In Defense of the Social Innovation Fund

Our country recognizes the importance of using data and evidence in developing policy, allocating budgets, and awarding grant dollars. The push for this evidence-based approach to policymaking has generated several programs that are substantially impacting the lives of children, youth, and adults in communities across America. However, The Social Innovation Fund (SIF), along with many of the federal programs that
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Pay for Success in the Spotlight and Up for Debate

The Pay for Success (PFS) approach to driving resources to, and better outcomes from, social programs has been covered a lot on this blog. New Profit is a strong supporter of the PFS movement through our investment in the Massachusetts Juvenile Justice Pay for Success Initiative (MAPFS) and America Forward's advocacy efforts to build bipartisan support for the approach among policymakers. Recently, a number of pieces in the
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2016 Candidates Begin Discussing K-12 Education

Today, Wednesday, August 19th, Republican leaders took the stage at the 2015 New Hampshire Education Summit to discuss K-12 education for the first time in the 2016 Presidential election cycle. We are pleased that the Presidential candidates from both major political parties are beginning to discuss education issues as part of their campaign agendas and we look forward to the
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Vote Now! SEND AMERICA FORWARD TO SXSWEDU!
 #PFSINEL

America Forward, New Profit's nonpartisan policy arm, is being considered to participate in the SXSWedu conference. We need your help! "We need your votes in order to have the opportunity to explore if Pay for Success is the next big bet in Early Learning at the SXSWedu conference. SXSWedu brings together diverse and energetic stakeholders from a variety of education
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The Corporation for National & Community Service Spotlights New Profit’s Pathways Fund

Recently, the Corporation for National & Community Service (CNCS) featured New Profit's Pathways Fund in a blog post highlighting the work the Fund has done since 2010 when it became a part of the CNCS Social Innovation Fund's (SIF) inaugural class. Through partnership with SIF, the Pathways Fund has been able to make great strides in pursuit of its goal to strengthen
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AMERICA FORWARD: STATE OF PLAY ON PAY FOR SUCCESS AND EVIDENCE POLICY

America Forward recently hosted its second Pay for Success and Evidence network call that brought together over 50 organizations and thought leaders interested in Pay for Success and Evidence-Based Policy. The purpose of the call was to provide an update on current federal legislative activity and to discuss prospects during this Congressional session for additional federal support. Over the last
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Send America Forward to SXSWedu!
 #PFSinEL

85% is the amount of a child’s brain that is developed by age 5. 300 million is the number of fewer words that children from low-income families have been exposed to by age three, compared to their more affluent peers. Billions is the amount of money that it costs the nation in remedial and special education, unemployment, and in too
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America Forward Applauds Passage of the Evidence-Based Policymaking Commission Act

"Members of the America Forward Coalition applaud the U.S. House of Representatives for approving the Evidence-Based Policymaking Commission Act of 2015. Introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the bill would create a commission to develop practices and processes for ensuring the use of evidence and outcomes in the development of policies and in the funding of interventions at the federal
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US Mayors: Key to Spreading the Innovation of Social Enterprise

The following is a guest blog post by Carla Javits, President and CEO of America Forward Coalition Member, REDF When we heard that the US Conference of Mayors (USCM) would be in our neighborhood for their annual meeting in June, we immediately offered a tour of a social enterprise – a business-like approach to providing jobs to people who want
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Happy Anniversary WIOA!

Just one year ago, President Obama signed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) into law. This transformative and innovative piece of legislation made significant changes to our federal workforce and job training programs. As America Forward noted at the time of its passage, WIOA was the first major update to the workforce development system since 1998. America Forward was
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