A transformational gift to support Third Sector’s work
When we started Third Sector 10 years ago, my co-founder George Overholser and I saw that there was a big disconnect among government-funded human and social service programs, the communities those programs were designed to serve, and the philanthropic efforts designed to address some of the nation’s most persistent challenges, including health, homelessness, education, and workforce development. There’s no doubt that social service delivery is serious, complex, and expensive — but the trillions of dollars being spent by government and philanthropy every year weren’t connected to results, and the government …
Innovative Approaches to Deploying Federal Childcare Relief Funding Third Sector has partnered with the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood and Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care to develop a funding model for federal relief funds with intentional incentives for advancing equity and quality.
Third Sector has partnered with the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (CT OEC) and Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (MA EEC) in developing a funding model for allocating federal relief funds, including ARPA, with intentional incentives for advancing equity and quality. State-level early care and education (ECE) agencies are in the midst of allocating billions of dollars in federal relief funding while also continuing systems reforms efforts intended to stabilize providers and improve outcomes for children. Many states are eager to allocate their relief funding, especially from the …
Five Takeaways on Using Human Centered Design to Improve Service Delivery Southeast Cohort on Young Parents and Families
Centering Young Parents While having a child can undoubtedly be a positively life-changing experience, it can also bring a tremendous amount of responsibility and stress in making sure that child is cared for. This stress is amplified for young parents in the foster care system as they run the risk of having their children separated from them if no placement options exist for whole families. They must navigate applying to multiple child care options and making postnatal doctors appointments, all while attending school or keeping up with their employment. As …
Economic Mobility in Practice: How A Focus on Outcomes Changes Everything
Meet a Young Woman we call Rose. Rose is a representative composite of the 4.6 million Americans between 16 and 24 who don’t have full-time employment and are not in school. Like many of her peers, Rose has been juggling several part-time minimum-wage jobs while also serving as the primary caregiver of Samuel, her 2—year-old son. Rose knows that she needs to find a better job – ideally one that leads to a career with benefits and a living wage so that she can adequately care for Samuel. Her old foster …
Partnering to Achieve Student Success Recruiting for a Second National Cohort in Higher Education
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, college enrollment is down nationwide, with the National Student Clearinghouse reporting significant declines in both Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. Community colleges have been hit the hardest, with enrollment dropping 9.5% this spring. Black, Latinx, and Native American students have been hit the hardest, (notably reversing a promising trend of enrollment gains for Latina students), and declines have been particularly steep for adult learners over 24. Postsecondary education remains a critical bridge to opportunity, and students are no less committed or enthusiastic than …
Colorado and Ohio Departments of Higher Education Make Strides in Collaborative Efforts to Improve Student Success Outcomes
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. PASS aims to launch two pilot pay for success (PFS) projects that will forge direct funding relationships between public systems of higher education …
Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative and One Million Degrees launch “Finish What You Started” Pilot program supports some college, no-degree adults in Adams County
DENVER – April 6, 2021: The Colorado Department of Higher Education’s (CDHE) Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative (COSI) and One Million Degrees (OMD) today announced the launch of “Finish What You Started,” a two-year pilot program providing wraparound support services for low-income Adams County, Colorado adults, aged 25+, to obtain college credentials or degrees. OMD will work closely with COSI, community-based organizations, and local college partners to recruit and enroll 150-200 students and measure outcomes, persistence towards degree completion, and improved earnings in the workforce. With $300,000 in funding from COSI’s Pay for Success Community …
How to Design An Outcomes Focused Federal Government Six Recommendations for the Biden Administration
500% increase in workforce enrollment and program completion for previously underserved youth in a workforce development program in Virginia 33% reduction in psychiatric emergency room visits by chronically homeless in California 50% fewer days in jail and 61% fewer arrests for high-risk, high-need criminal offenders in Utah 22% improvement in speedy access to mental health and case management services for underserved clients in Oregon 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 …
Strengthening California’s Approach to Wellness through Innovation State’s Mental Health Commission releases progress report on multi-county collaborative to unify a more data-driven, outcomes approach.
The Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission has released a progress report on California’s Multi-County Full Service Partnership Innovation Project designed to improve delivery of services to people with the most severe and often co-occurring mental health needs. Funded by the Mental Health Services Act, full service partnership (FSP) programs are designed to apply a “whatever it takes” approach to partnering with individuals on their path to wellness and recovery. Currently, more than 60,000 individuals are enrolled in FSP programs across the state, representing nearly a $1 billion annual …
Building an Equitable Government: The What, the Why, and the How
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order that called for a “comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all, including people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality”. Federal agencies, guided by the Office of Management and Budget are now busy implementing the executive order which includes conducting agency-wide equity assessments and developing plans to address equity barriers. Based on Third Sector’s experience providing technical assistance, training, coaching, and thought partnership to over 50 …
New Partnerships to Stem COVID Learning Loss: School districts and tutoring providers explore outcomes-based contracting in K-12 math education
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. The OBC Summit was funded by Schmidt Futures. Summit participants learned about the nuances of outcomes-based contracting and defined an approach for their organization. Over 55 participants from seven school districts and eight tutoring providers across the country gathered in pursuit of three goals: Bring together schools and tutoring providers to find new ways of improving core academic outcomes …
Third Sector is Part of a Winning Team for the USDA SNAP E&T National Partnership Grant
Third Sector Capital Partners (Third Sector) is excited to be part of a team working to expand the reach, quality and equity of U.S Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) SNAP Employment & Training (E&T) program by connecting the program to Department of Labor’s (DOL) workforce development system through workforce development boards (WDBs). Third Sector, a non-profit consultancy with a mission to transform public sector programs for improved outcomes and racial equity, is part of a team that has recently been awarded a USDA National Partnership Grant from the USDA’s Food and …
Doing More with Less Lessons from Listening Social Service Agencies’ Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Governments are struggling to do more with less–that’s the key message we took away from our conversations with leaders in social service agencies across the country.
Designing a Fellowship that Centers Place, Equity, and the Needs of Participants
America’s need for government agility has become increasingly urgent in 2020. As most of us are reminded by our daily realities, this year has brought fresh examples of the horrors and costs of systemic racism, devastating natural disasters, and a global pandemic accompanied by employment and financial crises. However, amidst the outrage and fear about these events and their disproportionate impacts on people of color, low-income individuals, and members of other commonly marginalized communities, there is increasing pressure and will for change. One example is the way in which these …
Massachusetts Workforce Partners Learning Community: Incremental Steps Towards Outcomes-Oriented Approaches
In a series of workshops held in partnership with MassHire Workforce Boards and Career Centers, Third Sector worked with MassHire partners to share initial steps participants could take to make their services more outcomes-oriented, thus improving outcomes for jobseekers and employers in their communities. MassHire partners were interested in learning these initial steps they could take, given their capacity constraints. Through the workshop series, the participants were able to examine their data to identify priority populations to focus on, stakeholders to collaborate with, and began to implement more outcomes-oriented processes. …
Toward a more equitable workforce in Austin, TX: Local leaders work to break down barriers for Black and Latinx job seekers
Third Sector partnered with Austin Workforce Solutions (WFS), the Ray Marshall Center at the University of Texas (RMC) and the Travis County Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to facilitate a series of three workshops for 40 Austin area workforce leaders, including community-based organizations and community colleges. The workshops, funded by the Prudential Foundation, built on the Austin Community Workforce Master Plan (MCWP or Master Plan), which has an overall goal of 10,000 residents living at or below 200% of poverty securing middle-skill jobs by 2021. The workshops focused …
Third Sector Awarded $500,000 by ECMC Foundation for Colorado and Ohio College-Success Initiatives
Third Sector Capital Partners (Third Sector), a consultancy collaborating with government agencies to develop innovative contracts that align policy, dollars, data, and services around improved social outcomes, has been awarded $500,000 by ECMC Foundation to support on-going efforts in Colorado and Ohio to increase college enrollment and graduation rates for specific student populations and to expand these efforts to other states.
Third Sector Discusses Innovative Finance Models at ASU+GSV Summit
At the recent ASU+GSV Summit, Third Sector joined Jobs for the Future for a special panel discussing the trends in addressing student debt through innovative finance models. Third Sector Director H. Kay Howard joined David Soo, Chief of Staff, Jobs for the Future, Lexi Barrett, Associate Vice President, Jobs for the Future, and Brooke Valle, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, San Diego Workforce Partnership in “Lions and Tigers and Debt, Oh My! Trends in Innovative Finance.”
Principles for Continuous Improvement: Santa Cruz Human Services Department’s Journey
We want to share the story of Santa Cruz’s Human Services Department (HSD) outcomes contracting transformation, in which they moved through the steps we outlined in the first and second blog series. By the end of their two-year engagement with Third Sector that focused on improving their TANF Welfare to Work (WTW) subsidized employment programming, Santa Cruz HSD had built a more collaborative relationship with their two providers and had developed new outcomes and metrics to regularly review and work towards.
Principles for Continuous Improvement: Collaborative, Data-Driven Conversations
This is the second post in our data-driven continuous improvement blog series. To read the first blog on best practices for creating a data dashboard, click here. In this post, we’ll share three tips for continuous improvement conversations. The data is ready. The graphs are finalized. The trends are highlighted. Your shiny new report detailing workforce credentialing and job placement program outcomes over the last 6 months is ready to be released. You are eager to send it to training and coaching service providers. As public sector data enthusiasts, we, …