Welcome pushback from Utah against the rather blind story of the reactionary New York Times, alongside news from Pennsylvania and a report on an interesting Social Finance paper, happy scrolling:
Organizers Of Utah’s Privately Funded Preschool Program Stand Behind Model After NYT Criticism
Benjamin Wood – Salt Lake Tribune
Utah government officials, community advocates and investment bankers joined together last month to tout the early success of a preschool program funded through a private loan.
Out of 110 at-risk students who were academically behind their peers when the program started, only one required costly special education services during kindergarten.
That led to a $267,000 check for Goldman Sachs, which paid preschool enrollment costs for 600 students through Utah’s first social impact bond and, along with J.B. Pritzker, will receive 95 percent of any special-education savings to the state until their loan is repaid with interest.
Then came The New York Times with a big wet blanket.
Are SIBs The Answer To Social Service Provision?
campaigntoendloneliness
Based on the idea that loneliness and social isolation are recognised as key determinants of health and well-being, but have historically not attracted much investment, Social Finance, an economic think tank, conducted a study into the feasibility of social impact bonds.
Social impact bonds are an approach to commissioning local services whereby investors receive returns only if measurable social outcomes are achieved, which in this instance is the reduction in loneliness.
On the back of this study, Social Finance has launched a trial project in Worcestershire implementing the social impact bond concept in practice, the Reconnections Social Impact Bond.
In the study, they highlight the fact that there is a lack of clarity around what has an impact on the reduction of loneliness at scale. There is also difficulty in determining how much loneliness costs the public sector.
Social Finance has therefore developed a model to test the impact of a service on loneliness and public sector expenditure while minimising the financial risk to the local authority. While the trial project goes on in Worcestershire, academics at the LSE will be evaluating the project to add to the existing knowledge base around loneliness and service design, and loneliness and health service usage.
The model developed by Social Finance indicates that, based on direct and indirect costs of loneliness, loneliness could be responsible for up to £12,000 per lonely individual over that person’s older lifetime.
PEL To Host Program On SIB Funding
citizensvoice
The Pennsylvania Economy League will host “Pay for Success: Learn About the Cutting-Edge Public/Private Partnership that is Funding Nonprofits and Luring Investors” from noon to 1:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, at the Westmoreland Club, 59 S. Franklin St., Wilkes-Barre.
Donald Bernhard, executive director of the Downtown Allentown Community Development Initiative, will discuss the social impact bond funding method.