Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results Act
SIPPRA Overview
The Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results Act (SIPPRA) was signed into law on February 9, 2018 and is intended to improve the effectiveness of certain social services. The federal government will pay for a project only if predetermined project outcomes have been met and validated by an independent evaluator, a system called a “pay for results partnership.” Congress appropriated $100 million for the SIPPRA program to implement “Social Impact Partnership Demonstration Projects” and feasibility studies to prepare for those projects. The SIPPRA program is largely administered by the Department of the Treasury (Treasury).
SIPPRA Council
Section 2056 of the Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results Act (SIPPRA) established the Federal Interagency Council on Social Impact Partnerships. The Council is chaired by OMB and includes members from the following agencies:
- The Department of Labor.
- The Department of Health and Human Services.
- The Social Security Administration.
- The Department of Agriculture.
- The Department of Justice.
- The Department of Housing and Urban Development.
- The Department of Education.
- The Department of Veterans Affairs.
- The Department of the Treasury.
- The Corporation for National and Community Service.
Section 2061 of SIPPRA requires Council to establish and maintain a public website that shall display specific information about each social impact partnership project. That information is available below and will be continually updated as additional project awards are issued, and as those projects make progress and provide their progress and final reports.
Additional information about SIPPRA, include the text of the SIPPRA statute, can be found on the SIPPRA page hosted by the Department of Treasury.
Awarded SIPPRA Projects
- New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
- City and County of Denver, Colorado
- Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services
- New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (NYC-MOCJ)
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Labor awarded the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) with up to $8.2 million for its project to provide clean energy job training to unemployed and low-wage workers, increase participants’ wages, and to evaluate the training’s effectiveness.
Treasury Press Release, March 22, 2021
Federal Register Notice, April 20, 2021
The outcome goals of the social impact partnership project:
The project expects to increase employment and earnings of low income individuals who may experience barriers to employment and increase the financial stability of low-income families.
Description of each intervention in the project:
The project’s interventions will be delivered by training providers located in several priority geographic regions across New York State. Training providers will be subcontracted by NYSERDA who will oversee implementation and administration of the interventions.
Training providers will provide clean energy job training and supportive services to eligible and enrolled individuals. Common intervention features and strategies across participating providers will include:
- Sectoral employment training focused on energy efficiency occupations and leading to industry recognized technical certifications (e.g., Building Performance Institute (BPI) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), among others);
- Work-based learning, including opportunities for apprenticeships and on-the-job training;
- Cohort models, which facilitate persistence and completion, particularly for youth;
- Direct employment of completers by training providers who are also contractors, or well-established linkages to employers, which facilitates job placement;
- “Soft skills” and “21st Century Skills” training; and
- Supportive services, such as childcare and transportation.
The target population that will be served by the project:
The project will serve low-income individuals in New York State whose household income is below 60% of the State Median Income, including those participating in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), and other benefit programs. Priority populations include individuals who are long-term unemployed and youth who are 16 to 24 years of age.
The expected social benefits to participants who receive the intervention and others who may be impacted:
The primary expected social benefits from the project include: Increased employment opportunities and earnings for long-term unemployed individuals and youth; Reduced dependence of low-income families on federal means-tested benefits; and Increased financial stability of low-income families.
