The City of Baltimore has been a leader in municipal government performance management with a focus on outcomes and innovation through its CitiStat program, Outcome Budgeting process, and Innovation Fund.

Even with this focus, we know that we can get better, more cost-effective results from many City services.

We want to change how City services are delivered by creating a new way of paying for results; something different from the current model where City agencies deliver a set of services and taxpayers shoulder the costs, regardless of the outcomes.

That is why we created the Pay for Success Work Group. Made up of practitioners from the non-profit, for-profit, philanthropic, and academic sectors, we’ve asked this group to study paying for success and other models that leverage results and determine which would be a good fit for Baltimore.

We seek paying for success models that address some of the most urgent social issues in Baltimore, such as drug addiction, unemployment, and youth violence. Making real, measurable progress on these issues is integral to improving the lives of Baltimoreans and achieving the Mayor’s goal of growing our city by 10,000 families over the next decade.

The model we’ll develop will not be “off-the-shelf.” Instead, guided by the principles below, this new model will be unique to Baltimore.

• Improve the use of existing City funds
• Utilize evidence-based practices
• Incorporate rigorous performance measurement and evaluation
• Maximize public- private partnerships
• “Move the needle” on City goals

In partnership with The Annie E. Casey Foundation, we’ve convened cross-sector leaders to work together on this unique endeavor. Representatives from Harvard University’s Initiative for Responsible Investment, Innovation’s Institute at the University of Maryland, United Way of Central Maryland, Baltimore Urban League, Chesapeake Partners Management, and The Goldseker Foundation are included in the group.

We’ll share the results of this group’s work later in 2012.

To learn more about existing models, visit the following websites:
• White House Office of Management and Budget
• The Rockefeller Foundation
• Social Finance
• State of Massachusetts
• Governing Magazine