Young mothers in New York get paid just like that: how the program works

Flyers that appeared at bus stops, nail salons and clinics in Upper Manhattan last June sounded too good to be true. New York Times.

"New mothers can get $500 to $1000 a month with no strings attached!" the flyers said.

"I thought it was a scam," said Angelina Matos, who had just given birth to her daughter. It wasn't a scam. It was an experiment in the rapidly growing area of ​​anti-poverty policy known as income security.

In July, 100 new mothers in Washington Heights, Harlem, and Inwood began receiving free money from a program called the Bridge Project. This is a $16 million project. It is financed by a fund founded by a venture capitalist and his wife. The fund was founded to measure the effect of regular, unconditional payments to low-income families.

Most of the money is spent on basic items for newborns. But interviews with four of the women on the program revealed many examples of the surprises and challenges life can bring to a young mother.

Young mothers use this money to buy the most necessary

One woman bought a special highchair for her son, who has signs of cerebral palsy. Another was saving money for an expected battle with her landlord. The West 145th Street mother-of-two believes regular contributions will save her when food stamps run out.

On the subject: In New York, increased food stamp payments: families can receive up to $ 835 per month

The Bridge project money allowed 18-year-old Matos to quit her minimum wage job and prepare for nursing school. Without him, “I would have to keep working while I go to school,” Matos said. She lives in Inwood with her mother, brother and 9 month old daughter.

In April, the program will add 500 expectant mothers. It will spread to East Harlem, the South Bronx and the Central Bronx. The expansion came after Congress failed to reach an agreement to extend the federal Child Tax Credit, which gave families up to $300 a month per child.

New Yorkers may be familiar with the concept guaranteed income thanks to nominations for borough president and mayor Andrew Young. He put forward a billion-dollar proposal last year to give $2000 a year to the city's poorest half-million residents, without explaining how he would fund it.

The Monarch Foundation, a non-profit organization that runs the Bridge Project, hopes to partner with new New York City Mayor Eric Adams, but has not yet reached out to him. During the campaign, Adams ridiculed Yagn's idea, calling it "monopoly money".

The central message of the income security movement is that the most effective fight against poverty is simply to give people money and let them decide what to do with it, rather than the rules, restrictions, and bureaucratic hoops that come with most insurance programs.

Project mission and payments

Project Bridge families, whose average income is $14 — below the federal poverty line — are roughly half black and half Hispanic. About 500 percent of mothers are undocumented. More than 20 percent had savings of less than $70.

Of the first 100 families in the project, half receive $500 per month. And the other half is $1000 a month for three years. Families in the second stage receive $1000 per month for 18 months. They then receive $500 per month for 18 months. The control group of families does not receive money.

Families will be interviewed to track their economic and housing stability, their physical and mental health, and their children's developmental progress.

Some Bridge Project families also receive public money. According to the Monarch Foundation, about 5 percent receive monthly temporary assistance to needy families. Some receive annual federal and state earned income tax credits. Bridge Project money affects some families' benefits, including food stamps. But the organizers of the project said that all participants in the program as a whole receive a net profit.

When was the guaranteed income program introduced?

Guaranteed Income gained prominence in the country in 2018. Then the city of Stockton, California, decided to give 500 dollars a month to 125 families from poor areas.

Today, more than 17 guaranteed income pilot projects are underway in at least 35 states. They distribute more than $25 million a year to more than 7000 families, according to the Economic Security Project, which advocates direct cash programs.

The Stockton Project showed that study participants who received money were twice as likely to find full-time jobs as those who did not. They were also less depressed and anxious, slept better, and had better physical health.

This year, Los Angeles and Chicago are launching two of the largest publicly funded guaranteed income pilot projects to date. Chicago will pay 5000 families at $500 per month. Los Angeles will pay 3000 families $1000 per month.

However, in New York, the nation's largest city, guaranteed income is virtually non-existent. The neuroscientist-led project Baby's First Years gives $333 a month to mothers in four cities. Including 114 in New York, and measures their impact on a child's brain development. And in 2020, when Yang ran for president, the nonprofit he founded donated $1000 per person to 1000 families in the Bronx. Although there are more than enough people in need.

According to the New York City Citizens' Committee on Children, one in four black children in New York City lives in poverty, as does almost one in three Hispanic children.

"Nido de Esperanza"

The Bridge Project originated from Nido de Esperanza, a non-profit organization that helps low-income mothers in Washington Heights. It was founded by Holly Fogle, the wife of venture capitalist Jeff Lieberman. The couple also runs the Monarch Foundation.

Early in the pandemic, Nido's offices were inundated with desperate calls, Fogle said.

Nido distributed $150 in aid to 000 families. Fogle, a former CFO, believed in what she called a "return on investment" in the form of direct aid.

For 35-year-old Maureen Gardner, the Bridge project came about when she was six months pregnant. She wasn't working and had just found out that the woman she sublet her Harlem apartment from apparently pocketed her $1500 rent checks.

She receives food stamps for herself and her son Garrett, who was born in September. She also doesn't pay. rentwhile her lease remains controversial. Therefore, Gardner was able to save nearly $5000 in payments for Project Bridge.

“When the time comes to leave, I will have money to leave,” she said.

She also made a purchase that some would consider a luxury, but which Gardner sees as a way to protect her and Garrett's health. She bought a washing machine for $430. Now she doesn't go to the laundry room at her house, where many residents don't wear masks.

Gardner said her child's father donated money from time to time, but she could not count on his continued support.

Thanks to the Bridge project, he helped to get an education

For Matos, the Bridge project gave her the luxury of time. In October, she quit her job as a program assistant at Harlem's Children's Zone to prepare to start nursing school the following week.

Amy Castro, co-director of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Income Guaranteed Research, said "time pressure" is pushing many poor families into poverty.

Sue, a 35-year-old Nigerian immigrant, said $500 a month from Project Bridge allows her to buy snacks for her 3-year-old son. He doesn't like kindergarten lunches. “I don’t want him to be hungry every day,” she said.

Sue works part-time at a cosmetics store and receives some financial support from her aunt. She receives $459 in food stamps for her son and 9-month-old daughter. But food stamps are not enough.

"That's where I have a backup with Most's money," she said.

An income guarantee is hardly a panacea in a city as expensive as New York.

History of Gutierrez

Before the pandemic, 28-year-old Gutierrez worked in three different areas. At Chipotle in Manhattan, a tutor at a library in the Bronx, and at the admissions office at Queens College.

Soon библиотека closed and Chipotle reduced its hours. Then she got pregnant. Her rent was $1044 and she brought home about $1000 a month.

“In fact, I was looking for shelter before I got a response from the Bridge project,” she said.

After the birth of his son Jeremiah in June, it became clear that he could not move normally. Doctors told Gutierrez that he might have a form of cerebral palsy.

Gutierrez works remotely at her job at Queens College, which allows her to take breaks. She massages her son in between to relieve the muscle spasms that are shaking his body. But she's gearing up for the day she has to go back to the office and find a way to pay for childcare.

She got the impression that the money from the Bridge project was only enough for a year. “I have six months left, and they flew by very quickly,” she said.

A few hours later, the Bridge Project confirmed that the payments were for three years.

“I think for the first time in a long time I will sleep without worries,” said Gutierrez.