The Covid-19 pandemic has urged some advocates to call for providing Americans with a guaranteed monthly income to help them get back on their feet.
What We Know:
- One action, one relief that has taken place into helping Americans is a $15 million donation from Twitter CEO and billionaire Jack Dorsey to help allow experiments for testing guaranteed monthly income.
- During the summer, Mayor Michael Tubbs of Stockton, CA created Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, an organization of about 30 mayors across the country who have engaged in testing guaranteed income pilot programs in their cities. The organization was created to help other mayors across the country create similar programs.
Thank you Mayor and to all the Mayors of @mayorsforagi for these universal basic income pilots! I hope they inform federal policy in the future. https://t.co/6ItPWx3Lld
— jack (@jack) December 8, 2020
- When asked about the grant and its impact on the program, Tubbs stated:
“With these funds we will broaden the reach of this movement, adding bulk to our evidence base and showing what we mayors already know to be true of our constituents — that guaranteed income is a clear path toward economic and racial justice for Americans and it should be a part of the 2021 social safety net.”
- The $15 million granted by Dorsey will help fund the guaranteed income pilot programs. Tubbs stated every participating city would be given up to $500,000 to help expedite the programs they were already launching.
- It’s up to each city how they want to structure their program and the amounts. In Stockton, the payments are $500 per month.
- Dorsey’s contribution is in addition to the $3 million he had already given to the organization.
“Covid-19 has made it very, very clear to build back better we have to make sure everyone has an income floor,” he said. “We’re all taking a considerable political risk in doing this, but we understand that the biggest risk is nothing changes.”
Tubbs said he anticipates the program can help set an example for political leaders in Washington, D.C. to follow.
