Pay for Success: Innovating our Way out of Poverty

Despite the many great examples of community transformation highlighted in Investing in What Works for America’s Communities, deep poverty persists—20.4 million American’s live below half the poverty line—in neighborhoods across the United States. In my view, this is partially because we have become too conservative with our approach, too afraid to try new things for fear of losing scarce public (and even scarcer, private) funds. Instead, we should encourage bold prototyping, supported by a public-private finance system that emphasizes innovation, lifts up strategies that work best, and jettisons those that don’t. Specifically, an approach that rewards positive outcomes and encourages reasonable risk taking and experimentation among social sector service providers.

http://www.whatworksforamerica.org/pay-for-success-innovating-our-way-out-of-poverty/#.Uwx3Q3lCAi5