Portfolio Spotlights

The Bridge from Education to Employment

(January 2016) The New Year is always a time of great promise. For the past five years, the Social Innovation Fund has been instrumental in helping to create sustainable economic growth and opportunity for the communities we serve. This month, Social Innovation Fund is putting a Spotlight On four of our grantees that are investing to expand access to education and home-ownership to build lifelong financial security for adults, youth and their families.  

New Opportunities to Achieve Goals

(December 2015) As we look forward to a New Year with new opportunities, it’s a good time to shine a light on future goals. This month, SIF is putting a Spotlight On three of our grantees that are helping individuals, organizations, and government to learn new skills that will help in achieving goals.  

Improving Lives Through Education

(November 2015) It is the time of year when many of us pause to give thanks and the Social innovation Fund would like to acknowledge all of its grantees that are working to improve communities everyday. This month, we’d like to shine a Spotlight On three of our grantees that are working with youth to improve their lives and futures through education.  

Keeping Youth Healthy and Motivated

(October 2015) This month, as the new school year gets into full swing, the Social Innovation Fund is shining a Spotlight On programs that are keeping youth motivated and healthy throughout the school year. The three grantees featured in this month’s spotlight include those working in the classroom as well as through after school and other support programming. 

2014 Grantees - One Year Into Their SIF Grant

(September 2015) This month, the Social Innovation Fund (SIF) is putting the Spotlight On three of our 2014 Grantees--one year into their grant to see what they have accomplished to date. The three grantees span all three SIF focus areas and are using a collective impact approach to addressing education and employment opportunities, health outcomes in low-income communities, and childhood hunger. 

Academic Achievement and Early Education

(August 2015) The Social Innovation Fund (SIF) is putting the Spotlight On its grantees that are focused on increasing educational opportunities, readiness, and academic achievement for today’s youth.

Planning for Economic Success and Independence

(July 2015) The Social Innovation Fund is putting the Spotlight On its grantees that are utilizing education and employment services to build pathways to economic opportunity and independence for citizens in low-income communities.  

Promoting Healthy Futures for Vulnerable Citizens

(June 2015) The Social Innovation Fund is putting the Spotlight On its programs that are promoting healthy futures for vulnerable citizens. These programs address physical and behavioral health issues through prevention, intervention, and access to care. 

Putting Americans Back to Work

(May 2015) These four intermediary organizations are helping individuals to build the knowledge and skills to put Americans back to work by offering job training and related support services that prepare citizens in low-income communities for livable wage jobs. 

Additional Spotlights:

SIF Pay for Success Grantees Meet as Cohort, Share Best Practices and Lessons Learned

(February 2015) More than 40 grantee representatives, federal officials, and non-profit and social sector leaders participated in the three-day workshop, which featured rich conversations about lessons learned from early implementation of Pay for Success (PFS) projects, funded with $12 million from the SIF last fall. PFS programs address the needs of low-income communities by having government pay community-based service providers only after they meet pre-determined programmatic outcomes.

Focus on Evidence: Social Innovation Fund Case Study

(January 2015) Written by Ron Haskins and Greg Margolis of the Brookings Institution, Show Me the Evidence: Obama’s Fight for Rigor and Results in Social Policy (Brookings Institution Press, 2014) assesses the background and design of the SIF and five other federal evidence-based funding initiatives. The authors tell the story of the politics and policy debates that led to the programs’ creation, describe the programs’ designs and grantmaking processes, and consider their initial results and future potential.