| The detailed roles, responsibilities, and purposes of each Federal, State, or local government entity, intermediary, service provider, independent evaluator, investor, or other stakeholder: Role | Entity | Responsibilities |
| Government Entity/Funder | NYSERDA | • Manage SIPPRA funds flow between Treasury and Project. • Fund training services. |
| PFS Intermediary | Social Finance, Inc | • Lead project design and support government entity contracting and fund management. • Oversee and support evaluation. • Provide active performance management services to monitor project indicators and outcomes and facilitate governance committees. |
| Independent Evaluator | MDRC | • Evaluate whether pre-determined outcomes have been achieved. • Analyze federal budgetary impact observed. • Produce Evaluation Progress Reports bi-annually and a Final Evaluation Report within six months of project completion. |
| Service/Training Provider Technical Assistance | TRC Companies, Inc | • Support NYSERDA in implementation of interventions by contracted service providers delivering job training and supportive workforce services (e.g., Green City Force). |
| Training Providers | Green City Force and others | • Identify and enroll eligible individuals in designated geographic region. • Deliver clean energy workforce services (job training and supportive services) to enrolled individuals and support their placement into employment. • Report and share programmatic data with Service Provider and other Project partners as necessary. |
The payment terms, methodology used to calculate outcome payments, the payment schedule, and performance thresholds:
NYSERDA will deliver the job training to three different cohorts. Cohort 1 will receive the training in project year 1; cohort 2 will receive the training in project year 2; and cohort 3 will receive the training in project year 3. To calculate the outcome payment, the average annual earnings of the treatment group will be compared to the average annual earnings of the control group, for six years after program services, or follow-up years. As a result, the project will measure six outcomes, with a single outcome payment to be calculated for each project year from project years 4 through 6 (covering follow-up years 1 through 3, respectively, for all cohorts) and three outcome payments in project year 7 (covering follow-up year 4 for all cohorts, follow-up year 5 for cohorts 1 and 2 and follow-up year 6 for cohort 1).
The outcome payment is determined using a tiered outcome payment scheme based on levels of success in achieving the outcome. While the average increase in earnings due to the treatment is calculated at the level of the follow-up year, individuals within each cohort and follow-up year may differ in income. Thus, the payouts are calculated by combining the cohort-level increase in income due to the treatment with individual-level income data.
The project budget:
The project timeline:
The project timeline covers the seven-and-a-half-year period starting June 2021 through November 2028. Service delivery is expected to be implemented over three years in three cohorts. Evaluation is to be conducted over six, five, and four years after service delivery is completed for each cohort, respectively, with the final evaluation report being completed in the six months following the project period.
The project eligibility criteria:
Providers will identify eligible participants using a variety of outreach tactics and referral channels that leverage local and community partners and networks and will employ a comprehensive recruitment and enrollment process that is tailored to the target population. The application process will include multiple stages that assess applicants’ skills, interest and motivation, as well as potential needs or barriers to be addressed.
Each service provider will have access to a pool of interested applicants through the agencies in which they are housed and through their network of community-based organizations.
The evaluation design:
A randomized controlled trial will be conducted in which eligible and interested individuals would be randomly assigned to a group eligible for the clean energy training program and other services or to a control group not eligible for the program.
The metrics used to determine whether the proposed outcomes have been achieved and how these metrics are measured:
Annual earnings will be measured using wage records from the New York State Unemployment Insurance (UI) system.
An estimate of the savings to the Federal, State, and local government, on a program-by-program basis and in the aggregate, resulting from the successful completion of the social impact partnership project:
The estimated savings to the federal government is the $7.1 M.
The estimated savings to State is $3.6M.
Evaluation Progress Reports
NYSERDA Biannual Evaluation Progress Report September
NYSERDA Biannual Evaluation Progress Report March 2023
NYSERDA Biannual Evaluation Progress Report September 2023
NYSERDA Biannual Evaluation Progress Report February 2024
NYSERDA Biannual Evaluation Progress Report September 2024
City and County of Denver, Colorado
The U.S. Department of the Treasury awarded the City and County of Denver, Colorado (Denver) a Social Impact Partnership to Pay for Results Act (SIPPRA) Project grant in the amount of $5,512,000 and a SIPPRA Independent Evaluator grant in the amount of $826,800 for its Housing to Health (H2H) program, a permanent supportive housing program designed to reduce homelessness and increase housing stability. Denver is the second entity awarded funding under the SIPPRA program.
Treasury Press Release, September 14, 2021
Federal Register Notice, November 24, 2021
The outcome goals of the social impact partnership project:
The Denver Housing to Health (“H2H”) Pay for Success Project Denver proposes the following intermediate outcomes: Increased housing stability; decreased police contacts; and increased access to health services. Denver also proposes the following long-term outcomes: Improved health; increased access to health services (resulting in decreased visits to detoxification centers and decreased avoidable emergency room and hospital visits); and decreased criminal justice involvement. Overall, the project objective is to reduce the Medicaid and Medicare expenditures of the target population.
