Category Archives: Government Performance

What Mid-Size Cities Can Teach Feds About Performance

Early lessons have begun to emerge from the three-year, $42 million effort launched last year by Bloomberg Philanthropies to help 100 mid-sized cities improve their performance through open data, performance management, evaluation, and results-driven contracting. Continue reading SIRC’s column at … Continue reading

Posted in Data, Government Performance, Performance Management

Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program Findings Show Benefits, Challenges of Evidence-Based Programming

When the federal government started a new grants program in 2010 to finance and evaluate programs to reduce teen pregnancies, Hennepin County decided to give it a shot. The Minneapolis-area county already had a pilot project in two suburbs with … Continue reading

Posted in Children and Families, Evidence, Government Performance

Promise Zones Program Ramps Up Amid Uncertainty About Post-Obama Era

When the Obama administration announced the third and final round of Promise Zone communities in June, perhaps no applicant was more surprised to find itself on the list than South Los Angeles. “We were kind of in disbelief when we … Continue reading

Posted in Collective Impact, Government Performance

Performance Partnership Pilots: An Early Look

The Social Innovation Research Center has today released a report examining the early progress of the Performance Partnership Pilots (P3) program. First authorized by Congress in January 2014, P3 allows projects that are focused on youth to align and better … Continue reading

Posted in Children and Families, Education, Government Performance, Workforce Issues

Obama Administration’s New Performance Grade: Improved, But Work Remains

The Obama administration has made substantial progress in measuring federal program effectiveness, but more needs to be done to shift federal funding to programs that work, according to a scorecard released Monday by Results for America, a bipartisan advocacy organization … Continue reading

Posted in Evidence, Government Performance, Politics

Top Social Innovation Reads of 2015

With the holidays fast approaching, here are SIRC’s “Top Social Innovation Reads of 2015.”   Happy holidays everyone! Evidence Robert Granger and Rebecca Maynard, Unlocking the Potential of the “What Works” Approach to Policymaking and Practice: Improving Impact Evaluations (December 2015) … Continue reading

Posted in Government Performance

Driving Results in Cities Could Influence Federal Performance Efforts

Federal efforts to increase the use of data in performance management and evaluation may soon cross paths with a parallel effort at the city level. What Works Cities, a new $42 million, three-year initiative launched by Bloomberg Philanthropies in April, … Continue reading

Posted in Government Performance

President Bolsters Evidence and Innovation Agenda in FY 2016 Budget

The Obama evidence and innovation agenda took several steps forward in the president’s proposed FY 2016 federal fiscal budget, released earlier today. Highlights include the following: Pay for Success (PFS) The budget proposes $364 million for new pay-for-success projects, the … Continue reading

Posted in Evidence, Government Performance, Social Impact Bonds / Pay for Success

Top Social Innovation Reads of 2014

To close out the year, here are SIRC’s “Top Social Innovation Reads of 2014.”  Happy holidays everyone! Reports Beth Kanter, Help! My Nonprofit Needs a Data Nerd (December 2014) Collective Impact Forum, 2014’s Top Collective Impact Resources (December 2014) Urban … Continue reading

Posted in Government Performance