Guaranteed Income
Stockton, CA
Population: 100,000 - 500,000 | Government type: City | Topic: Economic Subsidies
Illustration: Andrew J. Nilsen for Fast Company
OVERVIEW
Guaranteed income, the concept of a living stipend paid to all residents who meet certain criteria, has roots in the racial justice movement. It works alongside current safety net programs such as TANF, SNAP, and Medicare, and is formulated along economic minimum lines to increase economic stability. Residents tend to spend this money locally, boosting the local economy.
Former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs led this initiative in partnership with community members, nonprofits, and a foundation serving as a fiscal sponsor. The Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED) is fiscally sponsored by the Reinvent Stockton Foundation (a 501 c3) and began in 2018 as a 24-month randomized control trial with a control group and a test group. The program was fully staffed and run by SEED.
For the trial, 125 people each received $500 a month, and 200 other participants were assigned to a control group. Both groups completed surveys throughout the demonstration with each person provided $20 per survey. The staffer is responsible for getting the survey to participants and community members, and for ensuring a high completion rate in order to collect valuable data. Two independent researchers are responsible for evaluating the program and maintaining a community dashboard with point-in-time data to increase transparency. Initial results will be released in 2021.
Mayors for Guaranteed Income (MGI) is a new initiative spearheaded by former Mayor Tubbs in partnership with the Economic Security Project. The goal is to support local guaranteed income pilot demonstrations, build vocal champions of universal cash as a measure uniquely able to meet the diverse needs of individuals in communities, and advocate for a federal guaranteed income. By early 2021, several MGI cities will launch philanthropically-funded demonstrations, including Compton, Pittsburgh, and St. Paul.
Collaborative Governance
The community was heavily involved in developing Stockton’s eligibility and selection process during a six-month design phase. The community’s vision for SEED, representing residents, members of the faith community, elected officials, and nonprofit and business leaders, emphasized three key ideals: 1) a fair selection process, 2) an inclusive recipient pool and 3) an opportunity to learn. Based on this community feedback, SEED’s selection began with an analysis of zip codes to determine which ones were below the median income threshold of $46,033. Anyone in those zip codes was eligible for participation. Next, SEED sent out letters notifying residents of their eligibility. With regard to launching the pilot, SEED randomized the selection but weighted for demographic representation.
The Stockton researchers studying the project and its community impacts are social workers, not economists. This was an intentional choice, made primarily because there is a broader interest in impacts beyond economic benefits. SEED strives to address and humanize pressing problems such as inequality, poverty, and income volatility. In doing so, it challenges stereotypes about the poor and working poor. Social workers are better equipped to articulate the comprehensive aspects of this work and its potential for communities. Other localities, such as Atlanta and Newark, have used task forces to facilitate community participation, and the Compton Pledge commits to engaging a wide range of community-based organizations (CBOs).
Emphasis on equity
Guaranteed income reduces the daily stress of securing basic provisions, including food, freeing up additional time and capacity to engage in civic life. As a result, it helps to shift power to the citizenry and challenges the influence of big money in politics. One of the key findings of the Stockton pilot was that participating households also prioritized very basic needs with the funding, an indicator that the program was meeting its objective to lift people out of poverty by providing additional cash supplements to solve everyday emergencies. For example, food consistently ranked as the top spending category over a twelve-month period, followed closely by sales and merchandise. Financially, participants in the pilot who received the $500 a month were less likely to “just be managing” and more likely to have a little money left over when compared to those in the control group. Both of these outcomes demonstrate why programs such as the SEED demonstration are so important.
Providing economic stability helps create time and capacity to devote energy to civic life and building democracy. It helps build power and financial stability to empower people to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. Additionally, by focusing on addressing the needs of people at the ground level, this provides the opportunity to create more conversation about the need to advance larger economic changes, and to expand progressive taxation policies such as taxing wealth and increasing the marginal tax rate, as well as creating better quality jobs that do not leave people under-employed.
Guaranteed income is an important part of a much broader narrative around the ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving poor,’ especially gendered and racist stereotypes. The CARES Act is an important step in shifting the way policy-makers think about need and deservedness, as it is the first time stimulus checks (fully refundable tax credits) were distributed to zero dollar earners (meaning recipients did not need a taxable income to benefit). US care supports lag significantly behind other countries, putting a tremendous burden on caregivers who are most often women. Providing a stimulus check to non-wage earners offers people a chance to choose to care for children or sick parents, reflecting the new value attributed to caregiving as absolutely essential in our society.
Analysis
Preemption: This is not an issue when privately funded.
Local government dynamics: There was strong support at the mayoral executive level for such a pilot program to take place, council members championed the effort and were interested in seeing the results of the study. In other cities, councils may pass resolutions of support or serve as advisory board members.
This type of program lifts the minimum floor on monetary resources to cover basic necessities for those who are low-income and economically insecure. People of color disproportionately make up these vulnerable groups.
OTHER PROGRAM EXAMPLES
Jackson, MS focuses its guaranteed income initiative on economic precarity. The Magnolian Mothers Trust, a prior existing non-profit 501c3, administers this program that allocated $1000 a month to 20 mothers for the first year and 100 the second year. The program focused on supporting mothers in public housing during the second year. This model focuses on disrupting the biased narrative around the deservedness of Black women.
There is one publicly funded program in Santa Clara County that focuses on youth transitioning out of foster care.
Last updated: January 20, 2021
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