Description of each intervention in the project:
Two service providers, the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (“CCH”) and the Mental Health Center of Denver (“MHCD”) will deliver permanent supportive housing, modified assertive community treatment (“ACT”) and case management to 125 participants.
- Permanent Supportive Housing is an evidence-based intervention that provides housing plus intensive case management and connects clients with community services, including primary health care.
- Modified Assertive Community Treatment consists of a multidisciplinary team that strives to meet behavioral health and other needs of clients in order to maximize opportunities for recovery. Among the primary benefits of ACT is its ability to have multiple perspectives for treatment planning and assessment, ongoing collaboration, and planning and evaluation, with the client being an active member of the team.
- Case Management includes evidence-based motivational interviewing and trauma-informed care to assist participants in engaging and connecting with integrated health services, as deemed clinically appropriate and fitting the clients’ needs. This approach is designed to help improve health outcomes, address barriers to housing stability, manage mental illness and reduce interaction with the criminal justice system.
The target population that will be served by the project:
H2H will target individuals who are chronically homeless, have a record of at least eight arrests over the past three years in Denver County, and are at high risk for avoidable and high-cost health services paid through Medicaid.
The expected social benefits to participants who receive the intervention and others who may be impacted:
H2H is expected to help individuals improve their health outcomes, break the cycle of jail and homelessness, and save taxpayer dollars on the cost of health care in jail and in the community.
The detailed roles, responsibilities, and purposes of each Federal, State, or local government entity, intermediary, service provider, independent evaluator, investor, or other stakeholder:
| H2H role | Partner | Responsibilities |
| Lead applicant/Local government | City of Denver | Repay investors with SIPPRA funds if performance benchmarks are met. |
| Intermediary | A special purpose vehicle will be created by The Corporation for Supportive Housing (“CSH”). | Manage service provider performance, day-to-day operations and facilitate investor agreements and payments from the DOF to investors. Serve as project manager—providing project oversight, communicating with all parties, and providing advisory services. |
| Service providers | Colorado Coalition for the Homeless Mental Health Center of Denver | Provide housing. Provide supportive housing services. Deliver ACT. |
| Independent evaluation | Urban Institute | Establish research design. Verify that performance benchmarks are met. Measure other outcomes of interest. |
| Pay for Success investors | Including Northern Trust, The Denver Foundation. There has been significant investor interest, and project partners intend to add investors if the project receives SIPPRA funding. In addition to letters of commitment from the investors named above, letters of interest and support from other investors are included as attachments. | Provide capital to fund services. Receive principal and interest when performance benchmarks are met. |
The payment terms, methodology used to calculate outcome payments, the payment schedule, and performance thresholds:
The Recipient’s outcome payment will be equal to the sum of the annual difference between the treatment group’s Medicaid and Medicare expenditures and the control group’s Medicaid and Medicare expenditures over the project period.
The project budget:
| Service Delivery | $ 13,524,300.00 |
| Evaluation | $ 1,282,800.00 |
| Total Project Costs | $ 14,807,100.00 |
The project timeline:
The intervention will take place over seven years, beginning on April 29, 2022 and serving clients through April 28, 2029.
The project eligibility criteria:
The eligibility criteria for H2H are that individuals must be at least 18 years old, have had at least eight arrests over the past three years, were experiencing homelessness at the time of their last arrest and are at high risk for avoidable and high-cost health services paid through Medicaid and Medicare. Potentially eligible clients will be referred to H2H through Denver Health and Denver Police Department (“DPD”).
The evaluation design:
H2H’S randomized controlled trial (“RCT”) design will compare the trajectories of homeless, frequent users of medical services who receive supportive housing and those who receive usual care. Because available supportive housing is not available to all of the people who need it, the limited 125 housing slots will be allocated by lottery, which is a fair way to allocate the scarce housing resources and also enables random assignment. The evaluation will track outcomes for both groups and attribute any differences to the H2H program intervention.
