021, the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC) launched the nation's first Parent Cabinet. This influential team of parents and community leaders is collaborating on the design of (and will influence) policies that impact children and families across the state. In this next phase, Third Sector will support OEC and its Parent Cabinet members by analyzing the effectiveness of systems, mapping critical internal and external communications processes necessary to establish an effective feedback function, and instituting a robust governance timeline and framework to ensure that current organizational efforts and leadership expertise are sustained beyond the inaugural years of the Parent Cabinet.

Third Sector led the design process for Massachusetts Department of Early Care and Education’s Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) grant, a monthly payment to providers to stabilize operations as a result of COVID-19 disruptions. Technical assistance included stakeholder engagement, designing a workforce bonus and restructured, equitable funding formula, which stabilized the programs and  helped keep child care accessible to all Massachusetts families no matter their race, background, or circumstance.

Third Sector lead a series of workshops with the MassHire Learning Community - a cohort of Massachusetts workforce boards - designed to build a greater understanding of outcomes-orientation strategies and identify concrete next steps for implementing components of outcomes-orientation.

Over the course of three years, Third Sector and Seattle Jobs Initiative partnered with the National Association of Workforce Boards to provide multi-faceted technical assistance to workforce development boards across the country looking to become third-party SNAP Employment & Training intermediaries or providers and deliver high-quality, impactful, and equitable services to help program participants achieve economic mobility. Read more.

Third Sector worked with the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) and Cuyahoga County's Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to improve enrollment, persistence, and completion outcomes for Ohio National Guard Scholarship Program (ONGSP) recipients. Cuyahoga's DHHS, the first county in the nation to launch a PFS project in 2015, led program and contract design efforts with Third Sector and InsideTrack, a leading national organization that supports learners seeking higher education. Together they tailored a coaching and skill-building program for the National Guard that strives to eliminate racial disparities between White students and students of color.  The county launched the PFS contract in December 2022.

Third Sector supported a Lane County partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development & U.S. Department of Justice in the first Permanent Supportive Housing project in the county to help formerly incarcerated, homeless Oregonians who are at high risk of recidivating. Led by Homes for Good Housing Agency, Sponsors, Inc. and Lane County Parole and Probation, The Way Home will serve 125 Oregonians struggling with homelessness over the next few years.

Since 2019, Third Sector has supported three cohorts of the Partnerships to Achieve Student Success (PASS), a group of state systems of higher education that aims to improve student outcomes to and through postsecondary education. The current PASS 3 cohort focuses on how states and intermediary non-profit and community-based organizations can develop cross-sector partnerships to build coordinated state-level strategy-building pathways to engage adult learners and connect them to better jobs.

Third Sector worked with the Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families to implement Performance-Based Contracting standards across the agency's more than 1,200 contracts to improve services for clients and achieve improved outcomes for outcomes for children and families.

Third Sector worked with a cohort of states (Georgia, Kentucky, and South Carolina) to provide outcomes-oriented technical assistance to enhance and align each state’s programs, policies, and systems to better support young parents and families. Learn more

In 2018, Third Sector partnered with six state and local government agencies with the goal of demonstrating how agencies could align social services for parents and social services for children to generate better outcomes using strategies such as innovative contracts and data-sharing agreements.

Third Sector partnered with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) to transform approximately $300 million in service provider contracts, creating the nation's largest system of outcomes-focused mental health provider contracts. This multiyear, data-driven process focused on LACDMH's Full Service Partnership program, which supports a "whatever it takes" approach to caring for individuals with the most challenging mental health needs. As a result, LACDMH was able to deliver better outcomes for the more than 15,000 clients they serve each day.

Inspired by our groundbreaking work with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, Third Sector is leading a cohort of nine diverse California counties over 4.5 years in transforming their Full Service Partnership (FSP) programs to improve client outcomes. Through data-driven approaches and cross-county collaboration Third Sector is working with the counties both collectively and individually to implement an outcomes-focused approach that will increase their overall ability to use data to improve FSP services and outcomes

In preparation for 988 hotline implementation as required by the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020, Washington State partnered with Third Sector to perform a landscape assessment exploring the features of a successful, culturally, and linguistically competent crisis response and management system.

