Long Beach Pledge issues first payments
City provides some 250 low-income families $500 a month for 1 year
Some Long Beach families have begun receiving their portion of a year's worth of free money from the city through its guaranteedincome pilot program, dubbed the Long Beach Pledge, according to a Friday announcement.
The program initially opened to applications in November. Work on the pilot program began two years earlier, after thenMayor Robert Garcia's universal basic income program proposal won unanimous City Council approval in September 2020.
The program, for its test run, was only offered to residents in the 90803 ZIP code — a racially diverse area with a high population of low-income renters. City officials said previously that focusing the initial launch of the guaranteed-income program in that area would provide the most community impact.
“Program criteria were designed by a Community Working Group to target families hardest hit economically by the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Friday announcement said, “and concentrate program impact in the area of Long Beach with the highest need.”
Long Beach received 2,800 applications for the program following its November launch, according to the announcement. In total, 250 families were selected to receive the $500 per month payment over the next year — with 937 people, including children and other beneficiaries, benefitting from the funds in total.
The majority of households that qualified for the program — 114 people — were Hispanic or Latino, according to the announcement. An additional 38 were Black or African American, with 17 Asian American and Pacific Islander folks qualifying as well.
An additional 13 were White, six were multiracial, one was Native American or Indigenous, five were categorized as “other” and one preferred not to disclose his race, the city said.
The program, administered by the Department of Economic Development and funded with $2 million from the Long Beach Recovery Act, is also being studied by Cal State Long Beach's Research Foundation, according to the announcement.
“The research pilot from (CSULB) will allow us to evaluate community needs,” Economic Development Director Bo Martinez said in the release, “and program impact to understand how cash transfers can support economic recovery for families with low-income in our city”
Monthly cash payments will end after one year — at which time data collected over the course of the pilot will be analyzed and shared with the City Council and the community at-large.
Those enrolled in the program will receive a series of alerts about the program's end in the months prior, the city said previously; they will also receive access to additional resources if necessary.