"For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them " ~ Aristotle
To the collaborative:
Ladies & gentlemen we have until the 25 August to continue refining this submission. I look forward to leveraging this Challenge to build a clearer, shared understanding about this project. There's questions to be answered who'd like to get the ball rolling on the constructive criticism?
To pay back investors without using public financing, a rehabilitation program would need to operate an SME that earned a profit.
In Seattle, Washington in the United States, there is a program called FareStart that provides food-service industry training through operating a restaurant, catering, a cafe and contract meals. They also provide job placement services.
It doesn't have to be a food-service business. It could be an SME with a higher profit margin like home construction, related skilled trades and business skills.
If the SME is home construction, they could practice initially with building homes for Habitat for Humanity and then work on commercial projects.
Thanks for your input Rene you are right social enterprise innovations, like those you suggest are important to the long term sustainability and growth of the social service sector.
I am aware that if not all, at least one of our social service collaborators does indeed run a growing number of social enterprises in order to create jobs for people and generate revenue.
Their innovations in youth development and social enterprise are award winning and I believe world class hence the drive to provide them additional funding - through a independent investment entity - in order for them to expand their social impact.
Given increased funding our non-profits will undoubtedly grow the profits of their social enterprises. However, any such profits belong to the social enterprise entity &/or the non-profit that established them.
We are looking to establish a sustainable and scalable funding model one which will leverage available public finances to provide incentive and reward for private investment in the social service sector. To clarify we propose:
A new, independent entity focused primarily on raising private investment for the social service sector.
To establish government backed Social Impact Performance Bonds, as the incentive and reward for social investment.
To compliment and maximise existing funding. Public financing remains an important source of funding here in NZ.
I really appreciate your insight Rene and will look to clarify these points in our submission.
In answer to how long? the only thing about which I can be certain is that it will most likely take longer than expected. Ideally, provided we set the right measures with which to quantify social impact & performance the new entity can be self-sustaining within three years. Potentially, high growth within five years.
In additional to the new entity we will be working with social service enterprises that may already or may not be self-sustaining. While it is not for us to manage the performance of the contracted programme providers it is hoped that additional funding may provide a catalyst for ongoing social innovations and the growth of sustainable social enterprises.
Effective collaboration is integral to the performance, sustainability and growth of this funding/investment model. While I can not be more specific I hope that I've addressed your question.
"...it provides long term funds for promising ideas; it transfers risk to private capital markets; and it costs public money only if the scheme provides specific social benefits..."
A copy of the full article can be viewed here The Economist
New Zealand Bluelight Ventures Inc & Judge Andrew Becroft Principal Youth Court Judge of NZ ~ What causes youth crime
Thank you
Our ultimate outcome ~ the establishment of a social investment sector to support and develop self sustaining social enterprises could not be possible with out the work of our collaborative supported by the feedback, insight of those that I have shared our work with.
Family, friends, mentors and advisors. Inspiring, talented supportive people, catalysts of social impact in their own right including representatives of:-
* The Malcam Charitable Trust
* The Youth Wellness Trust
* The University oh Otago
* Otago Polytechnic
* Otago's Entrepreneur Community
* Anglican Family Care
* Methodist Mission here in Dunedin
* Fellow board members at Te Kupeka Umaka Maori Ki Araiteuru KUMA Southern Maori Business Network
* Fellow board members at Malcam Charitable Trust Foundation
* Kati Huirapa i Puketeraki
* Te Runanga o Otakau
* Te Runanga o Moeraki
* Te Runanga o Hokonui
* Otakau Maori Police Advisory Group
* A3Kaitiaki Ltd
* Dunedin City Council
* Dunedin National MP
* Deloitte Dunedin
* Community Economic Conference
* Waitakere Community Social Innovation Hub
* Nexx
* Chapman Tripp Lawyers
* Foresters Research
* Entrepreneurship101.org/
* The Young Foundation
"...Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has..." ~ Margret Meade
In a book titled 'The Genius in All of Us', author David Shenk talks about genetic research that shows how the expression of genes is changed by the environment.
By environment, he means anything that can result in a biological change in your body (e.g. stress hormones, other hormones, behavior of others towards you, etc.).
He asserts that, while there are differences in ability, few people test the limits of what their abilities are.
Genes influence rather than dictate. You have some control over the environment in which you live and the environment in which someone else lives.
"A trait emerges only from the interaction of gene and the environment." - Michael Meaney, Director of the Program for the Study of Genes, Behavior and the Environment, McGill University
"Biologists have come to realize that if one changes either the genes or the environment, the resulting behavior can be dramatically different." - Massimo Pigliucci, evolutionary ecologist, City University of New York
Putting offenders back into the same hostile environment will lower the success rate.
