Guaranteed Income

• National League of Cities/Stanford Basic Income Lab: Basic Income in Cities: a guide to city experiments and pilot projects.
• Jain Family Institute: Guaranteed Income in the U.S.: A toolkit of best practices, resources, and existing models of planned and ongoing research in the U.S.
• Mayors for a Guaranteed Income: Guaranteed Income Pilot Program Design Considerations
• Yerba Buena Center for the Arts:  San Francisco Guaranteed Income Pilot for Artists, Powered by YBCA: Learning and Insight from Design to Launch
• University of Pennsylvania, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and Mayors for a Guaranteed Income: Mitigating loss of health insurance and means tested benefits in an unconditional cash transfer experiment: Implementation lessons from Stockton’s guaranteed income pilot
• National League of Cities/Stanford Basic Income Lab: Basic Income in Cities: a guide to city experiments and pilot projects.
• Jain Family Institute: Guaranteed Income in the U.S.: A toolkit of best practices, resources, and existing models of planned and ongoing research in the U.S.
• Mayors for a Guaranteed Income: Guaranteed Income Pilot Program Design Considerations
• Yerba Buena Center for the Arts:  San Francisco Guaranteed Income Pilot for Artists, Powered by YBCA: Learning and Insight from Design to Launch
• University of Pennsylvania, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and Mayors for a Guaranteed Income: Mitigating loss of health insurance and means tested benefits in an unconditional cash transfer experiment: Implementation lessons from Stockton’s guaranteed income pilot

There are local, national and statewide communities of practice where practitioners gather to share best practices, raise and answer questions, and present research. If you are a practitioner or policymaker considering a guaranteed income pilot, get connected with these communities – the San Francisco Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE), which convenes the Bay Area group, can assist you (contact sf.ofe@sfgov.org for more information).

The size and scope of pilot budgets can vary widely, but pilots should consider costs like project development (including community research), project management, onboarding and benefits counseling, evaluation, and (of course), the payments themselves. Timelines are also dependent on multiple factors; some small pilots have been able to very quickly move from concept to disbursement, but a more likely path for pilots will require anywhere from six months to two years or more to raise money, do community planning, develop a research design, apply for any benefits waivers, and finalize a process to disburse the money, among other tasks.

Local pilots have typically been funded by philanthropic grants, but San Francisco is among the cities leading the way in starting to allocate public dollars (sometimes using federal American Rescue Plan Act or CARES funding).  Read more about the use of public funds for guaranteed income programs here, or see Jain Family Institute’s Toolkit for several examples (p. 19-20) that break down potential costs, including analysis performed for Newark and Atlanta guaranteed income task forces. California’s 2021-22 budget included funding to establish a Guaranteed Income Pilot Program, which will provide up to $35 million in grant funding to pilots in the state and emphasize pregnancy and foster youth.

Most pilots disburse money electronically. Paper checks, while possible, are not recommended due to the high cost of check cashing and risk of loss or fraud. Paying people in cash is rare and comes with similar risks (as well as a larger administrative headache). Generally, electronic transfers are considered the gold standard because they are cheaper, faster, more effective, and safer. So, the question of “how” boils down to whether to distribute by direct deposit to a bank account or by loading cash onto a prepaid card (or some blend of the two).

A safe and affordable bank account is a foundational element to asset-building and financial security. Without one, it is harder to save and to get well-priced car loans, credit cards, or mortgages – the exact financial tools needed to climb the economic ladder. Families without access to a bank account are stuck with costly alternatives – like check cashers, pawn shops and rent-to-own stores. San Francisco’s Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) has pioneered banking access programs and strategies, including the Bank On San Francisco program that has helped tens of thousands of San Franciscans open a bank account over the past 15 years.

However, not all cash transfer recipients may have easy access to a bank account due to persistent barriers to banking that include lack of social security number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), debts that would cause an account to be levied, and negative banking (i.e., ChexSystems or Early Warning Services) records that systematically exclude people from the mainstream banking system. Finally, overdraft and other fees, lack of transparency, and distrust are all important reasons why many people remain unbanked.

Systemic racism in the banking system has resulted in hugely disparate access to mainstream banking for Black and Latinx households, as highlighted in OFE’s recent research and reports. OFE, through Bank On and its Smart Money Coaching program, can help people open safe and affordable accounts, but also understands that not everyone chooses to open a bank account, and these are often very rational decisions.

Prepaid debit cards are the other primary option utilized as a cash transfer vehicle. Long seen as a second-best option, prepaid products have evolved and improved over the past ten years, so much so that the line between a bank account and a prepaid card is often blurry. Prepaid cards may offer certain benefits that make them more accessible or preferable for participants, including no credit or ChexSystems review requirement, no monthly fees, and no penalty fees for overdrafts or bounced checks. Prepaid cards also can reduce administrative burden and offer data on card usage for research purposes. However, not all prepaid cards are created equal. Some have high fees or limited features; some are non-reloadable, and some can only receive deposits from a single source, limiting their use for participants moving forward.

