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On Sunday, Massachusetts Congressman Joe Kennedy published an op-ed in the Boston Globe highlighting the great potential of Pay for Success. As Congressman Kennedy points out, Pay for Success initiatives garner significant bipartisan support and harness the ability to deliver measurable outcomes while saving taxpayers millions of dollars. New Profit has long understood the potential of Pay for Success, serving as a grantor in the Massachusetts Juvenile Justice Pay for Success (MA JJ PFS) Project, the second PFS project in the US and the largest in the country to date.

At its core, PFS is a performance-based contracting arrangement between government and a social social service provider in which impact is measured rigorously, and government only ‘pays for success’ if results are achieved. In the case of MA, the Commonwealth partnered with service provider Roca Inc., lenders, and grantors (including New Profit), in an effort to reduce recidivism across the state. New Profit provides financial support to the project as well as advisory support to both Roca and Third Sector Capital Partners, the intermediary company responsible for structuring and overseeing the contract.

New Profit is excited about the potential of the MA JJ PFS project to leverage Roca’s work and reduce recidivism, save taxpayers’ dollars, and bring national attention to Pay for Success initiatives. To learn more about the project and how New Profit is involved, click here.

New Profit’s nonpartisan policy arm, America Forward, is promoting an innovative agenda of policy ideas to expand the adoption of Pay for Success. Among them is the creation of the Treasury Incentive Fund, mentioned by Congressman Kennedy in his op-ed. America Forward applauds the Congressman for his efforts in championing a piece of legislation (“The Social Impact Bond Act”) that would allow for a $300 million investment by the federal government for the expansion and adoption of pay for success approaches. America Forward looks forward to working with Congressman Kennedy and his colleagues, including Congressmen Young (R-IN) and Delaney (D-MD) on the advancement of this critical piece of legislation and on its sister bill in the Senate (“The Pay for Performance Act”). Third Sector and Roca are members of the America Forward Coalition and America Forward’s Pay for Success Task Force.

We invite you to attend Roca’s Open House on October 28th, and join us in celebrating the grand opening of their Boston offices. The event will provide an opportunity to see the MA JJ PFS on the ground, and hear about the project from those directly involved. (See below invitation for details.)