People have a choice about how they react to hostility but, at some point, a hostile environment can change someone on a biological level affecting the choices they make and their reaction times.
Soldiers who spend years in combat maintaining a hyper-vigilant state resulting in post-traumatic stress disorder is one example.
Do all these treatment programs just treat the offenders or is their some public education component? By public, I am referring to parents and the general public.
Those in government not understanding how the environment affects gene expression deciding what treatment programs to fund could adversely affect your success rate.
One area where people exhibit the belief that abilities are fixed is learning.
Carol S. Dweck, a Stanford University psychologist, has shown that the belief that ability is predetermined is destructive when it comes to learning. She has also shown that changing this belief results in a different outcome.
Someone with this "fixed mindset" attributes difficulty learning a subject to ability being predetermined.
Someone with a "growth mindset" believes their abilities can be developed through study and practice and do not give up if they encounter difficulty learning a new subject.
Am I correct to understand that you are raising the issue of how we will influence the environment (vs gene's:)of the people we want to help? As it is on that basis that I will address you question:-
"...Do all these treatment programs just treat the offenders or is there some public education component?..."
Unfortunately, we could never affect the social change we envision if our programmes were that narrowly focused. Our interests lie much more in prevention than cure, which is a challenge to quantify. Our social service providers already have a significant impact on the communities (environment) that our young people live in through programmes that are:-
primarily youth focused
about jobs & skills training, personal development and work/employment
Under the existing system social service providers are primarily reliant on Govt. funding which, as you suggest & by our logic, limits the potential scope and impact of their social work.
Hence the social investment model we are working on which seeks to raise private funding to compliment, expand and enrich existing programmes.
That said, you identify that influences upon the environment "...anything that can result in a biological[social] change..." can be attributed to a number of factors not necessarily within our locus of control.
Indeed one of the greatest challenges we face is in establishing quantifiable measure for impact & performance that we can prove are directly attributable to our social service programmes. Research is currently underway to help us understand what programmes have the most impact and what gaps need filling.
Any additional information you can suggest that might provide insight on the type of Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) that private prison operators work to, would be very helpful. I hear that private prison systems is a major growth industry in the US? Appreciate your feedback.
If the general public has the belief that genes exclusively determine the traits someone has and that some people are violent (or more likely to engage in some other criminal behavior) and nothing can be done to change that, that segment of the population is written off as "criminal" and marginalized by not getting hired and being isolated socially.
Those beliefs contribute to the hostile environment the segment of the population considered "criminal" lives in.
Regardless of how the situation started, the general public ends up contributing to the problem they are trying to solve and not realizing changing their own behavior would increase the success rate of treatment programs (see (3) below).
There are several ways you can measure the effect of treatment programs:
(1) Carol S. Dweck's program to teach students that they have the potential to be successful academically in combination with an academic or vocational program would result in a set of skills that could be objectively measured.
Such a program in schools and prisons could be considered a form of prevention.
People who are successful at learning new skills can see they have options other than resorting to crime.
The rate at which students or offenders successfully complete training programs or graduate from school can be measured.
Given the current demographics of which ages commit crimes, you could measure whether that age distribution changes after students graduate from schools where treatment programs operated.
(2) Methamphetamine is a drug that can decrease the success rate at school and work.
The changes to the brain can last several years after using methamphetamine has stopped.
After drug treatment and (1), you could measure the rate at which offenders test positive for drugs.
After offenders have had some success learning new skills, you could measure the rate at which offenders test positive for drugs.
Since drugs manage to find their way into prisons, you could test the rate at which prisoners test positive for drugs before and after treatment programs.
You can measure the number of drug offenses of people who graduated from schools or completed prison sentences with treatment programs.
(3) You can measure the unemployment rate and income of offenders before and after treatment. Here is where the beliefs of employers can affect how successful your treatment program will be.
Thanks for your input Rene. I'd like clarify, that in terms of our collaborative I am far from the best person to discuss the performance of Social Programmes. Several of our collaborators are world class in terms of youth development and social enterprise. Their current & ongoing need to access govt. funding provides them with a wealth of experience in terms of measuring the results of their work in our community.
I am happy to address the commercial/enterprise elements of our proposal as I am a technology entrepreneur. I work with & build start up companies. I'm also an aspiring social entrepreneur that believes technology can support improved social outcomes by connecting people to work, collaborate, and build shared intelligence. Elements that I believe are important to building stronger communities & economies.
