For the past four years, one Furman entity has been making contributions to more effective government spending on social programs. The Riley Institute\u2019s research and consulting group, which serves as the local evaluator for the Hello Family initiative in Spartanburg, has provided critical support for this innovative pay-for-success project.<\/p>\n
\u201cPay-for-success is a public-private partnership model that\u2019s really started to take off in the last decade or so,\u201d explains Brooke Culclasure, who oversees all research projects and strategic learning initiatives of The Riley Institute. \u201cRather than following a traditional model, in which government entities pay for social services without guarantee of results (for example, funding job training programs whether or not participants ultimately find gainful employment), in pay-for-success models like Hello Family, the government only pays if certain outcomes are met.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pay-for-success shifts upfront investment in programs from government entities to private investors. Ultimately, if the intervention or program is successful, the government pays back the investor with interest, resulting in a win-win-win: Taxpayer money is spent on successful programs, investors get a return, and nonprofits get the financing to test out\u2014and prove the value of\u2014innovative and collaborative services.<\/p>\n
Data collection and the ability to independently verify program outcomes are central to this funding structure, and that\u2019s where The Riley Institute comes in. As the Hello Family initiative\u2019s local independent evaluator, the institute\u2019s research team helps determine whether the services being financed are actually improving people\u2019s lives. This local evaluation complements an impact evaluation led by the Urban Institute, a social policy research group based in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
Hello Family, led by the City of Spartanburg and the Institute for Child Success, aims to support early childhood health and education. The initiative offers a suite of services provided by four nonprofit partners\u2014Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, the Hope Center for Children, BirthMatters, and Spartanburg County First Steps.<\/p>\n
According to Sally Morris Cote, who led The Riley Institute\u2019s involvement in Hello Family from 2021 to 2024, the research team collaborates with all four service providers in collecting and analyzing quality data to determine investor repayment and, more broadly, show the results of their efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Hello Family model is powerful in the way that it strengthens the internal capacity of nonprofits. By supporting these organizations\u2019 ability to collect and understand data, we are not just helping them fulfill their contract with the city, but we are also equipping them with the tools and knowledge to improve programs and, ultimately, create lasting change in their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among Hello Family\u2019s successes in 2023-2024 are a 44 percent reduction in the rate of low birth weights in Spartanburg\u2014a significant factor in infant mortality\u2014as well as 398 more children being on track for Kindergarten.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pay-for-success model isn\u2019t just saving taxpayer dollars by directing resources to programs that are proven to work,\u201d says Morris Cote. \u201cYou also have to consider the enormous savings over time in terms of healthcare, social services, education, and even lost earnings potential when you game these interventions out over the lifetime of these children. The positive financial impacts grow exponentially over time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Riley Institute\u2019s pay-for-success project footprint is growing. In addition to continuing work in Spartanburg as part of an $11.5 million Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results Act (SIPPRA) program grant<\/a>, supported by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the institute will also serve as the primary evaluator of a SIPPRA-funded project in Jacksonville, Florida, that will implement a universal nurse home visit for new parents, as well as a universal early literacy initiative that coaches parents on reading to their children.<\/p>\n For her part, Culclasure couldn\u2019t be more excited about the expansion of the research team\u2019s involvement in these programs focused on early childhood development.<\/p>\n \u201cPublic education is at the heart of what we focus on at the Riley Institute, carrying on the legacy of our wonderful namesake, former U.S. Secretary of Education Dick Riley,\u201d says Culclasure. \u201cThe opportunity to support programs that are making a difference in early childhood, which is such a huge factor in a child\u2019s future success in school\u2014I couldn\u2019t imagine a better way for our team to be applying our research skills.\u201d<\/p>\n