Oakland launches pay plan for low-income people

The mayor of Oakland on Tuesday announced a privately funded program that will give lowincome families of color $500 per month with no rules on how they can spend it.

The program is the latest example of “guaranteed income,” an idea that giving poor people a set amount of money each month to ease the stresses of poverty that contribute to poor health and hinder their ability to find full-time work.

The idea isn’t new, but it’s gotten a lot of attention lately after a some mayors have launched small, temporary programs across the country in a coordinated effort to convince Congress to adopt the program nationally.

The first program was launched three years ago in Stockton led by former Mayor Michael Tubbs. Tubbs has said about six similar programs in other cities should be up and running by the summer.

“We have designed this demonstration project to add the body of evidence, and to begin this relentless campaign to adopt a guaranteed income federally,” Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said.

The Oakland Resilient Families program has so far raised $6.75 million from private donors including Blue Meridian Partners, a national philanthropy group.

Across the San Francisco Bay, the Marin County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to participate in its own two-year guaranteed income project.

Oakland’s project is significant because it is one of the largest efforts in the U.S. so far, targeting up to 600 families. And it is the first program to limit participation strictly to Black, indigenous and people of color communities.

The reason: White households in Oakland on average make about three times as much annually than black households, according to the Oakland Equity Index. It’s also a nod to the legacy of the Black Panther Party, the political movement that was founded in Oakland in the 1960s.

“Guaranteed income has been a goal of the Black Panther platform since its founding,” said Jesús Gerena, CEO of Family Independence Initiative, which is partnering with the program in Oakland. “Direct investment in the community in response to systemic injustices isn’t new.”