The Policy Innovation Lab in the James Lee Sorenson Global Impact Investing Center at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business announced the selection of seven nonprofit service provider groups, representing 12 agencies, to participate in the Social Innovation Fund’s national Pay for Success grant program.
Across the country, nonprofit organizations are learning about, and engaging, in a new field called Pay for Success (PFS) — an innovative public-private partnership strategy focused on what works in social science research and dedicated to driving government resources to interventions tied to measurable impacts in the community such as a clear reduction in recidivism or chronic homelessness. To fully understand the extent of their community impact, nonprofits must align best practices with outcome-based solutions in addressing persistent challenges within their communities and validate them through rigorous evaluation.
The nonprofits selected — from CATCH, Inc. and Terry Reilly Health Services in Boise, Idaho to the Boulder County Homelessness Systems Improvement Collaborative in Boulder County, Colorado — work in their communities across a range of issue areas such as improving long-term outcomes for individuals and families experiencing homelessness and reducing recidivism rates. The nonprofits will receive in-depth technical assistance from the Policy Innovation Lab to help to further advance the design, implementation, and evaluation of high-quality, evidence-based programs and help the providers assess whether using a “Pay for Success” model would help them scale to new populations and make a greater overall impact in the communities in which they work.
The Policy Innovation Lab, through a three-year, $3.5 million grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service’s Social Innovation Fund, works with government leaders and nonprofit providers to advance the PFS model. A subset of this model is a “Pay for Success finance project,” where third-party private or philanthropic investors provide the upfront capital necessary to launch, sustain and evaluate interventions. In a PFS finance project, government (or another payor such as a school district or hospital) repays the investor only once and only if the intervention achieves certain agreed-upon outcomes. PFS finance projects have emerged as an opportunity to deliver larger-scale and better services to vulnerable populations without further straining government budgets or putting taxpayer money at risk. With the selection of this cohort of nonprofits, the Lab will help to increase each agency’s readiness for this unique funding model, build capacity to improve program results, advance high-quality social interventions, and ultimately improve long-term outcomes for individuals and families in need.
“The Policy Innovation Lab is excited to provide technical support to highly motivated service providers from around the Intermountain West in order to improve and develop high impact interventions that measurably improve lives in these communities,” said Executive Director Jeremy Keele.
“We stand behind the Policy Innovation Lab’s commitment to building capacity among high-quality organizations working in the Intermountain West on issues ranging from early childhood development to recidivism and chronic homelessness,” said Damian Thorman, Director of the Social Innovation Fund. “The selected service providers are some of the most impactful nonprofit organizations in the region. With assistance from the Lab, we expect these organizations to move toward the next level of evaluation, evidence and impact.”
Founded in 2014, the Policy Innovation Lab at the University of Utah is helping to identify and cultivate high-impact social service programs that can be scaled to achieve meaningful social change in communities around the country. Through its grant from the Social Innovation Fund’s inaugural Pay for Success program at the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Lab will work with up to 30 nonprofit providers and governments throughout the United States over three years to develop programs that demonstrate measurable long-term impacts in the lives of at-risk individuals and families for whom existing services fail to meet their needs. The Lab is supported also through generous grants from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation (LJAF) and the Sorenson Impact Foundation.
The Policy Innovation Lab selected the following nonprofit organizations to receive in-depth support from the Lab’s inaugural Service Provider Technical Assistance Program. Nonprofits showing strong evidence of impact may be good candidates for outcomes-based funding opportunities like Pay for Success.
Collaborative in Larimer County, Colorado
The collaborative in Larimer County, Colorado, is a new partnership led by SummitStone Health Partners, with the Fort Collins Housing Authority, the Health District of Northern Larimer County, and Homeward 2020. Pairing high-quality behavioral health and housing interventions with government and health district services, this partnership hopes to target individuals experiencing mental health and/or substance use disorders who have a high utilization of community health and acute/crisis services.
Boulder County Homelessness Services Improvement Collaborative, Colorado
The Boulder County Homelessness Systems Improvement Collaborative (HSIC) is a new collaborative partnership representing Mental Health Partners, Boulder Housing Partners, and Boulder Homeless Services Collaborative. The pilot initiative was developed to improve data infrastructure and sharing capacity among Boulder County providers that work with individuals experiencing homelessness. Modeling the partnership off Boulder County’s continuum of care, HSIC will create a microcosm of the continuum that utilizes three promising interventions from its member providers. The new collaborative intervention is aimed at reducing chronic and temporary homelessness for individuals who have a diagnosed or suspected behavioral health issue.
CATCH, Inc., Idaho
Charitable Assistance To Community’s Homeless (CATCH, Inc.) is an Idaho-based nonprofit serving Ada County through programs headquartered in the Idaho communities of Boise and Meridian. CATCH delivers rapid re-housing services to families experiencing homelessness in Ada County. In addition to rapid re-housing, CATCH provides families with rental assistance for six months and intensive case management.
Terry Reilly Health Services, Idaho
Terry Reilly Health Services (TRHS) is a Boise-based nonprofit providing integrated primary care and behavioral health services to individuals experiencing limited access to financial and health care resources at their Boise clinic. TRHS has strong partnerships with other stakeholders in the homelessness service provider community, creating a dynamic referral process that integrates TRHS’s interventions with those of fellow providers.
Community Supervision Alternatives, Montana
Community Supervision Alternatives (CSA) is a Missoula-based nonprofit that was founded in 2011 as a cost-effective provider of community supervision services for criminal offenders experiencing drug and alcohol dependency. CSA provides comprehensive supervision, advanced electronic monitoring, drug testing, and rehabilitative services as an alternative means to incarceration, enhancing the lives of offenders through treatment and dynamic community-based services. CSA works with both charged and convicted offenders, as well as individuals at risk of entering the judicial system.
First Step House, Utah
First Step House (FSH) is a behavioral service provider that has worked in Salt Lake County for 60 years. FSH seeks to reduce recidivism among high-risk/high-need, criminally involved men experiencing moderate to severe substance abuse. With integrated data systems in place, and a dedicated IT and data-focused staff, FSH seeks to increase its evaluative rigor with the Lab’s assistance.
The Road Home, Utah
The Road Home is a Salt Lake City-based organization working to serve individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Utah. Recognizing the oftentimes strong cross-population between homelessness and recidivism, The Road Home will receive technical assistance from the Lab on general performance-based contracting and PFS readiness within the context of the State of Utah’s focus on recidivism reduction.