Morgan Lewis partners Mark Stein, Carl Valenstein, and Anne Bandes and associate Rob Intile provided pro bono services for the Jewish Vocational Service (JVS), who, in conjunction with the Baker-Polito Administration and Social Finance, recently created the Massachusetts Pathways to Economic Advancement Project. The project is a Pay for Success (PFS) initiative that will help limited English speakers in Greater Boston make successful transitions to employment, higher wage jobs, and higher education.
Mr. Stein has served as board chair of JVS, one of Greater Boston's largest community-based workforce development and adult education providers, for the last two years, during which time he and the Morgan Lewis team have continued to provide direct legal support for Pay for Success. In his role as JVS board chair and as a member of the PFS committee, Mr. Stein was involved in considering the project from the standpoint of JVS as an organization.
“JVS is extremely grateful for the substantial pro-bono legal support provided by the Morgan Lewis team throughout the contracting phase,” said Amy Nishman, Vice President of Pay for Success at JVS. “Because Pay for Success is an emerging and very complex field, we were fortunate to have their legal expertise as we went through this process. Their attorneys spent countless hours reviewing contract documents to protect our agency’s interests.”
PFS provides a tool for results-based government financing, leveraging private capital to fund experienced service providers and enable government to respond to identified needs. Investors are repaid based on the level of measurable success of the program. This data-intensive approach helps governments target funding towards approaches that work, while limiting risk on new policy programs.
This is the third PFS initiative launched in Massachusetts, and the first PFS project in the nation to focus exclusively on workforce development.
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