The metrics used to determine whether the proposed outcomes have been achieved and how these metrics are measured:
The evaluation metrics will include information on housing stability and reductions in jail days and net reductions in federal expenditures for Medicaid and Medicare claims, to be paid by SIPPRA funding if successful. The net reduction in federal expenditures will be measured as the average difference in the change over time (pre and post randomization) in the amount billed for claims between the treatment and control groups
An estimate of the savings to the Federal, State, and local government, on a program-by-program basis and in the aggregate, resulting from the successful completion of the social impact partnership project:
Federal Savings: $5,512,000
City Savings: $9,235,055
Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services (Oklahoma)
The U.S. Department of the Treasury awarded the State of Oklahoma nearly $3.9 million to support Family and Children Services’ “Women in Recovery” (WIR) program, which provides alternatives to incarceration for women with substance use disorders. The awards are part of Treasury’s Social Impact Partnership to Pay for Results Act (SIPPRA) program and include a project grant of $3,367,085.00 with an additional $505,063.00 grant to pay for the cost of an independent evaluation of the program.
Treasury Press Release, December 17, 2021
Federal Register Notice, March 3, 2022
The outcome goals of the social impact partnership project:
The Women in Recovery (“WIR”) Pay for Success Project seeks to demonstrate stable employment and improved child welfare outcomes (reduced foster care involvement and contact with child protection services) for the target population.
Description of each intervention in the project:
WIR is an intensive alternative to incarceration for women facing long-term prison sentences for non-violent offenses. WIR is specifically designed to address the complex needs and risks of justice-involved women. The program combines best practices from the mental health and criminal justice fields as well as the integration of gender-specific best practices and treatment models to reduce female incarceration. Experienced and trained professional staff provide an array of intensive evidence-based treatment and best practice comprehensive support and wraparound services within a three-phase, daily program structure. In addition to gender-specific treatment models, specialized program components address issues impacting women, including domestic violence, trauma, self-sufficiency, family reunification, parenting and children’s issues.
The target population that will be served by the project:
WIR targets justice-involved females 18 years old or older with substance use disorders, who are prison-bound and ineligible for other Tulsa County diversion programs.
The expected social benefits to participants who receive the intervention and others who may be impacted:
WIR helps women conquer drug addiction, recover from trauma and acquire essential economic, emotional and social tools to build successful and productive lives, thus improving public safety and reducing recidivism while generating federal, state, and local financial value. With a focus on improving the lives of at-risk women and their children, WIR also seeks to break the cycle of intergenerational incarceration by strengthening and reuniting WIR mothers and their children.
The detailed roles, responsibilities, and purposes of each Federal, State, or local government entity, intermediary, service provider, independent evaluator, investor, or other stakeholder:
Recipient. Oklahoma is the recipient, fiscal agent, and lead data sharing partner in the project.
Service Provider. Family & Children’s Services (“F&CS”) will deliver all the services for WIR. F&CS has a mission to promote, support and strengthen the well-being and behavioral health of adults, children and families. F&CS works closely with the criminal justice system and various community partners to ensure program participants receive supervision, substance abuse and mental health treatment, comprehensive case management, education, workforce readiness training and family reunification services. F&CS will collect, store, analyze, and share program-related data as needed for the independent evaluation, and will be the recipient of investor up-front capital funding for the project. F&CS will also be the recipient of all federal outcome payments earned through verification by the independent evaluation of value to the federal government.
Investor. The George Kaiser Family Foundation (“GKFF”) is the primary upfront private investor for WIR. GKFF, in conjunction with other public/private sources, intends to provide F&CS with the annual capital to fund the delivery of WIR services.
Evaluator. WestEd, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research, development, and service agency, will serve as the external independent evaluator for the project. WestEd will design and implement the evaluation, measure the impact and value of the WIR program across all outcome measures, report the results to all entities of the project, and verify the value to the federal government for the purposes of federal outcome payments.
