Go
Social Finance Announces Second Round of Awardees for Outcomes Rate Card Development Competition
Press Release
Jurisdictions from Alaska to Virginia will work to reduce homelessness, improve maternal and child health, strengthen low-income families, and provide job training through innovative outcomes-based approach
Boston, MA (April 3, 2018)–Social Finance today announced the second round of awardees for the Outcomes Rate Card Development Competition, launching four new partnerships to advance outcomes-based contracting and financing in communities across the country. With support through funding awarded in 2016 by the Corporation for National and Community Service, Social Finance will partner with Fairfax County, VA, the Ohio Department of Health, United Way Anchorage, and Workforce Solutions Capital Area to develop some of the nation’s first outcomes rate cards.
Outcomes rate cards scale solutions to society’s most pressing challenges by allowing government to identify priority outcomes for vulnerable citizens, and enabling service providers to achieve those outcomes through diverse interventions. An outcomes rate card standardizes the Pay for Success approach, by establishing a menu of outcomes a government seeks to “purchase” for a given issue and target population and the amount it is willing to pay each time a given outcome is achieved. With one outcomes rate card, governments can launch multiple projects, directing resources towards outcomes rather than outputs.
“Social Finance is excited to continue building momentum around Outcomes Rate Cards,” said Casey Littlefield, Vice President of Social Investments at Social Finance. “We look forward to working with each of these awardees to advance outcomes-based contracting across the country and measurably improve the lives of those in need.”
Fairfax County, Virginia will partner with Social Finance to develop an outcomes rate card that improves outcomes for low-income and immigrant families, through its Strengthening Families Program: For Parents and Youth 10-14 and Families Reunite programs. Strengthening Families is an evidence-based program with evaluations demonstrating the program’s effectiveness at preventing child abuse and neglect, improving parent-child relationships, and preventing risky behavior (such as substance use) among children. Families Reunite serves reunifying families, who are at increased risk for academic problems, gang involvement, substance use, and mental health problems. The outcomes rate card will prioritize positive outcomes across these dimensions.
The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) will work with Social Finance to develop an outcomes rate card for Ohio’s home visiting system to improve outcomes for low-income, at-risk expectant parents. This is part of a broader effort to redesign the department’s home-visiting system and shift toward performance-based contracting. Through this outcomes rate card, ODH aims to reduce its infant mortality rate and address the racial disparity in infant mortality.
United Way of Anchorage will partner with Social Finance to develop an outcomes rate card that expands Permanent Supportive Housing for individuals experiencing homelessness, who are frequent users of the criminal justice and health care systems. Social Finance will work with project partners to understand the value of key outcomes including housing stability, reduced recidivism, and reduced use of emergency services and identify how that value accrues across different stakeholders. They will then structure an outcomes rate card to support permanent housing and supportive services in Anchorage and Mat-Su Borough. The project will be part of the first Pay for Success approach implemented in Alaska.
Workforce Solutions Capital Area will receive technical assistance from Social Finance to plan, design, and execute an outcomes rate card that targets educational and employment outcomes in Austin and Travis County, Texas. Services will target residents of low-to-moderate income to improve limited education and language skills, credential completion, job placement, retention, and earnings. This project represents an innovative collaboration with a local workforce board.
Over the past several months, Social Finance has worked with the awardees of the first round of the competition to develop outcomes rate cards. In February 2018, the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood launched an outcomes rate card pilot to improve two-generational outcomes for at-risk infants, children, and their parents. Concurrently, Social Finance has worked with Riverside County, California to define measurable outcomes for children of incarcerated parents.
The Outcomes Rate Card Development Competition is supported by a 2016 award from the Social Innovation Fund (SIF), which was a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service that received funding from 2010 to 2016. Using public and private resources to find and grow community-based nonprofits with evidence of results, SIF intermediaries received funding to award sub-grants that focus on overcoming challenges in economic opportunity, healthy futures, and youth development. Although CNCS made its last SIF intermediary awards in fiscal year 2016, SIF intermediaries will continue to administer their sub-grant programs until their federal funding is exhausted.
###
About Social Finance
Social Finance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to mobilizing capital to drive social progress. Social Finance is committed to using Pay for Success to tackle complex social challenges, facilitate greater access to services for vulnerable populations, and direct capital to evidence-based social programs – all with the goal of measurably improving the lives of people most in need. Social Finance has deep experience in the design and implementation of Pay for Success projects, from early-stage feasibility assessment, to project development and capital formation, to post-launch performance management and investment support. Social Finance’s sister organization, Social Finance UK, pioneered the first social impact bond in the world.
About the Corporation for National and Community Service
The Corporation for National and Community Service is the federal agency for volunteering, service, and civic engagement. The agency engages millions of Americans in citizen service through its AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Volunteer Generation Fund programs, and leads the nation’s volunteering and service efforts. For more information, visit NationalService.gov.
Contact: Alex Zaroulis, Director of Communications, Social Finance 617.549.0358 azaroulis@socialfinance.org