Bennet: Enterprise, Partners Win $250,000 Grant to Support Denver Pay-for-Success Initiative to Reduce Homelessness
Recently Introduced Bennet Bill will Allow More Communities to Engage in Pay for Success Projects
Denver, CO – April 30, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet announced today that Enterprise Community Partners, along with Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) and Social Impact Solutions, has won a $250,000 grant to advance a pay-for-success initiative to reduce chronic homelessness in Denver. The competitive grant from Nonprofit Finance Fund is funded by the Corporation for National and Community Services Social Innovation Fund. Denver’s Housing to Health Initiative will provide housing to 300 chronically homeless people with serious primary and behavioral health challenges. It is part of Mayor Michael B. Hancock’s comprehensive plan to reduce chronic homelessness in the metro area.
The pay-for-success model encourages state and local communities to support innovative public-private partnerships in an effort to tackle social challenges while effectively using tax dollars. Senator Bennet introduced the Social Impact Partnerships Act this week to provide federal support to state and local governments interested in pursuing pay-for-success projects.
“Pay for Success initiatives can be used to deliver measurable progress in a number of critical areas including health care, education, job training, and child care, and represent a shift towards a model of government where results matter,” Bennet said. “This grant will allow Enterprise and their partners to help Denver combat chronic homelessness and enact meaningful change in the community. Encouraging these types of innovative partnerships that use evidence-based practices, can improve social outcomes and ensure we use taxpayer dollars wisely.”
“This innovative program will create long term solutions to help our most vulnerable people stabilize their lives,” said Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock. “The Nonprofit Finance Fund grant will help us move closer to our vision of addressing chronic homelessness by providing supportive housing and vital services.”
“Enterprise thanks Nonprofit Finance Fund and the Social Innovation Fund for supporting our work with such a highly competitive grant which enables us to serve chronically homeless residents in Denver and advance the Pay for Success model nationwide,” said Terri Ludwig, president and CEO, Enterprise. “Enterprise strongly supports The Social Impact Partnership Act, and we look forward to working with the co-sponsors, other lawmakers in this Congress and members of the administration to strengthen, approve and implement the proposal in the coming months.”
“I’m thrilled that Enterprise Community Partners has been selected by the Nonprofit Finance Fund as part of the Social Innovation Fund’s inaugural Pay for Success initiative,” said Wendy Spencer, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency which administers the Social Innovation Fund. “I’m proud that CNCS is supporting this project, which will take an inventive approach to one of today’s most pressing social problems – chronic homelessness. I am grateful to Senator Bennet for his longstanding support for these types of innovative solutions and look forward to working with him to find new ways to get things done for our nation.
Enterprise, CSH, and Social Impact Solutions will work with the City and County of Denver, Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, Mental Health Center of Denver and Urban Institute to provide supportive housing for 300 chronically homeless individuals improving quality of life, reducing recidivism, and increasing access to preventative care. This grant is one five initial subgrants designed to accelerate Pay for Success projects across the country to address economic opportunity and youth development issues.
The Social Impact Partnership Act, cosponsored by Senator Orrin Hatch, encourages the development of pay-for-performance contracts. Under a pay-for-performance model, a government enters into an agreement with a service intermediary working to deliver a set of services that will ultimately result in positive outcomes, while also producing long-term savings to local, state, and federal governments. The savings will often accrue to a combination of those three levels of government. Last year, Bennet worked with Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) to pass legislation to improve federal job training programs by allowing state and local governments to engage in Pay for Success contracts.
