The City of Cambridge announced its pilot program, Recurring Income for Success and Empowerment (RISE), in April 2021. Directing attention toward individuals below 250 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, RISE recently became the “first non-lottery direct-cash assistance program of its kind in the country.  This reporter had the pleasure of recently speaking with Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui. She explained, “ Regarding this progression, Cambridge is often referred to as a tale of two cities: on the one hand, we are known around the world as a hub of academia and innovation. On the other, there’s the less visible struggle faced by those trying to meet their basic needs. Our pilot program, Cambridge RISE, provided $500 a month for 18 months (September 2021 to February 2023) to 130 single-caretaker households. The success of that pilot led us to think of ways to expand and the American Rescue Plan funding provided us an opportunity to do just that. The city allocated close to $22 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to build on the work of the Cambridge RISE pilot and launch Rise Up Cambridge.” Siddiqui shared that growing up with toiling parents around families like hers made clear her personal mission…… “to provide financial stability and dignity for all”. 

In 2020, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic accentuated alarming poverty rates present throughout the United States. However, this period of global tribulation also became a catalyst to enacting consequential change. The concept of universal basic income (UBI) has always remained an intriguing, yet idealistic proposition for many entities. In theory, UBI would consist of government-funded cash payments distributed on a recurring basis to members of a given population. From UBI, individuals and their families, at no risk or obligation of their own, could reserve such income for necessary living expenses, allowing for greater financial freedom. While this idea sounds favorable, a heightened money supply inevitably leads to spiraling inflation. As a result, increases in basic living costs render these subsidies fruitless because proportionally, families would return to where they started. With evident flaws in this structure, is there any viable approach to implementing the principle of universal basic income? Well…one has potentially come into fruition.

What materialized from the pandemic was Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI), a nexus of mayors with the objective of establishing guaranteed income. The network was founded in June 2020 by Michael D. Tubbs, former mayor of Stockton, California; Tubbs launched his pilot program, the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration or SEED, in February 2019. SEED’s pilot model consisted of 125 individuals at random with $500 designated each month for two years. MGI attributes its roots to the fight for racial justice and cites Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., among others, as inspiration for its efforts. To combat the hardship of economic insecurity, MGI advocates for the notion of an “income floor” or minimum amount of income to cover basic living expenses. Since its inception, pilot programs for guaranteed income have commenced not only under its auspices, but through the driving force of local leadership. With over a hundred mayors partaking in the initiative, this growing movement influenced the founding of Counties for Guaranteed Income, an affiliation of MGI to expand guaranteed income in the U.S.

A myriad of communities in Massachusetts such as Cambridge, Chelsea, and Newton have followed in this action. While there remains the shared sentiment of allocating guaranteed income, each community bears a distinct approach to implementing aid. The city of Chelsea devised two components to their basic income program via Direct Assistance Stipend, sponsored by MGI and the Shah Family Foundation, and its own undertaking, Chelsea Eats. Primarily focusing on tackling food insecurity, the Direct Assistance Stipend program is a lottery system that provides $200-400 monthly payments. The latter project yielded major success as MassLive reported $6 million being distributed between November 2020 and yAugust 2021 to nearly one-sixth of Chelsea residents. Meanwhile, Newton formulated the Economic Mobility Initiative, a partnership with the non-profit organization EMPath. Serving fifty lower-income families with $250 monthly payments, EMPath offers the unique opportunity of mentorship yon how to handle one’s income. In Mayor Ruthanne Fuller’s original address, she prioritized assisting “people of color…those who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness, living in subsidized housing, or who are otherwise struggling.”

From the positive ramifications and increase in basic income programs, they insinuate our human social instinct to be accessible to others. On the other hand, they also reflect how pervasive the issue of poverty is in the United States. The truth is that none of the aforementioned projects are funded by a federal initiative, but rather through philanthropic gestures and the American Rescue Plan Act. Sociologist and professor at Princeton University Matthew Desmond recently outlined in his new book, Poverty in America, the unfathomable economic inequities that capitalize on the poor. This exploitation hinders progress despite anti-poverty measures and subsidized payments being higher than ever. The stereotyping of those in poverty employing funds solely for drugs, alcohol, and other immoral purposes is a complete misnomer. In fact, SEED released data in February 2021 on how its participants spent their guaranteed income. The stereotypical connotations were proven false as most funds were expended for the most tangible aspects of living: food, clothing, and health. 

 In recent my interview with Desmond, I asked about the correlation between unemployment benefits during the pandemic and these new income trials. He pointed to the expansion of the Child Tax Credit, which led to a 46% reduction in child poverty, as a prime example of the magnitude guaranteed income can have. He said, “It [basic income] can’t be the only thing we do. We have to think about other things like work pay, dignifying work, getting housing costs under control, as well as desegregating.”  

The Mayors for a Guaranteed Income and other similar initiatives in the US echo Desmond’s theories. To test these innovative income programs as a component of a national solution to overcome poverty, it will require a much deeper financial and political commitment at all levels of government. But are the American people ready for it?