Across the U.S., guaranteed income pilots have tended more toward the use of prepaid cards than direct deposit to bank accounts, although it is too soon to predict a dominant long-term trend. There are at least a few pilots that solely use direct deposit to a bank account – for example, the Magnolia Mother’s Trust worked with Hope Federal Credit union to open bank accounts with no fees for participants and San Francisco’s Miracle Money pilot worked with OFE’s Smart Money Coaching program to get all participants access to a bank account. Others utilize payment platforms that allow for choice of between direct deposit to a bank account, distribution via prepaid card, or other alternative.

Pilots considering using prepaid cards for either all or part of their disbursements should ask potential providers important questions, including:

• What fees could be incurred by clients?
• What costs do you charge programs to disburse payments?
• How well do you understand, and are you aligned with, our mission and our community?
• Do you require ChexSystems or similar credit review?
• What are your “Know Your Customer” (KYC) requirements, especially around identification and physical address? What happens if a pilot participant can’t qualify for the card?
• If you offer instant-issue cards, do they have extra limitations or fees?
• Is the card “portable,” i.e., accepts deposits from other sources, like employers or tax refunds?
• Can the card be used to withdraw cash at ATMs, at point of sale, and for online bill pay?
• How extensive is your free ATM network?
• What is the onboarding process, and how will you offer program and clients customer support?
• What data on card usage will be available for the program?
• Are there any additional perks associated with the card and provider (e.g., custom branding, useful platform for participants, etc.)?

Payment platforms have rapidly evolved with the field of guaranteed income (and with the urgent need to distribute emergency pandemic relief) to serve the needs of cash transfer programs. In some cases, prepaid providers also operate as a platform for disbursing payments (i.e., no need for an intermediary). In other cases, payment platforms offer cash transfer recipients a choice between receiving money via bank accounts or prepaid cards. Some also offer “virtual” prepaid cards or alternative vehicles like Venmo, PayPal, or fintech companies like Chime that are not licensed as banks but instead partner with banks to provide certain financial services.

Currently, the most prominent guaranteed income payment partners are:

• Community Financial Resources (CFR), a nonprofit financial service provider that partners with US Bank to offer a white-label version of the Focus prepaid visa debit card. CFR is a partner in multiple guaranteed income pilots, including Stockton SEED, the Santa Clara pilot for foster youth aging out of the system, and a South San Francisco pilot in development with Urban Services YMCA. CFR also offers payment facilitation (no ACH intermediary necessary) and has partnered on projects with OFE and other City agencies in the past.
• UpTogether, formerly Financial Independence Initiative, offers both a payment platform and a community platform that connects and supports people who share some of the same interests and goals. UpTogether also partners with multiple pilots, including Oakland Resilient Families, and offers three payment options: direct deposit to your bank account, a physical prepaid card, and a digital/virtual prepaid card.
• The Fund for Guaranteed Income (F4GI), a nonprofit that leads the Compton Pledge guaranteed income pilot, has created a beneficiary payments platform that provides for cash transfers at scale, access to live support and financial wellness resources, streamlined administration, and privacy protections for users. Their mobile-friendly platform allows recipients to select from direct deposit, prepaid, PayPal and Venmo – and to change how they receive payments at any time. F4GI is working with several pilots and researchers, and is developing a government payments solution.
• MoCaFi, a Black-led financial services company that offers prepaid cards issued by Sunrise Bank. MoCaFi offers both instant-issue cards with low barrier to entry (no ITIN or SSN required) as well as a fully portable reloadable prepaid card; recipients can also start with an instant-issue card and graduate to the full-featured product. MoCaFi partners with guaranteed income pilots including the Abundant Birth Project, San Francisco’s guaranteed income pilot for artists led by YBCA, and the Basic Income Guaranteed: Los Angeles Economic Assistance Pilot (BIG: LEAP).
• GiveDirectly, the leading NGO specializing in digital cash transfers internationally, partners on cash transfer programs in nine countries, including the U.S. GiveDirectly provides a variety of ways to receive the payment, including a deposit into an existing bank account, a mailed prepaid card, MoneyGram, or PayPal.
• Steady, an app developed by a fintech startup, has a community of 4 million members made up of contractors and gig workers in need of more income stability, and has been partnering with cities in the Mayors for a Guaranteed Income coalition to distribute payments.

For pilots run by City agencies, the City and County can either work with TTX to procure prepaid cards to be distributed by a community organization, or utilize third-party agents to disburse the funds, including nonprofits or fiscal agents. Using TTX for procurement increases City control over the process and reduces compliance burden for nonprofit providers.