With support from the Blue Shield of California Foundation, Third Sector assessed the potential for CA state and federal funding streams to support California’s Accountable Communities for Health Initiative (CACHI) in their effort to coordinate and provide prevention-oriented services to improve community health outcomes. Third Sector coordinated with the CACHI network and other thought leaders to disseminate information on the most promising opportunities. Third Sector also developed a roadmap to help communities understand how to access and leverage Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) funding to impact community mental health.

Third Sector completed a PFS feasibility assessment designed to evaluate the appropriateness of PFS for higher education to help heighten the focus on and attainment of these outcomes. With generous support from the Kresge Foundation, we worked with uAspire, a national provider of college affordability and financial aid counseling serving primarily low-income and first-generation students, to develop a preliminary assessment of PFS in higher education. uAspire’s interest in PFS, as with many service providers, stemmed from a desire to find organizations who might be willing to pay for the delivery of their high-quality, evidence-based programming.

Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEPs) are an integral part of youth workforce programming for cities across the country. But how do cities ensure SYEP is a meaningful experience that measurably enhances outcomes for the young people engaged? In the City of Boston, the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development (OWD) partnered with Third Sector and Northeastern University’s Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy to answer this question. Through the feasibility process, Third Sector worked with numerous stakeholders, including government agencies, researchers, providers, funders, and employers, to understand Boston SYEP goals and opportunities to integrate an outcomes orientation.

Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) partnered with Third Sector, Sunnyvale School District, and SRI International to explore outcomes contracting as a means to expand access to and enhance the quality of preschool services available to low-income children in the County. During the engagement, Third Sector worked with these partners and other local stakeholders to develop recommendations to improve priority outcomes including academic achievement and social emotional development.

Third Sector collaborated with Workforce Solutions Capital Area (Austin, TX) and the project’s Steering Committee to develop a model to better meet the talent pipeline needs of local employers and the workforce training needs of youth in Austin/Travis County. The project sought to improve education and employment outcomes for 16-to-24-year-olds that are disconnected from both school and work, known as Opportunity Youth. The project evaluated the opportunities and risks of scaling the highly successful Youth Employment Partnership program through a pay for performance contract.

New York City's Department of Veterans' Services (DVS) is the newest City agency with the mission foster purpose driven lives for NYC service members, veterans, and their families. DVS partnered with Third Sector to conduct an Education and Employment Landscape Analysis to assess the current system of veterans services and accelerate DVS' capacity as an outcomes-oriented government agency. The three month engagement concluded with recommendations and a roadmap, highlighting next steps to structure outcomes-oriented initiatives to improve employment opportunities for veterans and their families.

The Learn-to-Earn (LTE) Initiative is a large-scale interagency workgroup that was launched to improve coordination across state agencies and ultimately support individuals and families received public assistance move towards a path to self-sufficiency. The initiative focuses on five public assistance programs - the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, State-Aid Public Housing, Temporary Assistance for Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and subsidized child care. While the programs serve many of the same clients, misaligned eligibility requirements and structural disincentives to work limit agencies’ abilities to serve the whole person or family. Third Sector supported the initiative’s efforts to leverage administrative data to define statewide education, employment, and income outcomes and improve the agencies’ abilities to match individuals and families with the right mix of supports through the development of data use license agreements.

Los Angeles County has launched Just in Reach (JIR), a new health-based housing program that will reduce jail recidivism and help end homelessness among people experiencing repeat jail stays. Over four years, JIR will place 300 homeless individuals who are currently in custody within the county jail and who have a mental health and/or substance use disorder into permanent supportive housing. This permanent supportive housing initiative emerged from Third Sector's multi-year engagement with the LA Chief Executive Office and Board of Supervisors for how to fund and expand community-based and cost-saving alternatives to incarceration or homelessness for children, adults, or families. — This project closed in 2017.

California Department of Social Services (CDSS) aims to help counties improve employment and life outcomes for families through the expanded subsidized employment (ESE) program. To identify challenges and best practices in implementation of ESE programs, as well as current outcomes, Third Sector interviewed county welfare departments, employers, workforce development boards, and other stakeholders. Third Sector then developed an ESE Toolkit in partnership with CDSS to help counties move programming, contracting, and data practices towards an outcomes orientation.

