![]() ![]() Called the Growing Resilience In Tacoma, or GRIT, program, its been studied by independent researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.įunding for the second round includes $1.9 million over the next two years from the state and has some expanded partnerships including Pierce County Council Chair Ryan Mello. The first round of the guaranteed income program was funded by a mix of grants and private donors, including $500,000 from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. Tacoma's guaranteed income pilot will continue, a statewide pilot stalls "When you still have a majority of the households in in the county and in the state are at the $20 mark, it's getting tougher," Ponepinto said.Īccording to ALICE data, even a $20 an hour wage wouldn't be enough sustain a household with just one adult and one child. ALICE data shows one in three families in Pierce County isn't making enough money to survive. Ponepinto said they aren't sure yet how many families will be able to participate in the second round or how it might expand, but the need is still clearly there. The UWPC manages the guaranteed income program for the city. "In terms of some key takeaways, we're seeing guaranteed income does alleviate poverty." "The 12 month project was really designed to determine the efficacy of cash assistance programs in helping improve economic stability, well-being, housing security and overall reducing poverty in the community," said United Way of Pierce County President and CEO Dona Ponepinto. Some families were able to pay off debt, find better housing and boost credit scores.Ĭalculate a survival budget for your specific household here. The next largest category was food and groceries. Initial reporting showed almost half the money was spent on retail sales at places like Walmart and Target. Last year, the program gave 110 families $500 dollars a month to spend however they wanted. The data is a significant guide for the city of Tacoma, Washington's guaranteed income experiment, which recently announced it has secured enough funding to extend its guaranteed income pilot program to new families. ![]() "You've got to basically work with people who are in crisis and help them figure out, both practically and emotionally, how they're going to make it to the first of the month."ĪLICE data, Geri said, can be used to support better and more helpful policymaking and intervention efforts. Usually by that point, most of the available pots of funds available for people in need have already been drawn down," Geri said. "It was extremely difficult at times, particularly at the end of the month, as call after call from people who had basically spent all their money for the month came in, and they needed some help from somewhere to make it to the first of the next month. Geri said he learned how dire budgeting can get for families after working for a crisis hotline. Because the Federal Poverty Level is generally the baseline measure of financial hardship, the report says a "huge portion" of people who are struggling financially are being missed. In order to be financial stable, that family would need $124,764. ALICE data says the same family in Washington needs $77,328 per year minimum just to survive. In 2021, the Federal Poverty Level for a family of four with two children in childcare, was $26,500 a year. "I don't think there's a better data set right now that is as comprehensive and is as consistent and reliable as ALICE." "It's one of the most, if not the most, comprehensive attempts to describe what's happening with families that are employed, but still struggling to make ends meet across the country," Geri said. ALICE accounts for many factors including housing, childcare, transportation, and even technology and taxes. Geri said ALICE data is a more comprehensive look at how much it costs to have a reasonable standard of living. "The federal government's basic measure of poverty is based on what it costs to provide a basic basket of food, and then they multiply that by three times, which is really pretty limited as a way of measuring how to think about people who have clearly very complicated needs," said Larry Geri, faculty member at The Evergreen State College who was on the Pacific Northwest ALICE research advisory committee. Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) describes people who are working, making more than the Federal Poverty Level, but not making enough money to cover their basic needs where they live. ![]() ![]() About one in three Washington households are not making enough money to make ends meet, according to recently released data from a national research group called United for ALICE. ![]()
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