In regards to your feedback, I did speak with our local member of Parliament today and he highlighted the difficulties we will face, even armed with positive social outcomes (already measurable) we still need to:-
quantify the dollars saved by the Govt &
prove savings are directly attributable to the performance of our social impact programmes.
I agree to connect people together to work and have a common goal, the collaboration, and build shared intelligence too. And I have a question:
Do you believe that this methodology is applicable to other cultures such as South America. Where the majority of SMEs are micro SMEs even smaller yet. I mean you said that provide the incentive and reward for social investment and expand the funding for social impact programmes s important.
I guess that you have an excellent idea.
good luck
Ideally, yes. While programmes and social needs would vary from community to community, we work to establish a model for social investment/funding that can be applied to communities around the world.
With regard to #1, how timely is the accounting of government expenses and how accurate is it?
An individual gets a monthly statement from a bank showing where they spent money.
If you use online banking, you can see where money is being spent on a daily basis and can download the data for analysis in accounting software.
Does the government have that level of detail?
If you set up separate bank accounts for different government departments and programs within those departments, a government could take advantage of the same level of detail in accounting.
On overdraft, money would be drawn automatically from a general account to the specific accounts used by government departments and programs. No deposits would have to be made in individual accounts. They just provide a means of tracking expenses.
With the right software, the government could have the same level of detail in accounting that individuals do.
It would make it easier to quantify where the government is spending money and see how that changes from one year to the next as your social impact programs are implemented.
We have detailed, albeit retrospective information on the spending of New Zealand's Department of Corrections. From this we know that for the 08/09 financial year:-
It cost taxpayers > $90K per annum to imprison people &
The average sentence length is 4 years
NZ$90,000.00 x 4yrs = NZ$360,000.00 per person imprisoned
We can work with this information, no problem. The challenge, as put to me today by our National Government representative, will be attributing dollars saved directly to the programmes we implement.
The potential of cohort research was also discussed as a means to directly compare results between those that do participate vs. do not participate in our social programmes. In terms of research, we are fortunate to have representatives of our local education and research sector as collaborators on this project.
Discriminant function analysis is sometimes used to create a model that tries to predict who will commit a crime and who will not based upon a set of variables.
Among all the variables used, you could have variables that represent the successful completion of various aspects of your treatment programs.
For example, some variables could be abnormalities and brain activity that show up on a SPECT scan which are associated with aggressive behavior, the types of medications prescribed, etc..
If your treatment programs worked, the values of variables that indicated successful completion of various aspects of your treatment programs would help predict that a person is in the group that does not commit another crime (ever, within 1 year, within 2 years, etc.).
"SPECT can be helpful in understanding causes and treating aggressive behavior. I have found a consistent triad of SPECT findings common in children, teenagers and adults who exhibit aggressive behavior. These findings include:
* abnormalities (either increased or decreased activity) in the left temporal lobe, often the seat of aggressive thoughts
* increased activity in the anterior cingulate gyrus, which often causes problems with repetitive thoughts and shifting attention (a person may get stuck on the aggressive thoughts that are present) and
* decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex, leading to poor internal supervision.
When these three findings are present it is often helpful to intervene with anticonvulsant medication to stabilize temporal lobe abnormalities and decrease violent thoughts, a serotonergic agent to help decrease anterior cingulate activity and improve cognitive flexibility, and sometimes a psychostimulant to activate prefrontal cortex activity and enhance impulse control."
The cost of a SPECT scan ($3,375 USD) and medication is less than incarcerating someone after they commit a serious crime.
"The main purpose of a discriminant function analysis is to predict group membership based on a linear combination of the interval variables. The procedure begins with a set of observations where both group membership and the values of the interval variables are known. The end result of the procedure is a model that allows prediction of group membership when only the interval variables are known. A second purpose of discriminant function analysis is an understanding of the data set, as a careful examination of the prediction model that results from the procedure can give insight into the relationship between group membership and the variables used to predict group membership."
"...Discriminant function analysis is sometimes used to create a model that tries to predict who will commit a crime and who will not based upon a set of variables..."
Although it's starting to sound like Minority Report (2002 starring Tom Cruise:) perhaps it was a movie that will spawn more than just cool technology ~ see Ted Talk by John Underkoffler ~I'm quite in awe of your ability to keep coming up with this intel. & who am I to ignore genius. Respect.
So although some of what you share goes well beyond my understanding I really appreciate the time you've taken Rene to help me work on explaining and refining our project.
I am definitely going to look into this discriminant function analysis you speak of and will start by asking around the university; perhaps the social psychology dept.
