$500 a month for year? Applications now open for Tacoma’s guaranteed income program
Qualifying Tacoma residents now can apply to receive $500 a month for 12 months through the city’s first guaranteed income pilot program.
Growing Resilience in Tacoma, or GRIT for short, is a collaboration between United Way, the City of Tacoma and Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI), of which Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards is a founding member. The program provides a monthly cash payment directly to people, with no strings attached.
People can apply at tiny.utk.edu/TacomaGRIT.
Woodards and CEO of United Way of Pierce County Dona Ponepinto announced the program is now accepting applications at a press conference Monday.
“We want to make sure that Tacoma families are empowered to make financial decisions and address crisis in their home turf,” Woodards said. “We are trying to change the narrative and to build support.”
Applicants must be Tacoma residents. preference will be given to those who are Black, indigenous and people of color and single heads of household. Around 100 Tacoma residents will be selected to participate in the program.
Funds would be released by the end of October, according to the press conference.
The pilot focuses on ALICE households, or Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, which means their household budget is below $52,000 per year, which is about 20 percent less than the median household income. About 15 percent of ALICE households are headed by single adults. In Tacoma, 40 percent of households are considered ALICE.
In December, Woodards announced Tacoma was one of more than 25 cities across the country to benefit from a $15 million donation made by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to MGI to support a guaranteed income program.
Tacoma’s cut of the donation was $500,000, on top of $100,000 in funding from MGI that City Council accepted in partnership with United Way of Pierce County.
Tacoma’s guaranteed income program is funded through private donations, and no taxpayer dollars will be used. The pilot will track how people use the money.
Stockton, California launched a year-long guaranteed basic income in February 2019. According to a white paper, the monthly cash program enabled recipients’ to find full-time employment by 12 percentage points and decreased their anxiety and depression, compared with the control-group.
Most Stockton recipients spent the money on rent, food and vehicle costs, according to the white paper.
The application will remain open until Aug. 16.
This story was originally published August 9, 2021 at 10:58 AM.
