PAYMENTS are now being sent out to Americans who need financial support.
In Georgia, the guaranteed income program In Her Hands is helping women in neighborhoods with some of the lowest poverty rates in the country.
The program distributes a total of $20,400 over two years to 654 low-income women.
One woman who is taking part in the program praised the work that it does.
She said: “It’s made a change in my life, a big change financially, because I’ve been able to pay all of my household bills every month, keep them on track.
“I paid off a couple of things I needed to pay off. So it’s really been a plus for me. I am so grateful, so grateful.”
The two primary objectives of the program are to help the participants achieve financial stability and generate insights on how to support women like them going forward.
In Her Hands identified three separate communities in Georgia that required support.
These three areas are characterized by a high concentration of female poverty and by the terrain.
The first community, Atlanta, is an urban population, College Park is suburban, and the Clay-Randolph-Terrell county cluster is rural.
To be eligible, a participant needed to reside in one of the three chosen areas, identify as female and be over the age of 18.
Financially, a participant cannot make more than 200% of the Federal Poverty Level for their family size.
PAYMENTS
Based on participant feedback, In Her Hands has implemented parallel payment structures.
Participants are randomly assigned to one of two groups.
Group A receives $850 per month for 24 months, while Group B receives $4,300 in the first month.
Group B then receives $700 per month for months 2–24.
How does Guaranteed Income work?
Guaranteed Income and Universal Basic Income programs have taken off in popularity recently.
After the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan of 2021 sent stimulus money to local governments, dozens began testing guaranteed income (GI) systems.
The specifics vary, but GI typically involves payouts to people with low incomes. Unlike traditional welfare, there are no job requirements, drug tests, or other strings attached.
Some have pushed for a Universal Basic Income (UBI), which would go to everyone regardless of how much money they make at work. Alaska has used a similar system since the 1970s.
Proponents say this alleviates poverty while incentivizing work, unlike classic welfare, which cuts benefits from people who begin earning “too much” money to qualify.
Opponents argue such a system is too expensive to function on a large scale and suggest Americans should avoid becoming reliant on government money.
With some cities heralding the success of GI programs, some Republican-led states have moved to ban them. States like Texas and Iowa, for example, have undermined major spending plans by pushing against GI.
The $4,300 total was based on the average debt held by Black households.
FINDINGS
Those behind the study found that one year in, financial stability was the main outcome.
Participants were better able to pay their bills and reduce any form of credit card debt.
Overall, participants were 59.7% less likely to say that it was “very
difficult” to pay their bills when compared to the control group.
It was 37.1% less likely that participants would report being behind on their credit card payments.
Participants were also 39.6% less likely to be unable to afford a $400 emergency expense compared to the control group.
The program distributes a total of $20,400 over two years to 654 low-income women[/caption]