Veterans across the country face numerous barriers as they seek to reenter the workforce. While many supportive services are available to veterans, the process of navigating through a local network can be daunting. Project (re)Launch will seek to ameliorate this issue by expanding access to 2-1-1 San Diego's Courage to Call (C2C) service offering, a closed-loop case management service that connects veterans to over 1,200 mental health, housing and financial assistance providers in the San Diego area, and coupling the C2C program with the VA's Vocational Rehabilitiation and Employment (VR&E) program. Third Sector is providing technical assistance/project structuring support to 2-1-1 on the project. Veterans that are enrolled in the VR&E vocational training program will be assigned a navigator from C2C that will help assess the veteran's needs, refer them to appropriate supportive services, and track their progress towards barrier removal through 2-1-1's Community Information Exchange data platform, a system that allows 2-1-1 to interface with service providers in its network to track participant progress. Our theory of change is that if veterans are well-equipped to remove health related barriers as they go through vocational training and the job search process, they will have an easier time achieving desired employment outcomes.

Third Sector worked with King County’s Outpatient Treatment on Demand Initiative to direct approximately $115M annually in outpatient behavioral health funding toward outcomes by embedding performance incentives into existing contracts to increase access to timely care. The three-year program includes 23 different service provider agencies representing 93% of new outpatients served annually. 

The Cleveland Foundation asked the Cuyahoga County Board of Health to conduct a feasibility assessment of PFS applicability to reduce lead poisoning in the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. Lead poisoning is a pervasive, irreversible public health problem in the community and can lead to reduced education outcomes and higher involvement with the criminal system in the long run; we are centered on housing remediation as our intervention to reduce lead poisoning and blood lead levels in the community. Third Sector engaged with potential end payers to gauge interest in involvement in an outcomes-oriented/PFS structure from state, local, and federal government parties, as well as health care, education, and business institutions.

DEL, Thrive, and Third Sector completed a feasibility study to determine whether Pay for Success could help improve life outcomes for Washington's high-risk families through quality home visiting services funded by the Home Visiting Services Account (HVSA). Given there are more families eligible for home visiting programs than are currently served, DEL was interested in exploring strategies for expanding financial support through Pay for Success. Third Sector conducted a feasibility analysis on five home visiting programs funded by HVSA. Results of the assessment were that a performance-based approach to HVSA expansion would necessitate data improvements to enable DEL, Thrive, and HVSA service providers to better identify and serve high-risk families in Washington and improve their health and educational outcomes. — This project closed in 2016.

Third Sector, in partnership with Stanford’s Center on Poverty and Inequality (CPI), helped the Washington State Department of Early Learning (DEL) to improve early education and well-being outcomes for children and families served by two home visiting programs and an early support program for infants and toddlers at risk of development delays. The agency realized through a Pay for Success feasibility assessment with Third Sector in 2015 that program data is not linked with administrative datasets to allow DEL to understand certain priority outcomes, therefore the agency was interested in receiving technical assistance from Stanford to access and analyze data held externally. Third Sector led efforts to leverage data insights for selection of outcomes and metrics to build performance-based contracts. DEL joins Santa Cruz County’s Human Services Department and San Diego County’s Health and Human Services Agency in Third Sector and CPI's Social Innovation Fund Administrative Data Pilot cohort, which will also include a Learning Community designed to facilitate cross-site collaboration and technical/process trainings around data analysis and deployment.

Third Sector partnered with the Denver Office of Economic Development to assess pathways to leverage evaluation and outcomes-driven contracting strategies to increase educational and employment outcomes for pregnant and parenting out of school youth. The engagement detailed challenges and actionable next steps for OED to leverage existing data systems to track and reward longer-term education and employment outcomes for these individuals and to blend federal funds with local public funding source.