We have the unfortunate claim to fame here in Aotearoa NZ of having the worlds third highest rate of incarceration per capita.
Being of Maori descent, it is our people ~ tangata whenua : people of the land ~ that are most over represented in the criminal justice system. Yet in this work, I am discovering that we have the people, resources and community systems to most effectively address Maori offending.
I am learning more about the work of local Runanga, and their social enterprises contractors whose proactive, collaborative and whanua (family) based programmes address some of the most difficult offending issues ~ drugs alcohol & family violence.
I feel that it will be a difficult and at times confronting learning curve but I embrace the opportunity to help affect positive change for all people of Aotearoa. Aotearoa Rocks!
So you are trying to get investments out of the private sector to invest in already established enterprises or for startup enterprises as well?
Investment would be with the newly created, independent business entity. The new entity raises and invests private capital with both established and start-up enterprises. The selection of contractors is on the basis of their ability to provide effective social outcomes.
And what would the benefit for the businesses investing be? I think it is a great idea I just can't see businesses investing in anything at the moment due to the economic climate no matter how noble the cause.
We are working with this funding model in order to provide an incentive and reward for investing in social outcomes. We envision providing returns that reflect the high risk. Return on Investment (ROI) 8% - 25% pa? I honestly can't say. At this early stage, the actual ROI is at best, informed guess work.
First & foremeost, we need the Government to back the financial instrument ~ Bonds Notes &/or Bills. Then we can seek out private investors.
I've submitted this social investment/funding model to the G20 Finance Challenge in hopes that, should we gain recognition here it will add significant weight and credibility to our cause with the current National Govt.,
Hello. I really like your idea. I think perhaps it needs to solidify the financial aspect. For example, the social impact and thus the savings in imprisonment costs is a medium to long term occurrence; will the bonds have the same tenor? Perhaps Government could forecast the potential future savings and accordingly issue bonds of shorter duration. Basically, the public sector could absorb the current bond payments and then just keep the savings in the future. This is important in order to attract more investors because a shorter time-to-maturity implies higher liquidity, usually. I hope I'm understanding correctly your concept.
Anyways, congratulations. It's a great idea!
Yes, you understand this concept, most likely in ways that I do not, yet. The responsibility of financial aspects I trust to those more informed. My experience lies in enterprise development, technology and marketing. To address your questions, I can say:
Term of investment | 5 - 10 years
Yes, they are initially intended as long terms investment bonds. With, as you say, the same tenor as we establish to measure our social impact.
Measuring & attributing "impact" is a primary and foreseeable, long-term challenge.
We do have Govt. research for the previous 5 years to benchmark our work in youth offending. During the next five years, I believe we can move towards medium and short term, bills &/or notes.
Social Impact Performance
Our purpose is most fundamentally ~ Long Term Social Impact.As a collaborative, we aspire, to have undeniable impact and I commit to whatever time necessary up front to establish performance measures that ensure long term sustainability and growth of a social funding and investments sector for Aotearoa, NZ.
In terms of risk
What I understand as one of the key strengths of the bonds is:-
That by working with Govt in the longer terms to collectively define, measure and attribute "impact" we will effectively remove the risk associated with forecasting & provide Government the lowest possible risk option: if unsuccessful the government does not pay.
long term success
When successful, we have a catalyst for a more balanced risk scenario. The basis for a sustainable long-term private~public partnership, supporting the work and expanding the impact of our social sector.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your insight. Importantly, our entry here is intended to gain us insight, advice and avenues to pursue in an investment sector foreign to New Zealand. Our greatest strength lies in our people. We have begun, there remains so much to learn but as I opened:-
For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them " ~ Aristotle
Insight into emerging funding recommendations including the use of Social Impact Bonds which were officially launched in the UK this September http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11254308
Recommendations support collaboration & building shared intelligence
"...Rather than each CSO reinventing the wheel in defining outcomes for its work, there needs to be a shared approach to developing common outcomes, measuring their achievement(using a variety of approaches) and sharing learning through knowledge management wherever possible building on work already done in the field..."
Comments
"For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them " ~ Aristotle
To the collaborative:
Ladies & gentlemen we have until the 25 August to continue refining this submission. I look forward to leveraging this Challenge to build a clearer, shared understanding about this project. There's questions to be answered who'd like to get the ball rolling on the constructive criticism?
To pay back investors without using public financing, a rehabilitation program would need to operate an SME that earned a profit.