To set up distribution of funds, a City department needs to work with TTX and share information about the proposal, including:

• Program Name
• Program Goals
• Source of funds for payment (government or private)
• Are the payments compensation for services provided as a condition of the program?
• COVID / Disaster Relief?
• How are recepients chosen? Income eligibility?
• 'Is the program limited to or targeted by race / age / gender?
• When you would like the payments to begin?
• Estimated # of Cards
• Frequency of loads (one time or recurring?  if recurring, list frequency, i.e. month, quarterly, etc...)
• Expected duration of program?
• Amount/Value of Loads:
• Total gross amount per person
• Need card personalized (recipient name on card)?
• Distribution Method (mail directly to recipient, handed out in person via City agency, handed out in person via partner, other)

TTX will use that information to get tax guidance from the City Attorney, and, if necessary, work with the Controller’s Office and the requesting department to submit or update their Departmental Prepaid Card Policy. TTX will also identify the appropriate prepaid card product for the program, and begin to set up the procedures to procure the cards.

A City department may choose to use a third party to utilize particular payment options or increase confidentiality for sensitive populations. In order to use a third-party supplier or platform, a City department will need to either go through a Request for Proposal (RFP) process or expand the scope of an existing contract with an existing supplier or grantee. The City will likely need to pay the third party fordisbursing and tracking funds, performing bookkeeping, and taking on risks associated with cash transfers.

In general, there no need to replicate broad-based “does it work?” pilots or research studies, and substantial research has been done that rebuts common criticisms about guaranteed income’s impact on work (limited or positive), and whether money is used on “temptation goods” like drugs and alcohol (not widely evident). Other areas of potential focus include: how frequency and amount of cash transfers impacts outcomes; how cash may be an alternative or complement to existing services or interventions, including safety net benefits; wider impacts on neighborhoods or communities; impacts on chronic health disparities; and how guaranteed income impacts power-building and reduces relational poverty for marginalized and oppressed populations.

Experts emphasize how the importance of focusing on qualitative research that can tell the human stories about people receiving guaranteed income. Storytelling and narrative change are essential to build public will and debunk false narratives about poverty and deservedness.

To maintain the principles of a guaranteed income, pilots should seek to minimize recipient burdens throughout, including how people find out about the project, apply, enroll, receive money, and respond to research questions. Pilots should seek to avoid cumbersome application forms and reduce required questions as much as possible. Many pilots offer at least nominal compensation as an incentive (and thank you) for completing surveys or interviews.

Pilots must also decide how much guidance they will offer to recipients on potential impacts to public benefits. Discussing benefits requires some level of case management expertise, staff training, and/or referral networks to legal aid organizations or skilled social workers.  At minimum, pilots should develop and utilize orientation documents that are easily understandable and provide informed consent about potential benefits interactions.

Gloria Berry

Gloria Berry was born and raised in San Francisco. Gloria is a veteran with thirteen years of service, and spent eight years working at San Quentin, where she was promoted to Sergeant. Gloria held several other jobs including recruiter, teacher aid, Census Bureau partnership department, delivery driver and SRO desk clerk. In 2012 Miss Berry was diagnosed with a chronic incurable blood disease, arrested for possessing marijuana, and lost her home, which led to her being homeless for three years. Elected to the SF Democratic County Central Committee in 2020, Gloria is currently Co-Chair of the Endorsement Committee. She is also the founder of Berry Powerful Ladies, a mentorship program.

Elena Chávez Quezada

Elena Chávez Quezada is Vice President of Programs at the San Francisco Foundation (SFF).  In this role, Elena works to ensure that the Program Division advances SFF’s equity agenda through internal collaboration, centering grantees, and engaging key community partners. Prior to this role, Elena was Senior Director of the People Pathway at SFF. She previously oversaw the economic security portfolio at the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, and was a senior program officer at Tipping Point Community. Elena is also Head of Investments at the Chavez Family Foundation (CFF), where she supports her brother in the launch and grantmaking of a new foundation focused on the intersection of immigration, education, and entrepreneurship. Prior to her roles in philanthropy, she managed the California expansion of Single Stop USA and worked on research and policy at the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program. 

Elena is involved in various local and national organizations/efforts, including Closing the Women’s Wealth Gap Initiative, Immigrants Rising, Concrete Rose Foundation, and Campaign for College Opportunity. Elena received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and lives in San Francisco with her husband and two sons. 