Third Sector, in partnership with Stanford’s Center on Poverty and Inequality (CPI), helped Santa Cruz County’s Human Services Department (HSD) to gain access to numerous administrative databases to better understand short- and long-term effects of the County’s subsidized employment program, funded through CalWORKs. Third Sector and CPI helped to deploy data insights to improve and embed outcomes in the contracts between HSD and the providers of workforce development services, building the outcomes-oriented contracting expertise that will assist in broader agency shifts. Santa Cruz County’s HSD joined San Diego County’s Health and Human Services Agency and the Washington State Department of Early Learning in Third Sector and CPI's Social Innovation Fund Administrative Data Pilot cohort, which will also include a Learning Community designed to facilitate cross-site collaboration and technical/process trainings around data analysis and deployment.

San Diego County had a significant population of justice-involved youth and young adults that are at a high risk of recidivism, and are disconnected from both employment and education due to lack of services from traditional workforce channels. Second Chance, a local service provider, looked to deliver a program tailored to justice-involved youth that would provide skills training and other wraparound supports that prepare youth to attain and succeed in employment and post-secondary education. Third Sector provided SDWP, the county workforce board that contracts for employment services, with technical advisory in building the project. SDWP, through this partnership, looked to replicate an outcomes-oriented service model across its county-wide programs, and project involvement from the state level Employment Development Division (EDD) to pave the way for scaling outcomes-orientated services to workforce boards throughout California.

Third Sector, in partnership with Stanford’s Center on Poverty and Inequality (CPI), helped San Diego County’s Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) to gain access to numerous administrative databases to better understand short- and long-term effects of the County’s various homelessness response efforts, specifically the Whole Person Wellness and Project One for All programs. Third Sector and CPI helped to deploy data insights to improve and embed outcomes in the contracting structure of various homelessness and health initiatives, building the outcomes oriented contracting expertise that will assist in broader agency shifts. San Diego HHSA joins Santa Cruz County’s Human Services Department and Washington State’s Department of Early Learning in Third Sector and CPI's Social Innovation Fund Administrative Data Pilot cohort, which will also include a Learning Community designed to facilitate cross-site collaboration and technical/process training around data analysis and deployment.

Mecklenburg County partnered with Third Sector, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to conduct a Feasibility Study to determine whether and how Pay for Success can be leveraged to enhance pre-kindergarten and early elementary programming for low-income children. Through the Feasibility Study, Third Sector worked with local stakeholders to develop recommendations to improve priority outcomes include academic achievement, social emotional development, and attendance.

The Goodwill Excel Centers (TEC) are a network of tuition-free adult charter schools that gives adult learners the opportunity to earn a high school diploma. TEC's program centers on providing flexibility for students, removing barriers, and supporting student pathways to postsecondary education and the workforce. The program offers child care, life coaches, career certifications and college credits in order to help students navigate through the issues in their life and prepare them for successful careers or continued education. Since its inception in 2010, TEC has expanded from one school in Indiana to 18 across five states. Third Sector worked with the TEC to assess the feasibility of leveraging PFS and outcomes-oriented contracting strategies to help TEC effectively and sustainably scale its impact and accelerate its expansion goals into multiple communities.

The Children's Services Council of Broward County, FL (CSC Broward) has a long history of partnering with local funders and providers to track and incentivize priority outcomes for children and families that align to the Broward County Children’s Strategic Plan. In order to apply a racial equity lens to their work and continue to improve opportunities and results for all Broward children, CSC Broward piloted new processes for engaging providers and program participants as co-researchers in selecting and measuring program outcomes, shaping program design, and identifying systems-level barriers to remove. CSC Broward piloted these efforts with the Family Strengthening and Mothers Overcoming Maternal Stress (MOMS) programs, which provide child abuse and neglect prevention services. Third Sector supported CSC Broward’s creation of systems for ongoing provider management and frontline staff engagement to complement its existing data-driven approaches that inform funding and procurement decisions. Third Sector also supported the inclusion of additional “learning outcomes” (customized, provider-proposed metrics) in the 2019 re-procurement of these services.

In North Carolina, the Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) sought to improve outcomes for vulnerable families across the state. NCDHHS is a large agency and funds a range of services. Two priority areas the state worked to improve outcomes for are early childhood and the opioid epidemic. To identify opportunities to improve outcomes at scale, NCDHHS decided to focus these efforts in Guilford County which has already laid the groundwork for improving early childhood outcomes. NCDHHS had an opportunity to learn more about what program models are working to improve 2Gen outcomes through an outcomes-oriented demonstration project in Guilford County. Third Sector worked with Guilford County partners to support the development of this demonstration project, which focuses on improving 2Gen outcomes for pregnant women and children affected by substance use. At the same time, Third Sector also worked closely with NCDHHS to develop an agency-wide vision for outcomes-orientation and identify ways to scale the work being done in Guilford County to improve outcomes statewide.  

