by Chris Ellis
Director of Early Learning
Last week, the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, in partnership with the Laura and John Arnold Foundation and Nonprofit Finance Fund, hosted a Pay for Success Summit in Salt Lake City for the Western region of the United States. This Summit was intended to highlight and advance regional activity and build long-term Pay for Success infrastructure to catalyze the development of future projects.
Salt Lake City was a fitting location for this Summit, as it is the home of the first Pay for Success agreement in the world to support early childhood education. United Way of Salt Lake led the effort and worked closely with numerous organizations to implement this project, including, Granite School District’s Preschool Program, Park City School District, Salt Lake County, Voices for Utah Children, Utah State University, Goldman Sachs, and J.B. Pritzker. Now in its second year, the Utah High-quality Preschool Program has provided access to high quality preschool to nearly 1,000 low-income children in Utah. Participants at the Summit were able to learn more about this particular deal and discuss other projects that are being considered to support outcomes for children and families in other communities. Throughout the day, organizations announced funding opportunities for participants to increase their knowledge about Pay for Success and their capacity to utilize this innovative strategy.
As an attendee, I was able to network with other individuals from around the country who are pursuing Pay for Success as a funding strategy to support social services in their communities and learn more about the developments in this field. Attendees were either implementing or considering deals to support programs that are working to lower rates of recidivism, reduce homelessness, improve public health, and expand access to early childhood education. It is exciting to see the enthusiasm and interest around this approach, as it can be a valuable component of a strategy to achieve community level results in communities throughout the country.
I look forward to seeing the impact that Pay for Success can have on addressing the needs in our respective communities. The Utah High-quality Preschool Program has clearly helped local children, and Pay for Success can surely be used to improve outcomes for children and families around the country.