In Seattle, Washington in the United States, there is a program called FareStart that provides food-service industry training through operating a restaurant, catering, a cafe and contract meals. They also provide job placement services.
http://www.farestart.org/
It doesn't have to be a food-service business. It could be an SME with a higher profit margin like home construction, related skilled trades and business skills.
If the SME is home construction, they could practice initially with building homes for Habitat for Humanity and then work on commercial projects.
http://www.habitat.org.nz/
Investors could get a share of the profits from commercial projects.
Thanks for your input Rene you are right social enterprise innovations, like those you suggest are important to the long term sustainability and growth of the social service sector.
I am aware that if not all, at least one of our social service collaborators does indeed run a growing number of social enterprises in order to create jobs for people and generate revenue.
Their innovations in youth development and social enterprise are award winning and I believe world class hence the drive to provide them additional funding - through a independent investment entity - in order for them to expand their social impact.
Given increased funding our non-profits will undoubtedly grow the profits of their social enterprises. However, any such profits belong to the social enterprise entity &/or the non-profit that established them.
We are looking to establish a sustainable and scalable funding model one which will leverage available public finances to provide incentive and reward for private investment in the social service sector. To clarify we propose:
I really appreciate your insight Rene and will look to clarify these points in our submission.
Kind Regards
Renee Lee
Hi Renee,
How long do you think it will take you to become a self-sustaining enterprise?
-Rachna
Hi Rachna,
In answer to how long? the only thing about which I can be certain is that it will most likely take longer than expected. Ideally, provided we set the right measures with which to quantify social impact & performance the new entity can be self-sustaining within three years. Potentially, high growth within five years.
In additional to the new entity we will be working with social service enterprises that may already or may not be self-sustaining. While it is not for us to manage the performance of the contracted programme providers it is hoped that additional funding may provide a catalyst for ongoing social innovations and the growth of sustainable social enterprises.
Effective collaboration is integral to the performance, sustainability and growth of this funding/investment model. While I can not be more specific I hope that I've addressed your question.
Kind Regards,
Renee Lee
Social Impact Bonds
"...it provides long term funds for promising ideas; it transfers risk to private capital markets; and it costs public money only if the scheme provides specific social benefits..."
A copy of the full article can be viewed here The Economist
Our work is informed by the innovative research and work undertaken by organisations such as:-
Thank you
Our ultimate outcome ~ the establishment of a social investment sector to support and develop self sustaining social enterprises could not be possible with out the work of our collaborative supported by the feedback, insight of those that I have shared our work with.
Family, friends, mentors and advisors. Inspiring, talented supportive people, catalysts of social impact in their own right including representatives of:-
* The Malcam Charitable Trust
* The Youth Wellness Trust
* The University oh Otago
* Otago Polytechnic
* Otago's Entrepreneur Community
* Anglican Family Care
* Methodist Mission here in Dunedin
* Fellow board members at Te Kupeka Umaka Maori Ki Araiteuru KUMA Southern Maori Business Network
* Fellow board members at Malcam Charitable Trust Foundation
* Kati Huirapa i Puketeraki
* Te Runanga o Otakau
* Te Runanga o Moeraki
* Te Runanga o Hokonui
* Otakau Maori Police Advisory Group
* A3Kaitiaki Ltd
* Dunedin City Council
* Dunedin National MP
* Deloitte Dunedin
* Community Economic Conference
* Waitakere Community Social Innovation Hub
* Nexx
* Chapman Tripp Lawyers
* Foresters Research
* Entrepreneurship101.org/
* The Young Foundation
"...Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has..." ~ Margret Meade
In a book titled 'The Genius in All of Us', author David Shenk talks about genetic research that shows how the expression of genes is changed by the environment.
By environment, he means anything that can result in a biological change in your body (e.g. stress hormones, other hormones, behavior of others towards you, etc.).
He asserts that, while there are differences in ability, few people test the limits of what their abilities are.
Genes influence rather than dictate. You have some control over the environment in which you live and the environment in which someone else lives.
"A trait emerges only from the interaction of gene and the environment." - Michael Meaney, Director of the Program for the Study of Genes, Behavior and the Environment, McGill University
http://neurology.mcgill.ca/meaney_m.html
"Biologists have come to realize that if one changes either the genes or the environment, the resulting behavior can be dramatically different." - Massimo Pigliucci, evolutionary ecologist, City University of New York
http://rationallyspeaking.org/
Putting offenders back into the same hostile environment will lower the success rate.
People have a choice about how they react to hostility but, at some point, a hostile environment can change someone on a biological level affecting the choices they make and their reaction times.
Soldiers who spend years in combat maintaining a hyper-vigilant state resulting in post-traumatic stress disorder is one example.