Third Sector worked with Iowa's Department of Human Rights to move its Family Development and Self Sufficiency program towards an outcomes orientation. Third Sector conducted work to incorporate family voice into 2-Gen related program changes and to rethink how different TANF systems interact in order to better serve families.

The Office of Early Childhood (OEC) administers state and federally-funded childcare for 30,000+ low-income families in the state of Connecticut. The establishment of  the OEC in 2013 united staff and funding from five unique state agencies, naturally creating silos in program delivery. Third Sector has partnered with the Early Care and Education Division of the OEC to assess opportunities to further integrate funding and embed outcomes-orientation across its program starting with Care for Kids, its statewide child care subsidy program. The OEC is working with government agencies, community organizations, and providers through the development and implementation of its three-year Child Care Development Fund Plan to lead collaborative initiatives. These efforts are designed to increase access to high quality care and improve child and family outcomes, including but not limited to improved referral pathways for housing insecure families, expansion of allowable employment and education activities for families on transitional assistance for needy families (TANF), and grants and contracts to expand infant and toddler care.

Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) administers critical resources and supports to thousands of Coloradans who struggle to afford basic living necessities. Many of these individuals also face steep barriers in obtaining the skills, training, and employment opportunities needed to achieve long-term self sufficiency and economic stability. Third Sector partnered with CDHS to incorporate outcomes-oriented contracting principles within the Colorado Works Subsidized Training and Employment Program (CW STEP). Third Sector worked with CDHS and its partners to embed a focus on outcomes and financial incentives into the CW STEP contract and apply lessons learned across other contracts in the agency, with the goal of further enhancing the CDHS' existing culture of performance management and measurably improving long-term outcomes of parents, children, and families served.

Cuyahoga County partnered with Third Sector and Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) to conduct a Feasibility Assessment to inform how Pay for Success can be used to sustain and expand their Universal Prekindergarten Program (UPK), which enhances the quality of and access to existing pre-kindergarten slots in public and community settings. Through the Feasibility Assessment, Third Sector engaged state and local stakeholders to identify priority early care and education outcomes, understand the education funding landscape, and identify ways to strengthen and expand community partnerships.

From 2014-2019, Third Sector designed and launched two projects to support residents facing homelessness and behavioral health challenges in Salt Lake County, Utah. Homes Not Jails, a $6 million effort, scaled comprehensive Rapid Rehousing and wraparound supportive services to 315 individuals exiting county jail, which resulted in a 46% increase in timely access to mental health services and a 16% reduction in shelter and jail month utilization (vs. control group). Another $6 million project, "Criminal Justice REACH," served over 225 high-risk, high-need justice-involved residents suffering from substance use disorder and other co-occurring criminogenic characteristics, which reduced days of incarceration by 40% and improved employment by 20% (vs. control group).

The REACH program served at least 225 adult males at high risk of re-engaging in criminal behavior using an intensive suite of services targeted at criminogenic factors. These services focus on providing evidence-based behavioral health counseling modalities (moral recognition therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and motivational interviewing), along with housing supports.

Third Sector worked with Marion and Multnomah Counties to conduct PFS feasibility in partnership with the national nonprofit Youth Villages and its Intercept program, with the goal of reducing crime and systems involvement for youth ages 10-18 assessed at medium or high risk of committing further delinquent acts in the next 12 months and at-risk of placement in a youth correctional facility at the Oregon Youth Authority. Marion and Multnomah Counties demonstrated an innovative partnership between two county-level governments and the state Oregon Youth Authority, offered unique urban and rural contexts for demonstration sites, and also created an opportunity to work with Youth Villages, a national evidence-based nonprofit with ability to scale interventions. — This project closed in 2016. The feasibility study is available here.

Third Sector worked with Friends of the Children (FOTC) to conduct PFS feasibility to scale up its national evidence-based intervention in Oregon for youth identified at age 5 as “high risk” or already experiencing poor academic and social well-being outcomes. — This project closed in 2015.

