The shutdown is over, but families are still waiting on full SNAP benefits. Until those payments resume, we’ll keep sending direct cash so they can keep food on the table: GiveDirectly.org/snap

Ireland just proved that investing in creativity pays off — literally. Its basic income pilot for artists boosted wellbeing and returned €1.39 for every euro spent. Freed from financial pressure, creatives made more art, earned more, and relied less on welfare support.

New in USA Today: how guaranteed income addresses the affordability crisis, featuring stories from pilot participants and MGI founder Michael Tubbs: "So much of the job of government was solving for the problems caused by poverty. But we weren't doing enough to solve for poverty itself”.

Exactly why we need policies like guaranteed income that unrig the system, and deliver the economic conditions for freedom and dignity for all.

Casual reminder that the myth of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” is a cruel hoax designed to convince poor people from all walks of life that the injustices they face are a result of their own actions, rather than an oppressive system rigged against them.

Sacramento remains on track to launch a first ever city-led guaranteed income program for foster youth. The program is expected to provide monthly cash payments of at least $750 starting next July.

"Rx Kids is an example of how a program designed to improve public health can also produce economic benefits for the community.” - @bradhershbein.bsky.social, Upjohn Institute Read the Upjohn Institute's analysis of the progam: www.upjohn.org/research-hig...

As the Trump admin refuses to fully fund SNAP, guaranteed income programs are filling the gap: "She's fortunate, she said, because she receives $725 a month from a guaranteed income program...that gives her some flexibility that other families across the state and nation simply don't have."

Across Minnesota, Toronto and Oakland, arts leaders are pioneering ways to sustain artists and preserve cultural spaces — from guaranteed income programs to cooperatives reclaiming real estate. nextcity.org/podcast/alte...

🧵 Madison Forward Fund results Location: Madison, WI Participants: 155 (parents) Control group: 200 Amount: $500/mo Duration: 1 yr Recipients given $500/mo were MORE likely to be full-time employed and MORE likely to be job-seeking than non-recipients www.guaranteedincomeworks.org/data-from-ma...

Can confirm. Read the studies for yourself: GuaranteedIncomeWorks.org

study after study after study shows that literally just handing people money and telling them "do what you want with this" reduces homelessness, increases food security for children, makes it more likely people will find and retain jobs.1

There’s strong evidence that guaranteed income improves lives, but 10 states are using abusive preemption to block local GI programs. Mary Bogle of @urbaninstitute.bsky.social explores how this impacts the ability to test GI & ways we can still move forward. www.supportdemocracy.org/the-latest/p...

NEW: Madison, Wisconsin experimented with giving low-income families $500 a month in guaranteed income for one year. The results show improvements in financial resilience, better health choices, and higher rates of employment. Read the full report at: www.guaranteedincomeworks.org/data-from-ma...

"A new Sacramento State report shows giving low-income families $500 a month for one year significantly improved their financial and food security."

NEW: @repbonnie.bsky.social introduces the Guaranteed Income Pilot Program Act, which provide 10k Americans with financial stability and freedom over 3 years.

After rigorously researching 25 guaranteed income pilots across the US, one thing is crystal clear: Guaranteed Income just works. The data show that it gives families the stability and freedom to thrive. See the proof at guaranteedincomeworks.org

NEW: The Baltimore Young Families Success Fund (BYFSF) provided 200 young parents with $1k/month over 2 years. Data show the program improved financial stability, housing and food security, mental health and increased employment. Read the full report: www.guaranteedincomeworks.org/data-from-ba...

"The results of Baltimore’s Young Families Success Fund show how direct cash support unlocks potential and creates opportunities for families to move from surviving to thriving. This aligns with data from over 20 other cities, proving that GI is a policy solution for poverty and income inequality.”

LA County Supervisor and co-Chair of Counties for Guaranteed Income, Holly Mitchell on the BREATHE program: “This is about helping you by stabilizing your income, and to give you the space and room to breathe, to prepare yourself for a more economically stable future.”

Zaaear is a mother, a Baltimore native, and entrepreneur. She is also a recipient of the Baltimore Young Families Success Fund guaranteed income program. Her story shows how direct, unrestricted cash programs can reduce precarity and bring freedom and opportunity to so many families like hers.

And yet somehow giving people in poverty money is 'radical'?

"[Basic income] could mean the difference between a soft landing with minimal financial strife, and a hard fall that stresses both personal households and other shrinking social safety nets."

NEW: Our Executive Director Sukhi Samra claps back at David Brooks' anti-GI rant in NYT: "Direct cash works because it fundamentally trusts people to solve their own problems... It is the infrastructure of freedom—a floor sturdy enough to make every other solution possible."