Do all these treatment programs just treat the offenders or is their some public education component? By public, I am referring to parents and the general public.
Those in government not understanding how the environment affects gene expression deciding what treatment programs to fund could adversely affect your success rate.
http://fora.tv/2010/03/18/The_Genius_in_All_of_Us_David_Shenk
One area where people exhibit the belief that abilities are fixed is learning.
Carol S. Dweck, a Stanford University psychologist, has shown that the belief that ability is predetermined is destructive when it comes to learning. She has also shown that changing this belief results in a different outcome.
Someone with this "fixed mindset" attributes difficulty learning a subject to ability being predetermined.
Someone with a "growth mindset" believes their abilities can be developed through study and practice and do not give up if they encounter difficulty learning a new subject.
http://www.brainology.us/page/create-growth-mindset-culture-and-increase...
http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/Renowned-Stanford-Psycholo-by-Joan-Br...
Kia Ora Rene
Am I correct to understand that you are raising the issue of how we will influence the environment (vs gene's:)of the people we want to help? As it is on that basis that I will address you question:-
"...Do all these treatment programs just treat the offenders or is there some public education component?..."
Unfortunately, we could never affect the social change we envision if our programmes were that narrowly focused. Our interests lie much more in prevention than cure, which is a challenge to quantify. Our social service providers already have a significant impact on the communities (environment) that our young people live in through programmes that are:-
Under the existing system social service providers are primarily reliant on Govt. funding which, as you suggest & by our logic, limits the potential scope and impact of their social work.
Hence the social investment model we are working on which seeks to raise private funding to compliment, expand and enrich existing programmes.
That said, you identify that influences upon the environment "...anything that can result in a biological[social] change..." can be attributed to a number of factors not necessarily within our locus of control.
Indeed one of the greatest challenges we face is in establishing quantifiable measure for impact & performance that we can prove are directly attributable to our social service programmes. Research is currently underway to help us understand what programmes have the most impact and what gaps need filling.
Any additional information you can suggest that might provide insight on the type of Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) that private prison operators work to, would be very helpful. I hear that private prison systems is a major growth industry in the US? Appreciate your feedback.
Kind Regards,
Renee Lee
If the general public has the belief that genes exclusively determine the traits someone has and that some people are violent (or more likely to engage in some other criminal behavior) and nothing can be done to change that, that segment of the population is written off as "criminal" and marginalized by not getting hired and being isolated socially.
Those beliefs contribute to the hostile environment the segment of the population considered "criminal" lives in.
Regardless of how the situation started, the general public ends up contributing to the problem they are trying to solve and not realizing changing their own behavior would increase the success rate of treatment programs (see (3) below).
There are several ways you can measure the effect of treatment programs:
(1) Carol S. Dweck's program to teach students that they have the potential to be successful academically in combination with an academic or vocational program would result in a set of skills that could be objectively measured.
Such a program in schools and prisons could be considered a form of prevention.
People who are successful at learning new skills can see they have options other than resorting to crime.
The rate at which students or offenders successfully complete training programs or graduate from school can be measured.
Given the current demographics of which ages commit crimes, you could measure whether that age distribution changes after students graduate from schools where treatment programs operated.
(2) Methamphetamine is a drug that can decrease the success rate at school and work.
The changes to the brain can last several years after using methamphetamine has stopped.
http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/pdf/ResearchReports/METHAMPHETAMINE%...
University of Minnesota Impulse Control Disorders Clinic:
http://impulsecontroldisorders.org/
After drug treatment and (1), you could measure the rate at which offenders test positive for drugs.
After offenders have had some success learning new skills, you could measure the rate at which offenders test positive for drugs.
Since drugs manage to find their way into prisons, you could test the rate at which prisoners test positive for drugs before and after treatment programs.
You can measure the number of drug offenses of people who graduated from schools or completed prison sentences with treatment programs.
(3) You can measure the unemployment rate and income of offenders before and after treatment. Here is where the beliefs of employers can affect how successful your treatment program will be.
Thanks for your input Rene. I'd like clarify, that in terms of our collaborative I am far from the best person to discuss the performance of Social Programmes. Several of our collaborators are world class in terms of youth development and social enterprise. Their current & ongoing need to access govt. funding provides them with a wealth of experience in terms of measuring the results of their work in our community.
I am happy to address the commercial/enterprise elements of our proposal as I am a technology entrepreneur. I work with & build start up companies. I'm also an aspiring social entrepreneur that believes technology can support improved social outcomes by connecting people to work, collaborate, and build shared intelligence. Elements that I believe are important to building stronger communities & economies.