The payment terms, methodology used to calculate outcome payments, the payment schedule, and performance thresholds:
The project has two outcome domains, employment and child welfare, and will deliver services to two different cohorts. If the project is successful, four payments will be made in total, two for each cohort. For each cohort a payment will be made for outcomes achieved at 18 months post-enrollment and a second payment will be made for outcomes achieved at 30 months post-enrollment. The 30-month outcomes will only look at impact that occurred since the 18-month time point, as federal outcome payments will have already been realized for impact that occurred during the first 18 months. Each cohort will be eligible for one payment for each outcome domain: Employment and child welfare. Each outcome valuation will be conducted independently, and the realization of outcome payments related to one outcome domain will not be contingent on the results from any other outcome domain.
For child welfare, the independent evaluation will compare the results of the treatment group to the results of the comparison group and only validate a request for outcome payments for the level of success and federal value achieved within the identified range.
To calculate the outcome payment for federal value for the employment outcome, the independent evaluator will take the estimate of the increase in wages from the treatment and calculate the resulting federal value.
The project budget:
| Sources | Uses | |
| 8.1 Public & private grant funding | $6,997,594 | |
| 8.2 State outcome payments | 6,419,828 | |
| 8.3 Investor (GKFF) | 12,326,544 | |
| 8.4 Service provider cost (F&CS WIR) | $25,743,966 | |
| 8.5 Federal outcome payments | 3,367,085 | |
| 8.6 WIR Sustainability | 3,367,085 | |
| 8.7 Federal evaluation funding | 505,063 | |
| 8.8 Evaluator Budget | 505,063 | |
| 8.9 Intermediary | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 29,616,114 | 29,616,114 |
The project timeline:
The project eligibility criteria:
All participants are women with substance abuse issues who are at imminent risk for incarceration and ineligible for other drug or mental health court and jail diversion programs. All eligible women receive a standardized, gender-specific risk assessment to determine their risk, needs and treatment readiness. WIR then advocates and collaborates with the local prosecutor, court services and judges to make a final decision on admission to the WIR program. All participants must be able, emotionally and mentally, to receive services in an outpatient environment, voluntarily consent to services and work collaboratively with the treatment team under a comprehensive treatment plan.
The evaluation design:
WestEd will lead a quasi-experiment matched comparison study using logistic regression and ordinary least squares regression. The proposed project, evaluation methods, and anticipated outcomes are designed in a way to produce rigorous evidence that participant outcomes are not due to random chance or some other observable force. The reliance on state and local administrative data sources reduced (essentially removes) the chance that outcome measures can be manipulated by service providers, intermediaries, or investors. To further mitigate this chance, WestEd will include a number of steps to ensure the independence and integrity of the evaluation process.
The metrics used to determine whether the proposed outcomes have been achieved and how these metrics are measured:
The project will be evaluated using a quasi-experimental design study. The treatment group shall consist of individuals who have been enrolled in the WIR program. The control group shall be a matched comparison group, consisting of female prison receptions and releases outside of Tulsa County who did not receive WIR or other comparable services. The results of the treatment group will be compared to the results of the comparison group across all outcome measures.
An estimate of the savings to the Federal, State, and local government, on a program-by-program basis and in the aggregate, resulting from the successful completion of the social impact partnership project:
Federal Savings: $3,367,085.
Oklahoma expects state and local savings to be realized by reduced public sector costs related to incarceration, parole supervision, homelessness, and child welfare. Oklahoma also expects an increase in tax revenue and contributions to the local economy.
Evaluation Progress Reports
Oklahoma Biannual Evaluation Progress Report August 2024
Oklahoma Biannual Evaluation Progress Report March 2024
New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (NYC-MOCJ)
The U.S. Department of the Treasury has awarded the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (NYC-MOCJ) over $20.5 million to support its efforts to reduce gun violence among youth. The awards are part of Treasury’s Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results Act (SIPPRA) program and include a project grant of $17,595,000 with an additional $2,639,250 grant to pay for the cost of an independent evaluation of the program’s effectiveness.
Treasury Press Release, December 28, 2021
Federal Register Notice, February 24, 2022
The outcome goals of the social impact partnership project:
NYC-MOCJ’s Cure Violence Pay for Success Project proposes the following outcomes: Reduced shootings, reduced victimization and reduced associated medical (Medicaid) costs. NYC-MOCJ expects the newly funded Cure Violence neighborhoods to experience a 40 percent reduction in gunshot wound hospitalizations each period. If achieved, this reduction would lead to a 40 percent decrease in federal Medicaid spending.
