Kim Hartke, who served 14 months in jail for stealing a car to pay for her addiction, turned her life around in part because of financing provided to a social services program from an innovative type of bond.
The bonds are part of a new trend in social investing that is gaining some favor with cash-strapped states and communities that are looking to private investors to help pay for badly needed social services programs.
It involves local governments partnering with non-for-profits and private investors in philanthropic deals that require a government only to payout if a social services group can meet a specified performance goal.
(READ the story from Reuters)