Arlington Community Foundation (2023)

Earning More But Getting Poorer: The Benefits Cliff Effect in Arlington, Virginia

This is the story of "Sandra", a single mother in Arlington, VA doing everything she can to keep her and her family from falling off the "Benefits Cliff." The Benefits Cliff refers to the drop off in eligibility for subsidies for health care, food, child care, transportation or housing that low-income families experience with even a minor rise in earnings. The loss of the subsidies mean the worker has to refuse the raise or better-paying job to avoid making their family worse off.

The Center on Budget and Policy Proposals (2021)

Memo: Streamlined Rental Assistance Payment Demonstration

Policymakers are considering measures to sharply expand the housing voucher program, including President Biden’s proposal to make vouchers available to every eligible family. This memo proposes a demonstration testing streamlined delivery of rental assistance through electronic payments administered by state agencies that administer housing vouchers or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or other benefits for people with low incomes. (State agencies that don’t administer housing vouchers would in some cases partner with local public housing agencies that administer vouchers today.)

TedWomen 2023

Aisha Nyandoro’s Ted Talk: What does “wealth” mean to you?

For people living in poverty, a guaranteed income can mean finally having the space to dream of a comfortable life. Sharing the stories of single moms who participated in a first-of-its-kind program that offered them $1,000 per month with no strings attached, poverty disrupter Aisha Nyandoro calls for us to redefine what it means to be wealthy — putting aside lavish vacations and fancy cars in favor of paid bills and a well-fed family — and to listen when people tell us what they need most.

Thriving Providers Project (2023)

Benefits Protection Toolkit

This benefits protection toolkit is a step-by-step guide to develop and integrate a benefits protection strategy into your Direct Cash Transfer (DCT) program design. The steps are intended to be followed in the order they appear, but the toolkit also offers prompts to skip steps when they are not applicable. It is recommended this toolkit be used at the early stages of the program design process for any new pilot or program, as the timelines to protect benefits can be long, and the mitigation strategies can also include changes to the program design. This toolkit includes a set of customizable templates, letters, and other tools which should be downloaded and modified for your pilot and local context.

Equity and Transformation, 2023

The Vision for Drug War Reparations

Equity and Transformation, in partnership with the Illinois Reparations Committee fights for reparations, especially around the War on Drugs. The Vision for Drug War Reparations, while not an explicit piece of legislation, outlines the policy demands that must be met in order to win comprehensive reparations in Illinois including the satisfaction, compensation, restitution, rehabilitation, and guarantees of non-repetition for communities harmed.

BIG Conference (2023)

The Importance of a Diverse Policy Landscape in Early Stage Movement Building: State of the Work, and Next Areas to Pursue

In the early stages of movement building, having a broad range of policy efforts is critical: different policy efforts can help inform design requirements, be a forcing function for tool and infrastructure design, and provide opportunities for the public and politicians alike to engage with the ideas behind basic income and its role in transforming the economy and society. This plenary will highlight the current work being done in the policy space, including the opportunities these different efforts provide for informing potential north star federal policy, as well as begin to identify gaps in knowledge or open questions we need to answer to better lay the groundwork for a national basic income.

Point Source Youth (2023)

Direct Cash Transfer: Placing power and resources directly in the hands of young people

The Trust Youth Initiative, a joint effort from Point Source Youth, the Ali Forney Center, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago and UpTogether, is the first study of the effectiveness of direct cash transfers (DCT) with optional supportive services for youth experiencing homelessness. The participants in the New York City-based project (ages 18–24) receive $1,150 on a monthly basis for up to 2 years. With the support of the Economic Security Project, we have undertaken a video storytelling project to showcase the initial experiences of young adults who received the first round of direct cash transfers in New York City. Watch and share our video on the impact and growing body of evidence that shows that DCT can support youth and improve outcomes for people experiencing homelessness.

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