Thousands sign up for monthly stipend from income initiative

KINGSTON, N.Y. » If the number of Ulster County residents applying to take part in the county’s Universal Basic Income pilot program is any indication, the local financial need is significant.

Since County Executive Pat Ryan announced the program on Feb. 16, more than 3,500 county residents have signed up for the chance to participate in the program, which has a March 15 application deadline.

“It really is eye-opening how many in Ulster County need help this year,” Deputy County Executive Anna Markowitz said during a questionand-answer session held Wednesday via Zoom.

From the thousands of applicants, 100 will be chosen at random by University of Pennsylvania researchers to receive a guaranteed income of $500 a month for 12 months beginning in May.

The only criteria, Markowitz said, is that an individual be a county resident with an annual income of no more than $49,600. Ulster County residents can apply online at covid19.ulstercountyny.gov/projectresilience.

In response to a question from a participant in the Zoom meeting, Markowitz said: “You can be undocumented. There’s no requirement that you be a citizen.”

“Everybody’s struggling right now,” she said. “We didn’t want to leave anybody out.”

The initiative is a partnership among the county’s Project Resilience, the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Guaranteed Income Research, and Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley. Markowitz said the money to fund the $600,000 program has “already been raised by a private foundation.” Markowitz said, though, that because the program is open to undocumented immigrants, Ulster Savings Bank can’t participate in that part of the program. The bank initially said it would open accounts for participants to receive the money, and allow for the tracking of its use, but Markowitz said it cannot provide accounts for those in the country illegally. Instead, she said, an online provider will offer those services to participants.

Assistant Deputy County Executive Dan Torres said Thursday that Ulster Savings Bank is still “very much” a part of the program.

Some participants in the Zoom meeting said they were concerned about the fate of those who participate in the program once the funding runs out and whether the $500 monthly stipend is enough to help the poorest residents in the community.

Jenny Bates, one of the meeting’s participants, said the program was neither universal nor providing a basic income and that she was concerned the program could fall into disrepute because it will “create 3,400 individuals who may be disconcerted.”

Another participant, Adam Culver, said he was concerned about what would happen to participants once the program ends and they find themselves without the additional income.

Markowitz said the county understands that when the money stops flowing, it “might be jarring” for some participants. She said the University of Pennsylvania will conduct follow-up interviews six months after the program ends to see how the additional income affected participants’ lives.

“Are they better than when they started, or are they right back to where they were?” she said. “We’re hoping that this will really jump-start people’s lives.”

ROSENDALE, N.Y. » The Town Board will hold a public hearing March 24 on the town Police Reform and Reinvention Committee’s recommendation that more needs to be done to address biases by law-enforcement officers toward persons of color.

The hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. via videoconference. Information about how to submit comments at the hearing will be posted on the town’s website, townofrosendale.com.

Town officials on Wednesday said they expect to release a final draft of the reform committee’s report this week. A preliminary set of recommendations was issued Feb. 4 and can be found online at bit. ly/2NcrhC8.

According to the draft report, some committee members said “explicit prejudice has occurred” during a “small number of interactions between Rosendale law enforcement and residents,” but details of the incidents were not provided.

“Whether real or not, the fact that even a small number of residents have perceptions that explicit prejudice may exist needs to be addressed to avoid its impact on community trust of local law enforcement,” the draft states.

Its recommendations include:

• Requiring officers to ask for race and ethnicity during all interactions with the community.

• Measuring and reporting the percentage of minorities involved in police interactions.

• Conducting annual community policing surveys and public meetings to better understand public sentiment toward local law enforcement.

• Contacting minority community members through a third party.

• Giving a higher priority to de-escalation tactics in the town Police Department’s policy manual.

The Rosendale Police Reform and Reinvention Committee, like others across the state, was formed in response to a June 2020 executive order by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that all municipalities and counties in New York with law-enforcement departments review police practices and make recommendations for any necessary changes. The reports must be accepted by the local governing bodies no later than April 1.

Cuomo’s order, which was issued shortly after George Floyd died under the knee of a police officer in Minneapolis, cited the deaths of unarmed, “predominately Black and African-American” civilians across the country.