As Black women, we’re no strangers to economic uncertainty. Any economic researcher will tell you, when it comes to money, we earn less, and we have less on average than other groups. What’s important is finding ways to level the playing field.
In Georgia, Black women earn $0.63 for every dollar a white man makes. Nearly half of the women residents in some predominantly Black neighborhoods live in poverty. A program in the state is testing solution: give Black women a little extra cash.
In Her Hands is a Georgia-based program that is providing 650 Black women in three Georgia communities with an average of $850 in cash per month, no strings attached, for two years. The program’s founders—antipoverty organizations the GRO Fund and GiveDirectly—believe that the money will help women become more financially stable.
After receiving one year of payments, the women in the program have become wealthier and healthier than their counterparts:
- 27.9 percent of participants had emergency funds compared to 14.8 percent of people in a comparison group.
- Participants were nearly half as likely as those in the comparison group to have utilities shut off for nonpayment.
- Participants had on average, four additional healthy days per month than those in the comparison group.
These programs are not just for the people who are at risk of homelessness. They’re for the people who have families and who never get a day off. Ysenia Bonilla, Los Angeles-based Fund for Guaranteed Income
In Her Hands is just one of many guaranteed income programs that are cropping up across the country to fight poverty. They work by providing regular payments to members of a community who can demonstrate that they have a financial need. Unlike some other financial assistance programs, guaranteed income programs give recipients cash and there are no restrictions on how they use the funds.
Over 100 programs
There have been more than 100 pilot programs across the country, says Ysenia Bonilla, communications associate for Los Angeles-based Fund for Guaranteed Income, an organization that facilitates cash transfers to program participants. Contrary to what many believe, you don’t have to be completely destitute to take advantage of a guaranteed income program. “These programs are not just for the people who are at risk of homelessness,” Bonilla says. “They’re for the people who have families and who never get a day off.”
A lot of us can relate to that.
Some of the programs across the country include:
· The Magnolia Mother’s Trust, an initiative that gives participating Black mothers in Jackson, Mississippi $1,000 each month for a year along with $1,000 to be put in a child’s 529 savings account.
· The Mother UP Pilot, an initiative in Washington, DC, that will award a three-year monthly stipend to mothers caught up in the child welfare system.
· The San Diego Guaranteed Income Pilot, an initiative that awarded $500 per month for two years to 150 families in underserved zip codes.
Probably what skyrocketed the number of pilot programs…are…people not being ashamed or embarrassed, but genuinely saying, ‘hey, I need help. I’m working 60 hours a week and I can't cover my basic needs.’ Ysenia Bonilla, Los Angeles-based Fund for Guaranteed Income
Some programs launched just because someone realized that so many people were struggling to make ends meet. “That is probably what skyrocketed the number of pilot programs that are happening right now—people not being ashamed or embarrassed, but genuinely saying, ‘hey, I need help. I’m working 60 hours a week and I can't cover my basic needs,’” Bonilla says. “It matters to tell those stories.”
How to find guaranteed income programs
You can’t benefit from a guaranteed income program unless you know about it and check into eligibility requirements. In researching this article, I was surprised to find that my relatively wealthy county, Prince George’s County, Maryland, has a program for seniors.
The Stanford Basic Income Lab and the Center for Guaranteed Income Research has a dashboard that lists guaranteed income pilots across the country, some of which you can still apply for or that have expanded into new cities. Another way to find out about them is through organizations that do anti-poverty work. For example, the Fund for Guaranteed Income posts information about the projects they’re involved in and shares information about programs in their newsletter, Bonilla says. You can also see if your city is represented at Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, a network of city leaders who are putting programs in place.
