PLY: The Roca bond is once again centre stage in today’s SIB News. The second story is a heartwarming tale of how one man is part of the scheme – a useful personification of the benefits of pay for success mechanisms.
Our first story is fascinating too, touching on some issues of structuring the Roca bond. What strikes me is that the SIB movement needs to consider what has long happened in other markets, especially derivatives: master agreements and recognised legal paperwork. The production of such templates are required to help boost the product by providing a core means to create SIBs easily, swiftly and most importantly, cheaply (i.e. so more funds flow to the projects rather than lawyers drafting anew). Our offices are open to assist in any such coordination process if there is the will to push ahead with this as it will ultimately greatly assist the SIB/DIB movement world-wide.
State’s Social Innovation Financing Is Thorny Legal Matter
Boston Business Journal
The lawyers who helped craft Massachusetts’ first social impact financing initiative – also dubbed a pay-for-success initiative – call it one of the most complex deals they’ve ever encountered.
The state is eager to save money on what it spends on incarceration. So, last month, investors stepped forward with $18 million to support Roca, a nonprofit in Chelsea that works to engage young men and keep them from going to jail.
Roca To Prepare 300 Western Massachusetts Young Men For Work, Avoidance Of Crime
Mass Live
Jarne T. Jones came to Roca’s violence and incarceration prevention program in July fresh from a stint in the Hampden County Correctional Center on charges related to guns and theft.
Today, through Roca’s programs, he’s got a $15-an-hour job packaging saw blades at Lenox American Saw in East Longmeadow that he’s had for two months and the prospect of a brighter future despite the challenges he’s overcome.
“That’s what a lot of street dudes are afraid of,” Jones, 22, of Springfield, said. “They are afraid of accepting a challenge because they might fail. I had a choice to make. I could live free and do the right thing or I could live the gang life and go to jail. I chose to be free.”