Besides feeling less pain and anxiety about their lives and their financial situations, a surprising percentage of the program’s recipients got jobs.
Providing this modest monetary cushion allows folks to realize their potential, which benefits the entire community.
This project in Stockton was an experiment to see how low-income folks’ lives would be affected if they received $500 a month with no strings attached.
4,200 letters were sent to randomly chosen folks who lived in neighborhoods where the average income was below the local $46,000 yearly average.
There’s a $24 million program in the current L.A. mayor’s budget proposal — the largest city to try this so far.
A Canadian trial in the ‘70s found that there was a drop in crime, hospital attendance and mental illness as well as poverty.
The idea that people might know what’s best for themselves is radical, but these results seem to support that. »
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