“I never went without food, I never went without transportation to a doctor’s appointment, I was good...I never knew programs like this even existed.” One year in, the Philly Joy Bank shows that guaranteed income helps families care for their children.

Exciting news out of West Virginia! GiveDirectly and local partners are launching the Rural Income for Self Empowerment guaranteed minimum income (RISE GMI) program that will provide families with $1500/month. In major cities and in small towns, guaranteed income helps all families facing poverty.

Michigan lawmakers just made a HISTORIC investment in guaranteed income programs. By investing $270 million in #RxKids, they will transform what's possible for 30,000 families a year. This is real leadership on the cost of living crisis.

Cook County is making history. President Toni Preckwinkle’s 2026 budget makes the nation’s largest #guaranteedincome program permanent — putting $ directly in the pockets of working families. ESIL is proud to partner on this nation-leading effort. 🔗 economicsecurityproject.org/news/cook-co...

Michigan just showed what it looks like to invest in families. A $270M state budget boost will expand #RxKids tenfold, reaching 30K babies a year👏👏👏 🔗 www.michiganpublic.org/health/2025-...

every experiment re basic income shows that people are *more* productive and more fulfilled. which isn't that surprising; if you have no place to live and are starving, all your effort goes to basic survival, and you're likely to sink into despair.

Quick summary of the guaranteed basic income trial results in Boulder, CO. A floor of $500/mo for 2 years led to a significant reduction in food insecurity, more education and training, and stronger physical and mental health, with no negative impact on employment.

This is huge!

Rx Kids, the Michigan cash aid initiative for moms and babies, received its largest funding boost yet in the newly approved state budget, setting the program up to potentially help tens of thousands more infants in the next few years. bit.ly/3VRTNso

"As a recipient of guaranteed income I have noticed that I am willing to take bigger risks with my career because I know I will always have the money coming in on a more regular timeline." - Kandace, artist and pilot participant in Otter Tail County, Minnesota

1/ Oregon’s Direct Cash Transfer Plus (DCT+) pilot proves that trust and cash changes lives. In 2022, Oregon launched the first statewide, publicly funded #guaranteedincome program for young people, ages 18–24, experiencing homelessness. 🧵

Working people don’t need “budgeting tips.” They need a fair share of the wealth they create.

The top 0.1% of highest-income households will each on average receive a tax cut of over $286,000 next year. It’s not that we’re broke, it’s that we’re spending money on the wrong things.

The top 1% in the US have now a record $52 trillion in wealth. The bottom 50% have about $4 trillion.

Still waiting for it to trickle down...

"This year, I’m part of the Magnolia Mother’s Trust, receiving $1,000 a month in guaranteed income. That money has been life-changing. It’s another steady paycheck I can count on, which lets me cover something big with one check and know I’ll still have income the next."

Ireland now has a Basic Income for the Arts.

“The solution is straightforward: We can give families money to meet the costs that come with raising children.” - Peter Chen of @njpolicy.bsky.social

"New Jersey thrives when all residents have dignity, opportunity, and economic security," said @nicolenjpp.bsky.social. "These proposals show that with political will, we can end child poverty in one of America’s wealthiest states." Read the full report: www.njpp.org/publications...

🚨 New from @ptrchn1.bsky.social 🚨 Despite being one of the wealthiest states, 1 in 8 New Jersey children live in poverty. However, New Jersey has the resources to dramatically cut child poverty through direct cash assistance to families. Read more: www.njpp.org/publications...

More than 100 million people in America — 41% of adults — are saddled with medical bills they can't pay. kffhealthnews.org/diagnosis-de...

6 years ago, Mexico decided to start giving everyone over age 65 about $300 every two months. They also tripled their minimum wage. The combo dropped their poverty rate by 26%. Poverty is a policy choice. Nations can choose to reduce poverty by investing in their people with universal basic income.

“Cash is a strategy for helping get people to self sufficiency.” Read the full story on the Growing Resilience in Tacoma (GRIT) program run in partnership with @cityoftacoma.bsky.social and @ryanmellotacoma.bsky.social

@kedseconomist.com's piece in Bloomberg makes it plain: Unconditional cash programs help families in poverty. Period.

By teaching us to view poverty as a moral failure of the individual, society keeps us from realizing that poverty is actually an ethical failure of society itself. We can choose with UBI to prevent everyone from ever experiencing the poverty that 60% of us will experience in life, and we just don't.

Philly provided struggling renters with guaranteed, flexible income to make ends meet. What happened? Families stayed in their homes, evictions dropped, and blocks stabilized. Housing justice = a safer, healthier, and stronger Philly! share.inquirer.com/ruATp3