Description of each intervention in the project:
NYC-MOCJ will expand their evidence-based model of violence interruption, the Cure Violence program, to eight new program service areas to reduce shootings and hospitalizations over a five-year span by targeting previously unserved geographies and youth at the highest risk for involvement in violence. The Cure Violence model is a neighborhood-based public health approach to gun violence reduction that seeks to change individual and community attitudes and norms about gun violence. The program relies on the efforts of community-based “outreach workers” and “violence interrupters” in neighborhoods that are the most vulnerable to gun violence. These workers use their personal relationships, social networks, and knowledge of their communities to dissuade specific individuals and neighborhood residents in general from engaging in violence.
The target population that will be served by the project:
NYC-MOCJ anticipates Cure Violence participants will be between the age of 16 and 24 years of age at the time of the SIPPRA project start date and are at high risk for involvement in violence.
The expected social benefits to participants who receive the intervention and others who may be impacted:
Participants and the community as a whole will receive a range of social benefits. Through the project, participants gain meaningful supportive networks, experience an increase in pro-social behaviors, and a decrease of gun incidents and a decline in violence. Communities in which the Cure Violence model has been implemented experience declines in violence.
The detailed roles, responsibilities, and purposes of each Federal, State, or local government entity, intermediary, service provider, independent evaluator, investor, or other stakeholder:
The Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. NYC-MOCJ is committed to the Cure Violence approach and to providing upfront funding for all sites in this proposal through City Tax Levy funds. Therefore, the project will not need any private investors. NYC-MOCJ senior staff, contracts, and finance teams will oversee partner and service provider procurement and funding.
Service Providers. NYC-MOCJ contracts with local nonprofit service providers to run Cure Violence initiatives in each catchment area. The service providers are responsible for establishing program office space and implementing the full Cure Violence program model. The five service providers are: Good Shepherd Services/BRAG, BronxConnect/Release the Grip, Getting Out and Staying Out/Stand Against Violence, Jewish Community Council/Operation H.O.O.D, and Man Up!, Inc.
Intermediary. Social Finance will manage the project governance process and will work closely with NYC-MOCJ and Cure Violence service providers to monitor the program’s operations, analyze accumulated data, and track the impact of the program on the target population in real-time.
The payment terms, methodology used to calculate outcome payments, the payment schedule, and performance thresholds:
The payments will correspond to the federal share of savings from the anticipated reduction in shooting-related Medicaid expenses in each calendar year of the project (each, an outcome period). Federal value is calculated as the estimated effect size of Cure Violence on emergency treatment and hospitalization for Medicaid-eligible victims of gun violence during each outcome period as compared to 24 comparison sites over the same time period.
The project budget:
The project timeline:
The project eligibility criteria:
In accordance with the Cure Violence model, eligible program participants should be at high risk for involvement in violence, determined by meeting at least four of the following seven criteria:
- Thought to be a member of a gang known to be actively involved in violence;
- History of criminal activity, including crimes against persons, pending or prior arrests for weapons offenses;
- Thought to have access to a weapon;
- High-risk street activity, thought to be involved in street activity that is highly associated with violence;
- Victim of a recent shooting;
- Recently released from prison for a crime associated with violence; and/or
- Between the ages of 16 and 24.
The evaluation design:
The evaluation team will employ a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences evaluation approach.
The metrics used to determine whether the proposed outcomes have been achieved and how these metrics are measured:
The evaluators will compare the number of gunshot-wound hospitalizations in the eight sites that receive the Cure Violence intervention, as compared to the comparison sites that do not receive the intervention.
An estimate of the savings to the Federal, State, and local government, on a program-by-program basis and in the aggregate, resulting from the successful completion of the social impact partnership project:
Federal Savings—$17,595,000
State Savings—$17,595,000
Copies of the progress reports and the final reports relating to the project will be made available here as they are received.
Evaluation Progress Reports
