On December 5, 2023, Schuyler Center will host the fourth in our panel discussion series, Addressing Child Poverty. This month, the discussion will focus on the power of guaranteed income as a poverty-fighting tool, with insights from three New York State projects.
Register here!
Panelists:
- Steph Silkowski, Director of Policy & Strategic Initiatives, The Bridge Project
- Mirelis De Leon, participant, The Bridge Project
- Joan Hunt, Executive Director, Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood
- Lira Campbell, HudsonUP Ambassador
- Debipriya Chatterjee, Senior Economist, Community Service Society
- Candi Griffin-Jenkins, Director, Bureau of Social Determinants of Health, NYS Office of Children and Family Services
- Moderator: Kari Siddiqui, Project Director, Schuyler Center
About the Programs
Launched in June 2021, The Bridge Project is New York’s first consistent, unconditional cash allowance program. The Bridge Project currently operates in New York City, Rochester, and soon-to-be in Buffalo, and serves 1,000 babies and their mothers, who each receive up to $1,000 a month, unconditionally, for 36 months. The program continues to expand throughout various neighborhoods, zip codes, boroughs, and cities across New York to support babies and their mothers.
HudsonUP is a basic income pilot based in Hudson, NY. The initiative is designed in collaboration with the community and provides $500 each month to selected Hudson residents over a period of 5 years. Since 2020, three cohorts have launched, reaching 128 city of Hudson residents. The program has been designed to benefit the Hudson community and to demonstrate the power of basic income for all.
The New York State Office of Children & Family Services’ Direct Cash Transfer Pilot, which launched in August 2023, will gauge the impact of a universal cash stipend on families’ future contact with the child welfare system. The pilot enrolled 150 households across three counties – Westchester, Monroe and Onondaga. These households will receive $500 per month, unconditionally, for one year. The pilot is financed by a mix of federal, state and private funds.
What is a Guaranteed Income Program?
Increased income for families in or near poverty, including refundable tax credits and guaranteed income, has been shown to be an effective poverty-fighting strategy. While tax credits are, for the most part, allocated on an annual basis, guaranteed income is generally paid monthly, creating a regular source of income for the family.
A no-strings-attached guaranteed income enables individuals and families to make personalized choices about how to allocate their resources to meet their households’ needs of food, shelter, clothing and more. Unlike many public benefits programs, guaranteed income projects, by design, do not impose restraints on recipients on the basis of their employment, education etc.
The establishment of a consistent cash income foundation holds the potential to reduce child poverty and alleviate hardship for families. A growing body of evidence indicates that even modest income transfers can yield positive outcomes for child health and development. Income transfers designed to alleviate poverty for families with children may also yield long-term societal benefits by fostering increased educational attainment, alleviating homelessness, and enhancing overall labor market productivity.
Additional Resources:
- Guaranteed Income: States Lead the Way in Reimagining the Social Safety Net. (April 2022). Shriver Center on Poverty Law, Economic Security Project
- Monthly Cash Payments Reduce Spells of Poverty Across the Year. (May 09, 2023). Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University.
- Income Guarantee Benefits and Financing: Poverty and Distributional Impacts. (February 13, 2020). Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University.
- Starting Sooner: Should Cash Payments Begin During Pregnancy? (Nov. 28, 2023). Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University.
- How Baby Bonds Could Reduce Massachusetts’ Growing Wealth Gap. (Nov. 20, 2023)
- How to help young kids: Give their parents cash. (November 2, 2022). Hechinger Report.
- Universal Basic Income Has Been Tested Repeatedly. It Works. Will America Ever Embrace It? (October 2022). Washington Post Magazine.
- Study: Guaranteed Income Improved People’s Health During Pandemic. (April 2023). School Social Policy & Practice, University of Pennsylvania.
- Shaefer, H. L., Collyer, S., Duncan, G., Edin, K., Garfinkel, I., Harris, D., … & Yoshikawa, H. (2018). A universal child allowance: A plan to reduce poverty and income instability among children in the United States. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 4(2), 22-42.
- West, R. (2019, April 16). Harnessing state child tax credits will dramatically reduce child poverty. The Center for American Progress.
- Benjamin M. Leff, EITC for All: A Universal Basic Income Compromise Proposal, 26 Wash. & Lee J. Civ.Rts. & Soc. Just. 85 (2019).
- Map: Celebrating 100 Guaranteed Income Pilots.
