Those who live in Evanston, Illinois, have just seven more days to sign up for a basic income program that will provide $500 a month for one year.
The program will start shortly after the deadline on Aug. 29. The program’s 150 participants will then be chosen through a lottery of applicants.
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“This guaranteed income program will do so much more than offer $500 per month to 150 residents: it will reimagine, humanize, and strengthen the social safety net; it will also reshape the relationship between people and their government,” Harish Patel, the director of the group Economic Security for Illinois, said in a news release. “In our work to advocate for direct cash payments, we have found the City of Evanston eager to move toward progressive policy solutions that meet families’ material needs without over-burdening them.”
Those who apply must be between the ages of 18 and 24, older than 62 years old, or be “undocumented community members.” They must also be below or at 250% of the poverty line, which is $33,975 for one-person households and $45,775 for two-person households.
The pilot program will use $700,000 from the 2021 American Rescue Plan, along with funds from Northwestern University and the city of Evanston. Last year, the university gave the program $300,000 in “seed funding.”
Participants will receive a prepaid debit card loaded with $500. Each month, more funds will be added to the cards. Other applicants who are not selected for the study could be compensated if they are contacted by Northwestern and asked to fill out a survey, the program said.
According to the city of Evanston, Northwestern University would examine the pilot program’s effects on the participants and look at the findings.
Dave Davis, the executive director for neighborhood and community relations at Northwestern University, said: “Northwestern is committed to fostering innovative solutions to our City’s most pressing challenges, namely inequality and economic insecurity. Guaranteed income programs treat recipients with dignity in determining how best to spend the money.”
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This is part of several attempts nationwide to study the effectiveness of basic income programs, with many using leftover funds from government pandemic efforts. Annapolis, Maryland, and Ithaca, New York, are among the multiple cities that have explored such programs.
Applications for the basic income program can be found through this link.
