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At a Capitol Hill Briefing, Results for America & America Forward Showcase How Federal Innovation Funds Are Using Evidence and Evaluation to Improve Communities

WASHINGTON – Results for America (RFA) and America Forward today hosted a Capitol Hill briefing on advancing the use of evidence and evaluation to fund innovative solutions to our country’s most pressing challenges. The briefing focused on existing federal innovation funds including the Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) administered by the U.S. Department of Education and the Social Innovation Fund (SIF) administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The briefing’s goal was to educate federal agencies and members of Congress on how non-profit organizations are finding innovative, evidence-based and results-driven solutions to address the needs of the most vulnerable populations – and how government can build on that progress.

“By committing to use evidence-based principles and results-driven solutions we are able to shift public resources towards improving outcomes for children, families and communities,” said Michele Jolin, Results for America CEO and Co-Founder. “There are too many Americans who do not have access to quality education and economic opportunities. Federal innovation programs allow us to invest in what works, help advance policy ideas, and improve opportunities for young people and the most vulnerable members of our society.”

“Thanks to the persistence of social innovators around the country, we see strategies that are producing measurable results to solve some of our nation’s biggest problems,” said Deborah Smolover, America Forward Executive Director and Managing Partner at New Profit. “Federal innovation programs such as SIF and i3 help scale these strategies by making better use of taxpayer dollars and leveraging innovation to improve outcomes.  The more than 70 organizations in the America Forward Coalition, such as Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), are examples of the local innovation and success that is possible when we invest in what works.”

During the briefing panelists discussed the importance of using rigorous evaluation to advance evidence-based policymaking and highlighted the use of federal innovation programs, including i3 and SIF to continuously analyze the data of what works through randomized control trial (RCTs).

In conjunction with today’s briefing, RFA also released a new policy fact sheet, Federal Evidence-Based Innovation Programs, as part of its Invest in What Works Policy Series – which provides ideas and supporting research to policymakers to drive public funds toward evidence-based, results-driven solutions. The new fact sheet highlights results from the following innovation programs: the Social Innovation Fund; the Investing in Innovation Fund; the First in the World Program; the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program; the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program; and the Development Innovation Ventures.

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About Results for America
Results for America (RFA) is improving outcomes for young people, their families, and communities by shifting public resources toward evidence-based, results-driven solutions. RFA is doing this by building a strong, bipartisan coalition to support investing in what works; developing and advancing the next generation of evidence-based, results-driven practices, policies, and programs; and supporting leaders at all levels of government to invest in what works. In November, 2014, Results for America published Moneyball for Government, the best-selling book authored by a bipartisan group of nationally-recognized experts to help ensure that budget, policy, and management decisions by governments at all levels are informed by the best possible data and evidence about what works. 

About America Forward
America Forward is a nonpartisan policy initiative of New Profit, a national venture philanthropy fund that seeks to break down the barriers between all people and opportunity in America. America Forward unites social innovators with policymakers to advance a public policy agenda that champions innovative and effective solutions to our country’s most pressing problems. America Forward leads a Coalition of more than 70 social innovators who foster innovation, identify more efficient and effective solutions, reward results, and catalyze cross-sector partnerships. America Forward Coalition members are achieving measurable outcomes in more than 14,500 communities across the country every day, touching the lives of nearly 8 million Americans each year. www.americaforward.org