Over the past four years, Third Sector has supported OEC in strategically allocating and managing federal relief funds to meet the needs of providers and families and, this past year, in preparing for the upcoming decline in federal stabilization funding. The COVID-19 pandemic strained an already fragile child care system, worsening the impact of low wages on early childhood educators and high child care costs on families. To stabilize the child care sector, the federal government invested stabilization dollars in states through the CARES Act, Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental …

Continuing in its fashion of forging pathways, our fourth blog explores how the CT OEC is attempting to centralize digital processes for licensing, accreditation, and other documentation to effectively support child care providers.  There is an ever-increasing demand for vital government services to go digital. For everything from voter registration to filing a police report, citizens expect to engage digitally for at least some step in the process. The early childhood education and child care ecosystems in the United States, which employ roughly 500,000 workers nationwide and serve millions of …

Previously, we explored how Connecticut has engaged parents to co-create a stronger statewide ECE system. Now, we’ll look at the other side of the equation—ECE providers—and see how Third Sector and Connecticut are designing new systems to support family child care providers.For the last decade, Connecticut, like most of the United States, has had to address a child care shortage. Connecticut has chosen in recent years to address this shortage by fostering the growth and development of family child care (FCC) providers. Between 2020 and 2022, the number of FCC …

Our first blog in the “Exploring Innovative Early Programs” series focuses on the Parent Cabinet, a pioneering effort designed to ensure parents have a direct voice in shaping the policies that impact their children’s future.In service of its mission to “partner with families of young children to advance equitable early childhood policies,” the Connecticut Department of Early Childhood (OEC) established a statutory statewide advisory committee known as the Connecticut Early Childhood Parent Cabinet. This diverse, parent-led committee meets regularly to elevate the needs of families and advise the agency on …

Welcome to the “Exploring Innovative Early Programs” series, which focuses on our work with the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood. At Third Sector, we believe in a future where all children, no matter their race, background, or circumstances, have guaranteed access to high-quality early education and care programs to support their learning, growth, and development. In a society where early child care and education have historically been undervalued, many government agencies have stepped up to create programs that truly make a difference for children and families. Since 2017, we’ve had the …

Third Sector partnered with California’s Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI), a historic five-year investment that is transforming the way young people in California access behavioral health support. We offer several recommendations for other states looking to design inclusive stakeholder engagement processes and develop resources to address barriers to systems integration.

Third Sector, in partnership with the Families and Workers Fund, announced that it will support over the next 11 months a cohort of four states – Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, and New Mexico – in designing workforce initiatives to build a pipeline of quality jobs in the climate and infrastructure sectors. Third Sector’s support is part of the Fund’s Powering Climate and Infrastructure Careers Challenge, which will support 14 awardees in total.

For nearly two years, Third Sector advised the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal ICH) on creating a more outcomes-focused culture for its staff and county partners. It is a shift that requires government staff to ask more about what happened after housing services were delivered (who was stably housed, when, and for how long) and which resources could be shared across departments (funding, data, and policies) within a specific time frame to serve constituents seeking services better.

The Opportunity Everyone, no matter their age, race, zip code, or previous educational background deserves to get the education and the career they want. And yet millions of Americans face significant barriers to enrolling, persisting, and completing postsecondary education and obtaining a credential – even as more and more of the best paying jobs require some kind of postsecondary education. At the same time, there are a variety of wraparound student support services and promising practices offered by providers across the country that have demonstrated success in improving outcomes for students …

We need our government to take action to simplify and streamline the structures and tools that help individuals fund lifelong learning. That’s why Third Sector is proposing a SIMPLE framework to help create a more streamlined approach to saving and paying for postsecondary education and job training that can provide clarity and ease for learners, workers, employers, and all those who care about ensuring these opportunities are accessible to everyone.

This month, Third Sector and The National Governors Association (NGA) have selected cross-sector teams from Idaho, Indiana, Minnesota, and North Carolina to participate in a project focused on helping governors expand employment and training opportunities in their states. Specifically, these four states will receive expert support and technical assistance to help them identify and address barriers to successfully and equitably implementing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Employment and Training (SNAP E&T) programs in their states.

The six key lessons learned below come from 14 Rural Sector Partnership Leaders across 12 organizations and 26 rural sector partnerships in six states (CO, PA, WY, TX, LA, NC) as well as Third Sector’s own experiences and work to stand up these partnerships in Rural Central Texas.

Third Sector will launch a year-long project next month to co-design with Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) a county-wide continuum of care for youth (age 12-17) and their families involved with or at-risk of involvement with the Cuyahoga County juvenile justice system. The project builds on previous work that Third Sector, CWRU, and the County have done to improve family wellness and safety through county-wide system improvements and provide college access and success coaching services to National Guard service members in the region. It is a cornerstone of the County’s …

Earlier this month, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) announced its Health Care Rewards to Achieve Improved Outcomes (HEROES) program, which will distribute $100 million to community stakeholders adopting “radically different approaches” to preventative health care in the United States. ARPA-H is a federal research funding agency that supports transformative biomedical and health breakthroughs in order to provide health solutions for all. Third Sector and Social Finance will utilize their deep experience and expertise in outcomes-based contracting and Pay for Success to provide strategic guidance and technical assistance …

This month, Third Sector and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation announced the selection of four state cross-sector teams in Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee, and Texas into the National Lifelong Learning Account (LiLA) cohort. Participants will design innovative LiLA pilots for their states, which will provide working people with access to education and training opportunities to grow, or build new careers. LiLAs are a new concept for financing education and training. These accounts enable individuals to get the education, upskilling to deepen existing skills in a chosen field, and/or re-skilling to …

This month, Third Sector will launch a new project with the National Governors Association (NGA) and Seattle Jobs Initiative (SJI) to identify and address statewide barriers to successfully and equitably implementing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Employment and Training (SNAP E&T) to increase the number of third-party SNAP E&T providers in 8-10 states.  SNAP E&T is a federal program each state administers to help SNAP recipients gain skills and find work that moves them toward economic mobility. While every state is required to administer a SNAP E&T Program, they employ many different …

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 …

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.  Increasing peer positions and expanding peer responsibilities not only provides necessary staffing capacity, but is also …

On December 6, the Cuyahoga County Council in Ohio unanimously approved a three-year Pay for Success (PFS) contract that will provide college access and success coaching services to National Guard service members in the Cleveland Metropolitan area and surrounding areas who are looking to obtain a higher education credential that furthers their career aspirations. Since 2019, Third Sector has been working 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 …

Third Sector Capital Partners (Third Sector) is excited to join two multi-sector teams in Massachusetts and Texas to implement transformative workforce programs that will secure good jobs for more than 1,600 people. This is part of a larger initiative by the Department of Commerce to build and expand regional workforce development systems in critical sectors. Together with our partners in Texas and Massachusetts, we will build sectoral partnerships that help employers identify the working people they need while also equipping job seekers, specifically people from underserved and historically marginalized communities, …