Photograph courtesy of the Georgia Resilience and Opportunity Fund
Universal basic income (UBI) isn’t a new idea, but in a dystopian world with pandemics and a growing wealth divide, the utopian concept seems more practical than ever before. Some of Atlanta’s biggest players have bought in and are investing in small-scale guaranteed-income pilot programs.
In September 2023, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation granted $22.4 million to programs on the Westside. Over $6 million of that went to the Georgia Resilience and Opportunity Fund (GRO) for its guaranteed-income program, called In Her Hands. Focusing on Black women in the English Avenue and Vine City neighborhoods, the program will provide 200 residents with direct cash deposits of around $1,000 per month, for up to three years. Residents qualify if they have an income of 200 percent or less of the federal poverty level, and applications will open soon.
Are there any guaranteed-income programs already in Georgia?
GRO already runs three In Her Hands guaranteed-income programs in Georgia, in partnership with GiveDirectly, an international nonprofit organization that pioneered direct cash transfers in East Africa. GRO launched in Old Fourth Ward in late 2021 after the neighborhood’s community task force determined that guaranteed income might be a solution for lifting residents out of poverty. That same year, In Her Hands began operation in Old Fourth Ward, then expanded to College Park and southwest Georgia. The three programs now serve a total of 654 women, providing $850 each per month for two years.
The first-year results of In Her Hands show encouraging numbers—the number of participants now able to put money toward savings increased by 50 percent, educational enrollment increased by 200 percent, and food insecurity has dropped from 78 percent to 60 percent. Participants are using much of the monthly…
Read the full article here
