Three interesting stories to start the week, including a new report on “The State of Play” for SIBs. Happy reading…
SIBs Have Advantages But Face Problems With Complexity, Scale And Evidence, BIG Report Finds
David Ainsworth – Civil Society
Social impact bonds have several advantages but face challenges to success including complexity, scale and difficulty proving their effectiveness, according to a report commissioned by the Big Lottery Fund.
Social impact bonds: the state of play was published by Ecorys UK and ATQ Consultants, research and consultation organisations which are jointly undertaking the Commissioning Better Outcomes Evaluation on behalf of BIG. The evaluation is particularly focused on the effectiveness of payment by results.
Bridges Ventures Backs Foster Placement Service Commissioned By Birmingham City Council
Angel News
A pioneering new foster placement scheme has been launched in Birmingham, supported by a Social Impact Bond (SIB).
Following a competitive tender process, Birmingham City Council selected Outcomes for Children, a social enterprise within Core Assets Group, to deliver the service, with funding from Bridges Ventures’ Social Sector Funds.
Nationally, too many young people grow up in residential care institutions, where their long-term life outcomes are typically worse than those who grow up in a family. Outcomes for Children has been commissioned to find stable family foster placements for around 60 young people currently in residential care in the Birmingham area. This should lead to better outcomes for these looked-after children, which in the short term include improved school attendance and attainment, emotional wellbeing and behaviour.
This is a social outcomes-based contract, with financing structured through a social impact bond. The contract began in August 2014 and young people will be referred onto the programme over a four-year period.
Have Nurses Visit New Moms At Home
Daniel Squadron – NY Daily News
We tell ourselves there is a core value shared across the political spectrum: Democrats and Republicans, policymakers and taxpayers, all of us, would supposedly do anything to reduce the burden of parents’ poverty on their kids, if only we could afford it.
What if we knew how to change the odds for kids growing up in poverty by reducing infant mortality, improving test scores, and cutting down on the number of kids (and parents) who end up in jail?
What if we could do it with a program that paid for itself by creating savings in other programs? And, what if we could get big banks focused on their bottom line to provide funding — banks that would only get paid if the program actually saved money and changed lives?
If only such a program existed, of course we would do it. Right?
This program does exist. It is called Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP). It is a home visiting program that pairs specially trained nurses with high-risk first-time moms from pregnancy until their kids’ second birthday.
That meaningful early intervention pays huge dividends later. There is nearly four decades of research showing, among other results, a significant cut in the risk of infant mortality and abuse in the home; improved math and reading scores in sixth graders, and at least 50% fewer arrests of teens, and their moms, 15 years later.
And the funding mechanism I described exists too. It’s called a “social impact bond” or “Pay for Success.”