SAN DIEGO WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP RECEIVES FEDERALLY FUNDED SUPPORT TO ADVANCE PAY FOR SUCCESS IN YOUTH WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Third Sector Capital Partners, Inc. to provide San Diego Workforce Partnership with federally funded technical assistance to explore the viability of Pay for Performance contracting
SAN DIEGO, CA – The San Diego Workforce Partnership (SDWP) has been selected as part of a national competition to assess the feasibility of implementing Pay for Performance (P4P) to explore how it can improve education, employment and recidivism outcomes for youth involved in San Diego’s juvenile justice system. Third Sector Capital Partners, Inc. (Third Sector), the organization that ran the competition, will provide SDWP, and four other awardees, federally funded technical assistance. Third Sector’s work with SDWP is supported by a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service’s Social Innovation Fund. Annually, state and local workforce boards receive over $800 million in federal funding for youth workforce development programs. Third Sector’s goal is to transition these funds into more outcomes-based contracts by positioning awardees as national models for scaling P4P contracting.
Through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), new funding dollars for Pay for Success (PFS) are being made available to states. Specifically, WIOA permanently establishes P4P (a form of PFS) as an eligible use in all three of its funding streams (Adult, Youth, and Dislocated Workers), allowing states to use 15% of their total formula funds and authorizing local workforce boards to devote up to 10% of total funds toward P4P programming.
PFS is an innovative contracting model that drives government resources toward high-performing social programs in areas such as poverty, education, child welfare, recidivism, homelessness and wellness. PFS contracts track the effectiveness of programs over time to ensure that funding is directed toward programs that succeed in measurably improving the lives of people most in need.
“The PFS funding model presents tremendous opportunity for the public workforce development system,” says Andy Hall, SDWP Vice President and Chief Program Officer. “SDWP is committed to testing new models that address entrenched community challenges. By partnering with private investors, data-driven service providers, leading researchers, Third Sector and a supportive San Diego community, SDWP is excited to lead this effort to explore how youth workforce development dollars can create a national shift toward outcome-driven funding.”
SDWP was selected for its demonstrated commitment to leveraging WIOA to promote long-term outcomes in Youth Development and Economic Opportunities. These issue areas are consistent with the priorities of the WIOA Youth Program: career exploration and guidance, support for educational attainment, opportunities for skills training in in-demand industries and occupations, and culminating in a good job along a career pathway or enrollment in post-secondary education.
Third Sector, a grantee of the Social Innovation Fund’s Pay for Success program, announced the selection of SDWP along with four other awardees (called “sub-recipients”) after a highly selective national competition. The Sub-Recipients are based in the following locations: Austin, TX; Boston, MA; Denver, CO; Northern Virginia; and San Diego, CA.
“We are honored to work with SDWP to explore how WIOA funding can be leveraged for rigorous pay for performance initiatives,” said Third Sector Co-Founder and Co-President Caroline Whistler. “Support from the Social Innovation Fund allows Third Sector to lead a diverse cohort of governments in accelerating their pursuit of Pay for Success to improve youth workforce outcomes.”
In 2014, Third Sector received $1.9 million from the Social Innovation Fund, a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, to help strengthen the pipeline of state and local governments and service providers prepared to implement PFS projects. Third Sector’s first cohort of awardees has been working since mid-2015 to advance PFS in nine jurisdictions. To deliver the technical assistance, Third Sector is partnering with Abt Associates, America Forward, National Association of Counties, and National League of Cities.
About the San Diego Workforce Partnership
The San Diego Workforce Partnership (SDWP) is the leader for innovative workforce solutions in San Diego County. It funds job training programs that enable adults and youth to develop the skills and knowledge needed for careers that are in demand. SDWP also provides current and projected labor market research on the region’s workforce trends and key industries. Its vision is to ensure that every business in our region has access to a skilled workforce and every job seeker has access to meaningful employment. For more information, visit workforce.org.
About Third Sector Capital Partners, Inc.
Third Sector leads governments, high-performing nonprofits, and private funders in building evidence-based initiatives that address society’s most persistent challenges. As experts in innovative public-private contracting and financing strategies, Third Sector is an architect and builder of the nation’s most promising Pay for Successprojects including those in Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and Santa Clara County, California. These projects are rewriting the book on how governments contract for social services: funding programs that work to measurably improve the lives of people most in need while saving taxpayer dollars. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Boston and San Francisco, Third Sector is supported through philanthropic and government sources, including a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service’s Social Innovation Fund.
About the Corporation for National and Community Service
The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through its AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, Social Innovation Fund, and Volunteer Generation Fund programs, and leads the President’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit NationalService.gov.
Contact:
Desiree Roughton
(619) 228-2959
Desiree@workforce.org