Compton Mayor Aji Brown said the new pilot income guarantee program is aimed at low-income residents. Compton Pledge will distribute regular cash benefits to low-income residents for 2 years, in addition to existing welfare benefits. This will enable families to weather the crisis and enable statesmen and philanthropists to invest directly.
“I realized that there was a need for additional income, especially in connection with the pandemic, which led to a record high number of unemployed throughout the country. The mayor said. «This is a great opportunity to address inequality for ethnic minorities.»
To date, private donors have contributed $ 2.5 million to the Guaranteed Income Fund.
Brown said each family selected for the program will receive at least several hundred dollars on an ongoing basis, as well as tools to help them access financial services. Parents or residents caring for other family members can receive more.
Families will be randomly selected from the low-income group. The Compton Pledge has not yet released details on how participants will be selected and how much cash will be received by the program members.
The program will aim to include a representative sample of 68% of Hispanics and 30% of African Americans in Compton, as well as those frequently excluded from federal and state aid programs, including undocumented immigrants and ex-prisoners.
The concept of giving citizens money without strings attached was once a radical idea that has now begun to gain traction, in part as a result of the pandemic, writes LATimes.
The arguments in favor of guaranteed income at the national level and in Compton are undeniable, written on the project website. Compton, a city of 95,000 inhabitants, faces many challenges, including racial injustice and class inequality.
Many of Compton's residents, of whom 30% are black and 68% are Hispanics, are either unemployed, have low-paying jobs, or do not qualify for government assistance.
More than 1 in 5 city dwellers live in poverty, which is double the national average. Local housing assistance in Compton is at the breaking point, creating unaffordable difficulties for the city, where 46% of residents are tenants.
In Compton, the unemployment rate has risen to 21.9% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and an increasing number of residents are relying on social assistance.
