Last week, when Congress lifted spending caps put in place during the Obama administration with a budget extension bill, lawmakers also carved out space for a new federal initiative. An act within an act buried on page 534 of the bill, the Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results Act launches a federal campaign to promote health, jobs, family, and savings across social programs.
So what, exactly, is a social impact partnership? The new law imagines federally fueled, locally driven, public-private partnerships that cut costs for the government. The social goals are practical, from reducing the number of kids in foster care to reducing the number of low-income families receiving means-tested benefits.
The means for achieving those social outcomes belong to a new 21st-century strain of thought about philanthropy called impact investment. The U.S. just hopped on the bandwagon.
[For more on this story by KRISTON CAPPS, go to https://www.citylab.com/equity...partnerships/552839/]
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