The Center for Evidence-Based Policy at the Oregon Health and Science University received technical assistance to advance an early childhood foster care avoidance PFS project for between two to four geographically diverse Oregon communities with high foster care entry rates. The Center had agreed to take on a lead coordinator role with Third Sector’s two other Oregon awardees. — This project closed in 2016.

Third Sector led a feasibility assessment, in partnership with the Children and Families Commission of Orange County (Commission) and other partners, to explore the viability of using PFS to increase the financial sustainability of the Bridges Network. The Bridges Network provides screening and services related to home visiting and outcomes-based funding could provide an opportunity to sustain and improve these services that are critical to the health of infants and mothers in Orange County. — This project closed in 2016.

Third Sector worked with the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency to explore using PFS contracting to support the expansion of two of their asthma management and prevention services – Asthma Start and Healthy Homes. In Alameda County, approximately 45,000 children suffer from active pediatric asthma, representing nearly 13% of children in the County. The County has the capacity to only serve less than 9% of children diagnosed with asthma, and there is a significant need to scale the intervention and address unmet needs within the community. With support from the Nonprofit Finance Fund’s California PFS Initiative, Third Sector conducted a feasibility study to determine how the County can serve more low-income youth and generate asthma-related health savings.  

Year Up received a developmental technical assistance award from Third Sector to explore the PFS feasibility of the Professional Training Corps (PTC) Model for workforce development. The PTC Model was an intensive one-year program for young adults, aged 18 to 24, who have a high school diploma or GED. PTC participants spent six months learning technical and professional skills in the classroom and then applied those skills during six-month internships at one of Year Up’s 250 employer partners. Year Up presented an opportunity for a provider to scale nationally through PFS.

Third Sector is worked with Friends of the Children (FOTC) to conduct PFS feasibility to scale up its national evidence-based intervention in Oregon for youth identified at age 5 as “high risk” or already experiencing poor academic and social well-being outcomes. — This project closed in 2016.

The State of Nevada, Clark County and the City of Las Vegas received assistance from both the Harvard Kennedy School Social Impact Bond Technical Assistance Lab (HKS SIB Lab) and Third Sector Capital Partners, Inc. to explore the use of Pay for Success in creating innovative strategies to improve social outcomes in early childhood education. Specifically, the three jurisdictions engaged in a feasibility study that explored how an early childhood education PFS project can increase outcomes such as kindergarten readiness and third grade literacy as well as reduce public school special education and remedial education expenditures. The PFS project targeted Southern Nevada and was a part of Nevada’s ongoing efforts to improve early childhood education opportunities state-wide. The collaborative feasibility process between the HKS SIB Lab and Third Sector Capital Partners will focus on four main areas: (1) evaluation of whether or not proposed interventions produce the desired outcomes, (2) cost-benefit analysis of proposed interventions, (3) design of potential PFS payment structures and outreach to potential investors, and (4) assessment of the most rigorous evaluation strategies that can be used to measure the initiative’s outcomes. The State of Nevada is the only Social Innovation Fund Subgrantee leading an innovative partnership between state, county and city government to address PFS contracting and savings analysis for early childhood education interventions, which has the potential to serve as a model nation-wide.

Third Sector worked with the United Way of the Bay Area on assessing PFS readiness of its programming, specifically in the workforce development sector. This feasibility work developed PFS value propositions for promoting financial self-sufficiency and analyzed projected impact, necessary fundraising, and the economics of various projects for stakeholders. — This project closed in 2016.

Third Sector Capital Partners worked with Austin/Travis County, TX, with leadership from the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department, to focus on determining the feasibility of PFS for reducing teen pregnancies among Hispanic youth and improving birth outcomes among African Americans. The geography served was the City of Austin and Travis County, TX. Measurable outcomes we anticipated on achieving with this engagement included clearly defined target population(s) and analysis of available administrative data. In addition, the engagement conducted an intervention assessment and preliminary evaluability assessment to determine which issue area would have the best viability for PFS. The intervention assessment focused on the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) teen pregnancy prevention program Maternal Infant Outreach Program (MIOP). — This project closed in 2016.

