Massachusetts’ family shelter system has struggled to meet its mandate of quickly re-housing homeless families, with over 40% of families staying in shelter longer than one year. To improve outcomes for this population, the GPL helped Massachusetts better understand the state of the current shelter system by analyzing contract spending and interviewing stakeholders, including shelters providers and families who have used the system, and helped release a Request for Information to identify current challenges and brainstorm solutions for system improvement. The GPL is now working with the state to use this information to help Massachusetts reprocure its $155 million family shelter system, which serves roughly 12,000 people in families with children each year, to focus on outcomes and prepare for active contract management.

Reducing homelessness through supportive housing performance contracting, and improving contracting practices throughout the county

Conducting Pay for Success feasibility

The Government Performance Lab (GPL) provided pro-bono technical assistance to help New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services better identify caregivers with substance use concerns in child welfare investigations and match them with appropriate support, in an effort to reduce the number of incidences of child abuse and neglect and improve caregiver health.

Improving access to community-based housing for those with disabilities as required by the federal Olmstead mandate

Determining feasibility of hospital investment in County Respite Care center, and implementing performance contracting for homelessness services

Helping individuals with developmental disabilities achieve integrated employment

In 2017, Rhode Island was home to approximately 240 chronically homeless individuals, who were among the highest utilizers of expensive emergency services such as shelter, hospital, and jail beds. In an effort to better serve this population, the GPL is assisting multiple Rhode Island agencies in an effort to build a Pay for Success (PFS) permanent supportive housing project that will connect housing resources with critical wraparound support services. This project will target individuals who have experienced a pattern of homelessness and interactions with the criminal justice system with the goal of reducing costly emergency service utilization and increasing the well-being of this population.

Improving outcomes for individuals at the intersection of housing instability and behavioral health challenges through care coordination and data integration

Seventeen management and delivery solutions state and local governments are using to improve results for children and families

Jurisdictions across the country are working to transform supports for vulnerable children and families by creating a more prevention-focused, holistic, and accessible child welfare system. Key to this approach has been redirecting funds to voluntary, upstream services that can prevent poor outcomes for families before they occur. Unfortunately, however, these voluntary programs often struggle to attract and engage families most in need of their services. State and local government agencies face challenges allocating slots for intensive services, prioritizing outreach efforts to reach those most in need, and sustaining high take-up rates for vulnerable families who are referred to voluntary programs. Overcoming these challenges is important for three reasons:

1. Providing supportive services upstream can prevent adverse outcomes before they occur
2. Proactive, well-designed engagement strategies can address historic inequities
3. Families facing adversity are more likely to participate in services when providers’ outreach efforts are tailored to their specific needs

In order to provide preventative programs to the families that are most vulnerable to adverse outcomes, governments need to identify and engage them in a way that feels trusted, frictionless, and without judgment. This policy brief highlights lessons from seven jurisdictions across the U.S. that are successfully identifying vulnerable families and engaging them in services that prevent harmful outcomes in the future and empower children and families to thrive in the present.

Read the full report to learn more. 

Developed Pay for Success strategies to improve outcomes of youth dually-involved in child welfare and juvenile justice systems

Expanding re-entry services for high-risk, ex-offenders exiting prison with the goal of reducing recidivism

Exploring recidivism reduction through job and life skills training  for high-risk adults and youth

Strengthening discharge planning service provision and addressing operational and cultural challenges

Improving outcomes for criminal justice-involved youth through the City's Community Safety request for proposals

Expanding high-quality pre-K services to over 2,600 children over four years

Employing results-driven contracting strategies on after school education services in community recreation centers

Improved transparency and decision-making for students and parents by developing a user-friendly website that matches labor market outcomes (such as wages) to every school and program of higher education in Illinois

The GPL assisted Massachusetts in designing a Pay for Success project that helped unemployed or underemployed veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) attain competitive, compatible employment.

Collaborating with collective impact backbone organization Seeding Success to address cradle-to-career initiatives in Shelby County

Restructuring independent service coordination contracts and internal processes to obtain better outcomes for individuals with developmental disabilities

Adopting vendor report cards to evaluate vendor performance

Developing a new outcomes-focused RFP template and streamlining general procurement operations

The GPL is helping the City of Los Angeles create a formalized outcomes-oriented strategic procurement system that aims to modernize and improve the results of their contracting process. Currently, the City has a decentralized procurement system, which has contributed to departments often not achieving top results from their contracted dollars.

Adopting vendor report cards to evaluate vendor performance

The GPL improved operational processes across state Secretariats by increasing agency staff's project management and performance improvement abilities.

Improving performance for temporary staffing contracts, human resources consulting contracts, and public works consulting contracts

As part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ What Works Cities initiative, the GPL provided pro bono technical assistance to help Naperville adopt results-driven contracting strategies for its IT support services contracts, to increase vendor competition, improve service quality, and enhance Naperville’s IT capabilities.

In Naperville, Illinois the city aimed to improve the quality of its IT support services procurement in order to increase vendor competition, improve service quality, and enhance Naperville’s IT capabilities. The GPL provided pro-bono technical assistance to help the city develop a concrete set of desired outcomes and then release an outcomes-based request for qualifications. Proactively identifying and targeting potential vendors led to a 300 percent increase in downloads and 150 percent increase in respondents compared to previous procurement attempts. Naperville then implemented a two-phase selection process that prioritized the city’s needs for high performance and knowledge transfer. Through the use of results-driven contracting approaches, the city increased its focus on outcomes, competition, and performance in IT contracting, and adopted templates and procedures that it can apply to other strategic procurements in the future.

Streamlining the contracting cycle for street construction projects and increasing the quantity and quality of bids for street resurfacing

Improving outcomes of the Fixing Our Streets program through results-driven contracting

Adopting vendor report cards to evaluate vendor performance

Improving effectiveness of state contracting activities through training workshops, agency coaching, and new tools and templates

Improving performance and alignment of City human services contracts

Increasing the use of outcomes and performance measures in contracts for social services

Setting up a strategic procurement system for high-priority contracts

Increasing articulation of and accountability to goals and performance measures in cross-department work

Improving public works professional services procurements

Adopting vendor report cards among a cohort of cities including Louisville, KY; Providence, RI; and Kansas City, KS