Chicago is conducting a guaranteed income experiment, giving 3,200 residents $500 a month

Chicago has introduced unprecedented guaranteed income programs, one of which will see 3,200 residents receive $500 a month with no strings attached.

Described as “the largest of its kind in the country,” the programs are part of an effort led by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County CEO Toni Preckwinkle to provide essential food supplies to Illinois’ poorest residents.

A program was launched in December when 3,250 residents began receiving monthly checks for $500 and would continue to do so for two years. Another started in August with the same income but would last a year.

Around 91,000 Chicagoans applied in one day and 176,000 in three weeks. Applications were open to certain individuals in Cook County, where Chicago is incorporated. It is the second most populous county in Illinois and the second most populous county in the United States.

It comes as county leaders from across the country are meeting in Washington this week and announcing a network of county-level basic income programs, the New York Times reported.

Chicago has introduced an unprecedented guaranteed income program, giving 3,200 residents $500 a month with no strings attached

The program began in December when 3,250 residents began receiving monthly checks for $500 and would continue to do so for two years

Applicants had to be at least 18 years old, residents of Cook County, and have a household income 250 percent or less of the federal poverty line, Preckwinkle said, referring to the $42 million Cook County Promise Guaranteed Income Pilot.

That meant a one-person household would need to make less than $33,975 a year and a family of four would make $69,375. About 36 percent of households would qualify with such restrictions, Preckwinkle said.

Almost 8 out of 10 applicants were women, and three out of four were black, Bloomberg reported.

Recipients were given the choice of receiving a prepaid debit card or direct deposits into a bank account and were free to use the funds however they wished.

“I’m the mayor of the city of Chicago. I know what our people need,” Lightfoot told the New York Times.

Last August, Lightfoot launched a separate $31.5 million citywide Resilient Communities pilot, selecting 5,000 city residents to receive a guaranteed $500 for a year.

Both the Chicago and Cook County programs were funded by the more than $1 billion the county received under the American Rescue Plan Act signed into law by President Joe Biden.

“This was a unique moment for us to be bold and innovative,” Brandie Knazze, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services, told the Times.

Preckwinkle assumed her position as Cook County chief executive in 2010 and ran against Lightfoot for Chicago’s mayoral candidate in 2019

The Mayors for Guaranteed Income network was launched in June 2020 and counts more than 100 mayors among its members. This map shows cities where mayors are members of the network

The programs will be rolled out ahead of a National Association of Counties conference scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Washington. County officials are expected to announce a series of statewide guaranteed income schemes.

It will join Mayors for Guaranteed Income, a network launched in June 2020 that counts more than 100 mayors among its members.

Preckwinkle assumed her position as Cook County chief executive in 2010 and ran against Lightfoot for Chicago’s mayoral candidate in 2019.

She told the Times that both Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Panthers were inspiration for the programs.

King advocated a guaranteed income when he famously said: “I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective – the solution to poverty is to eradicate it directly through a now much-discussed measure: the guaranteed income. “

Preckwinkle also said she hopes guaranteed income could become more important at the federal level.

“What’s happened historically in this country is that these ideas are tried at the local level, in cities and counties and states, and if there’s enough momentum, the federal government adopts them,” she said. “So we hope that will happen.”

Lightfoot said the future of such programs beyond the pilot phase would be determined by an analysis of their performance by the University of Chicago. His research is supported by surveys, interviews, and economic, labor, criminal, legal, and educational data.

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk