The city of Richmond, Virginia, is set to offer a guaranteed income program for its residents for the third time.
$500 Monthly Stipend for Struggling Families
The program offers a $500 monthly stipend to families who make around $12.71 an hour and no longer qualify for government assistance. The initiative is aimed at helping families who are struggling to make ends meet and are faced with difficult decisions, such as whether to pay rent or buy groceries. Participants in the program have children to support and do not make a living wage.
The program is funded by the Robins Foundation and Mayors for Guaranteed Income. Richmond residents are invited to learn more about the initiative at a conversation with Mayor Levar Stoney and former Stockton, California Mayor Michael Tubbs, who was the first to offer a guaranteed income program to his city’s residents.
The conversation is scheduled to take place at the Library of Virginia on East Broad Street on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, according to a published article in Yahoo News.
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Monthly Stipend is Part of the Richmond Resilience Initiative
The program is part of the Richmond Resilience Initiative and is aimed at helping families and households achieve financial stability. The initiative’s director of Richmond’s office of strategic communications and civic engagement, Tammy Hawley Burks, said that families should not have to make difficult decisions about paying rent, buying groceries, or providing after-school care for their children in 2023.
The initiative is not without controversy, as a Pew Research Center poll from 2020 found that about 54% of American adults are against the idea of the federal government providing a guaranteed income of approximately $1,000 a month to all adults, regardless of their work status.
However, the Richmond program is aimed specifically at families who do not make a living wage and are struggling to make ends meet.
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