The Massachusetts Juvenile Justice PFS Initiative, the fourth PFS project launched in the country and the largest to-date, was designed to improve outcomes for hundreds of at-risk young men in the probation system or leaving the juvenile justice system. The intentions of the Massachusetts Juvenile Justice Pay for Success Initiative was to, not only improve the lives of young people, but also to reduce crime, promote safer and stronger communities and save taxpayer dollars. The initiative allowed Roca, a nonprofit based in Chelsea, to provide its high-impact intervention to 929 at-risk young men aged 17 to 23 who were in the probation system or exiting the juvenile justice system. Roca’s programming aims to reduce recidivism and increase employment through intensive street outreach and targeted life skills, education and employment programming. The Roca intervention was delivered over an intensive two-year period followed by two years of follow-up engagement. Read more

Project Welcome Home waa the first Pay for Success project launched in California. In partnership with Abode Services, the County of Santa Clara intends to serve 150-200 chronically homeless individuals that are frequent users of the County's emergency rooms, acute mental health facilities, and jail. Abode will provide chronically homeless individuals with access to community-based clinical services and permanent supportive housing using evidence-based Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and a Housing First approach. These services are designed to end the participants’ homelessness, increase income, and provide increased access to ongoing physical and behavioral health services.

The State of Illinois awarded one PFS contract to increase support for at-risk youth dually involved in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems in Illinois. The Conscience Community Network, with One Hope United as lead agency, coordinated a continuum of evidence-based practices to reduce utilization of institutional care for these dually involved youth. The project aimed to improve placement outcomes, reduce re-arrests, and improve child well-being and transitions to adulthood. Third Sector’s work included arranging funding, leading stakeholder negotiations, project construction, and economic modeling. Illinois is the first state to implement Pay for Success to improve child welfare outcomes, as well as the first to partner with a network of community providers for service delivery. The Conscience Community Network is a collaborative of seven child welfare agencies with deep ties to the Illinois community and over 741 years of experience serving youth in Illinois: Lawrence Hall Youth Services, Maryville Academy, OMNI Youth Services, One Hope United, SGA Youth & Family Services, UCAN and Youth Outreach Services.

Cuyahoga County launched the first family homelessness and child welfare project in the nation, known as the Partnering for Family Success Program. The Partnering for Family Success Program began implementation in early 2015. The program aims to reduce the length of stay in out-of-home foster care placement for children whose caregivers are homeless. A confluence of factors including substance abuse and mental illness make it difficult for these caregivers to secure stable housing that empowers them to successfully complete their case plan with the County’s child welfare system and build a safe home environment for their children. Learn more

Third Sector worked with the United Way of the Bay Area on assessing PFS readiness of its programming, specifically in the workforce development sector. This feasibility work developed PFS value propositions for promoting financial self-sufficiency and analyzed projected impact, necessary fundraising, and the economics of various projects for stakeholders.

With support from the James Irvine Foundation and Nonprofit Finance Fund’s California Pay for Success Initiative, Third Sector partnered with the City and County of San Francisco Office of Civic Innovation to explore the possibility of PFS projects in three impact areas: maternal and infant health, at-risk transitional-aged youth and homeless families.

With support from the California Endowment, Third Sector worked with the National Council on Crime and Delinquency to develop Pay for Success feasibility studies in the arenas of child welfare and restorative justice. The feasibility studies explored how specific interventions can be adapted for Pay for Success contracting on the county level.

Two of California’s largest First 5 Commissions – First 5 LA and the Children and Families Commission of Orange County – jointly explored the feasibility of using PFS contracting to support their maternal and child health home visitation programs, Welcome Baby and the Bridges Maternal Child Health Network. Third Sector conducted feasibility studies with the two Commissions with support from the James Irvine Foundation and Nonprofit Finance Fund’s California Pay for Success Initiative. — This project closed in 2015.

With support from the James Irvine Foundation and Nonprofit Finance Fund’s California Pay for Success Initiative, Third Sector partnered with Los Angeles County to complete a county-wide “Blueprint” released in October 2014, a report recommending how the county should develop one or more PFS projects. The county plans to develop at least one PFS pilot project pending Board approval.