In regards to your feedback, I did speak with our local member of Parliament today and he highlighted the difficulties we will face, even armed with positive social outcomes (already measurable) we still need to:-
Appreciate your insight.
Kind Regards,
Renee Lee
I agree to connect people together to work and have a common goal, the collaboration, and build shared intelligence too. And I have a question:
Do you believe that this methodology is applicable to other cultures such as South America. Where the majority of SMEs are micro SMEs even smaller yet. I mean you said that provide the incentive and reward for social investment and expand the funding for social impact programmes s important.
I guess that you have an excellent idea.
good luck
Eduardo valladares
Kia Ora Eduardo,
Ideally, yes. While programmes and social needs would vary from community to community, we work to establish a model for social investment/funding that can be applied to communities around the world.
Appreciate your feedback & support.
Kind Regards,
Renee Lee
With regard to #1, how timely is the accounting of government expenses and how accurate is it?
An individual gets a monthly statement from a bank showing where they spent money.
If you use online banking, you can see where money is being spent on a daily basis and can download the data for analysis in accounting software.
Does the government have that level of detail?
If you set up separate bank accounts for different government departments and programs within those departments, a government could take advantage of the same level of detail in accounting.
On overdraft, money would be drawn automatically from a general account to the specific accounts used by government departments and programs. No deposits would have to be made in individual accounts. They just provide a means of tracking expenses.
With the right software, the government could have the same level of detail in accounting that individuals do.
It would make it easier to quantify where the government is spending money and see how that changes from one year to the next as your social impact programs are implemented.
We have detailed, albeit retrospective information on the spending of New Zealand's Department of Corrections. From this we know that for the 08/09 financial year:-
We can work with this information, no problem. The challenge, as put to me today by our National Government representative, will be attributing dollars saved directly to the programmes we implement.
The potential of cohort research was also discussed as a means to directly compare results between those that do participate vs. do not participate in our social programmes. In terms of research, we are fortunate to have representatives of our local education and research sector as collaborators on this project.
Discriminant function analysis is sometimes used to create a model that tries to predict who will commit a crime and who will not based upon a set of variables.
Among all the variables used, you could have variables that represent the successful completion of various aspects of your treatment programs.
For example, some variables could be abnormalities and brain activity that show up on a SPECT scan which are associated with aggressive behavior, the types of medications prescribed, etc..
If your treatment programs worked, the values of variables that indicated successful completion of various aspects of your treatment programs would help predict that a person is in the group that does not commit another crime (ever, within 1 year, within 2 years, etc.).
http://www.amenclinics.com/brain-science/spect-image-gallery/spect-atlas...
"SPECT can be helpful in understanding causes and treating aggressive behavior. I have found a consistent triad of SPECT findings common in children, teenagers and adults who exhibit aggressive behavior. These findings include:
* abnormalities (either increased or decreased activity) in the left temporal lobe, often the seat of aggressive thoughts
* increased activity in the anterior cingulate gyrus, which often causes problems with repetitive thoughts and shifting attention (a person may get stuck on the aggressive thoughts that are present) and
* decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex, leading to poor internal supervision.
When these three findings are present it is often helpful to intervene with anticonvulsant medication to stabilize temporal lobe abnormalities and decrease violent thoughts, a serotonergic agent to help decrease anterior cingulate activity and improve cognitive flexibility, and sometimes a psychostimulant to activate prefrontal cortex activity and enhance impulse control."
The cost of a SPECT scan ($3,375 USD) and medication is less than incarcerating someone after they commit a serious crime.
http://www.google.com/search?q=Discriminant+Function+Analysis+crime&hl=e...
Juvenile justice sourcebook: past, present, and future By Albert R. Roberts
http://www.psychstat.missouristate.edu/multibook/mlt03.htm
"The main purpose of a discriminant function analysis is to predict group membership based on a linear combination of the interval variables. The procedure begins with a set of observations where both group membership and the values of the interval variables are known. The end result of the procedure is a model that allows prediction of group membership when only the interval variables are known. A second purpose of discriminant function analysis is an understanding of the data set, as a careful examination of the prediction model that results from the procedure can give insight into the relationship between group membership and the variables used to predict group membership."
"...Discriminant function analysis is sometimes used to create a model that tries to predict who will commit a crime and who will not based upon a set of variables..."
Although it's starting to sound like Minority Report (2002 starring Tom Cruise:) perhaps it was a movie that will spawn more than just cool technology ~ see Ted Talk by John Underkoffler ~I'm quite in awe of your ability to keep coming up with this intel. & who am I to ignore genius. Respect.
