Think back on your own lives as you were starting your working life and careers. Did you have someone helping with daily living expenses such as rent or groceries? And if that wasn’t an option, how would your life be different?

In following a theme of change, let’s take a look at a twist to anti-poverty efforts: providing regular cash payments to those in need.

Enter SEED (Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration). Through a partnership with the Economic Security Project the city of Stockton, CA offered people in need what they needed most: cash. SEED launched February 2019. 125 people were randomly chosen from low-income census tracks to receive $500 monthly, to use as they please. The only mandate was participation in the research element of this project.

Preliminary findings are in and they may surprise you. This blog is inspired by the Nonprofit Quarterly’s article, Stockton Study Shows Power of Universal Basic Income Support written by Martin Levine and published March 17, 2021.

Image by Daniel Cheung @danielkcheung