This town is giving families $500 a month, no strings attached. The results are telling.



On a recent Saturday morning, for the first time in months, Tomas had time to go to the pool with his kids. He sat at the edge of the water breathing in the smell of chlorine and realized suddenly that his kids had learned to swim, while he had been working. This poolside revelation was generated in no small part with the power of cash.

 Since February, Tomas and more than 100 other families in Stockton, California, have been receiving $500 a month with no strings attached. The policy experiment is part of the historic Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (Seed) project, led by one of the youngest mayors in America, Michael Tubbs. As the name suggests, this guaranteed income program works to demonstrate what is possible when people who are struggling to make ends meet have the cash on hand they need to feel and be in charge of their own lives – and the Economic Security Project, the organization I co-founded in 2016, is pleased to be Seed’s first backer. All told, the project will run for 18 months, but we have already gleaned useful insights.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/10/town-gives-families-500-dollars-month-results

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/10/town-gives-families-500-dollars-month-results

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