So although some of what you share goes well beyond my understanding I really appreciate the time you've taken Rene to help me work on explaining and refining our project.
I am definitely going to look into this discriminant function analysis you speak of and will start by asking around the university; perhaps the social psychology dept.
We have the unfortunate claim to fame here in Aotearoa NZ of having the worlds third highest rate of incarceration per capita.
Being of Maori descent, it is our people ~ tangata whenua : people of the land ~ that are most over represented in the criminal justice system. Yet in this work, I am discovering that we have the people, resources and community systems to most effectively address Maori offending.
I am learning more about the work of local Runanga, and their social enterprises contractors whose proactive, collaborative and whanua (family) based programmes address some of the most difficult offending issues ~ drugs alcohol & family violence.
I feel that it will be a difficult and at times confronting learning curve but I embrace the opportunity to help affect positive change for all people of Aotearoa. Aotearoa Rocks!
So you are trying to get investments out of the private sector to invest in already established enterprises or for startup enterprises as well?
Investment would be with the newly created, independent business entity. The new entity raises and invests private capital with both established and start-up enterprises. The selection of contractors is on the basis of their ability to provide effective social outcomes.
And what would the benefit for the businesses investing be? I think it is a great idea I just can't see businesses investing in anything at the moment due to the economic climate no matter how noble the cause.
We are working with this funding model in order to provide an incentive and reward for investing in social outcomes. We envision providing returns that reflect the high risk. Return on Investment (ROI) 8% - 25% pa? I honestly can't say. At this early stage, the actual ROI is at best, informed guess work.
First & foremeost, we need the Government to back the financial instrument ~ Bonds Notes &/or Bills. Then we can seek out private investors.
I've submitted this social investment/funding model to the G20 Finance Challenge in hopes that, should we gain recognition here it will add significant weight and credibility to our cause with the current National Govt.,
Hello. I really like your idea. I think perhaps it needs to solidify the financial aspect. For example, the social impact and thus the savings in imprisonment costs is a medium to long term occurrence; will the bonds have the same tenor? Perhaps Government could forecast the potential future savings and accordingly issue bonds of shorter duration. Basically, the public sector could absorb the current bond payments and then just keep the savings in the future. This is important in order to attract more investors because a shorter time-to-maturity implies higher liquidity, usually. I hope I'm understanding correctly your concept.
Anyways, congratulations. It's a great idea!
Esteban,
Yes, you understand this concept, most likely in ways that I do not, yet. The responsibility of financial aspects I trust to those more informed. My experience lies in enterprise development, technology and marketing. To address your questions, I can say:
Term of investment | 5 - 10 years
Yes, they are initially intended as long terms investment bonds. With, as you say, the same tenor as we establish to measure our social impact.
Measuring & attributing "impact" is a primary and foreseeable, long-term challenge.
We do have Govt. research for the previous 5 years to benchmark our work in youth offending. During the next five years, I believe we can move towards medium and short term, bills &/or notes.
Social Impact Performance
Our purpose is most fundamentally ~ Long Term Social Impact.As a collaborative, we aspire, to have undeniable impact and I commit to whatever time necessary up front to establish performance measures that ensure long term sustainability and growth of a social funding and investments sector for Aotearoa, NZ.
In terms of risk
What I understand as one of the key strengths of the bonds is:-
That by working with Govt in the longer terms to collectively define, measure and attribute "impact" we will effectively remove the risk associated with forecasting & provide Government the lowest possible risk option: if unsuccessful the government does not pay.
long term success
When successful, we have a catalyst for a more balanced risk scenario. The basis for a sustainable long-term private~public partnership, supporting the work and expanding the impact of our social sector.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your insight. Importantly, our entry here is intended to gain us insight, advice and avenues to pursue in an investment sector foreign to New Zealand. Our greatest strength lies in our people. We have begun, there remains so much to learn but as I opened:-
For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them " ~ Aristotle
Appreciate your support
Insight into emerging funding recommendations including the use of Social Impact Bonds which were officially launched in the UK this September http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11254308
Recommendations support collaboration & building shared intelligence
"...Rather than each CSO reinventing the wheel in defining outcomes for its work, there needs to be a shared approach to developing common outcomes, measuring their achievement(using a variety of approaches) and sharing learning through knowledge management wherever possible building on work already done in the field..."
It is exactly this type if shared information that informs our work. For more information see http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sites/default/files/Revised_Emerging_Recommen...
Thanks UK,
All the best for your ground breaking work
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