Sheryl Davis

Sheryl Evans Davis is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission (HRC). Director Davis previously served as Commissioner between 2011 and 2016, including a tenure as Vice Chair of the Commission. Prior to joining the HRC, Director Davis was Executive Director of Collective Impact, a community-based organization in the Western Addition neighborhood of San Francisco. As Executive Director, she oversaw Mo’MAGIC, Magic Zone, and the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center. Mo’MAGIC, a collaborative of non-profit organizations, addresses challenges facing low-income children, youth and families in the areas of economic development, community health, and violence prevention. Magic Zone provides education and wraparound services to K-12 students and transitional aged youth. The Ella Hill Hutch Community Center provides community-building services and workforce development opportunities to neighborhood residents. During her tenure at Collective Impact, Director Davis forged private and public sector partnerships to provide critical health and social services to historically underserved communities across San Francisco.  

Director Davis has also served on the SFPD Fair & Impartial Policing and Community Policing Advisory Committees, Fillmore Community Benefits District, and Redevelopment Agency's Western Addition Citizen Advisory Committee. She holds a BA degree from San Francisco State University and Master's in Public Administration from the University of San Francisco.

Jacob Denney

Jacob Denney is the economic justice policy director at SPUR, a San Francisco Bay Area policy organization dedicated to building a prosperous and equitable region. Jacob works to address the region’s economic inequity and develop an agenda for shared prosperity. Growing up in a working-class Puerto Rican family, Jacob learned early on the importance of creating effective government policy to help build economic security for all people. He previously worked as the director of policy and research at the Insight Center, a national economic and racial justice organization, where he led work on confronting barriers to economic stability for Black people, immigrants, and women across Mississippi. 

Formerly, Jacob worked on criminal justice reform research and advocacy at the Pew Charitable Trusts. Jacob also co-founded the Economic Justice Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, a project aimed at helping people who have been harmed because of their economic status. He began his career working in the Massachusetts State Senate. Jacob received his Master of Public Policy from the Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California and his B.A. in political philosophy from UMass Boston.

Amanda Fried

Ms. Fried oversees taxpayer assistance, communications, legislation and financial empowerment initiatives for the Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector. Ms. Fried joined the organization in October 2014. Prior to joining the Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector, she served as Deputy Director in the Mayor’s Office of Housing, Opportunities, Partnerships and Engagement (HOPE) for Mayor Ed Lee, as a Senior Advisor to the Mayor in New York City, and as a legislative aide.

Ms. Fried grew up in Philadelphia and earned a B.A. in Political Science and Urban Studies from Stanford University, and an Masters in Public Administration from the New York University Wagner School of Public Service. She lives in San Francisco with her family. 

Norel Knowles

Norel Knowles is a 19 year resident of Treasure Island and has grown up in generational poverty.  As a Black gay man, Norel has spent his entire life seeing and experiencing financial and economic struggles faced by low income and low wealth peoples.  Norel has worked with MyPath for the past 5 years which has helped him put into context redlining, the racial wealth gap and the barriers that youth and young adults face financially and economically. MyPath has given him a platform to address these issues at a policy level. Currently, Norel is working on an Economic Bill of RYTS (Real Youth Troubles and Solutions) for youth, with recommendations including a guaranteed income paired with financial education.  

Jim Pugh

Jim Pugh is a co-director of the Universal Income Project, a nonprofit devoted to the expansion of economic security and human dignity through the implementation of a universal basic income in the United States. He is also the founder and CEO of ShareProgress, and previously served as the Director of Analytics and Development for President Obama’s Organizing for America. Jim has a Ph.D. in distributed robotics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Bina Shrimali

Bina Patel Shrimali manages the community development research team at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, which conducts research on the structural barriers to economic opportunity for low-income communities and communities of color. In this role, she provides guidance for the department’s research agenda and publications that advance racial equity, healthy and resilient communities, a thriving labor force, and inclusive financial systems.

Prior to joining the San Francisco Fed, Dr. Shrimali worked at the Alameda County Public Health Department where she launched projects focused on economic development to improve health and reduce disparities for young children and families, several of which have been nationally recognized and duplicated in other parts of the country. She led the implementation of a national neighborhood-based project in East Oakland called Best Babies Zone.

Dr. Shrimali received her Doctorate in Public Health, Masters in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and BA in Economics and English, all from UC Berkeley.

Susie Smith

Susie directs Agency-wide services in the areas of strategic planning, performance measurement, government and legislative affairs, communications, and interdepartmental initiatives. Prior to joining the Agency, she worked in the San Francisco Office of the Controller’s City Performance Unit, where she managed analysts and provided technical assistance and research to CIty managers to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of various public services.

Roberto Vargas

Roberto Ariel Vargas, MPH is the Associate Director for Community Health Planning & Policy Development, and Economic Inclusion. Roberto participates in—and sometimes leads—multi-stakeholder health initiatives that provide opportunities for UCSF to leverage its research and science expertise and resources.  Roberto also helps disseminate evidence-based practice nationally, leveraging the experiences of UCSF’s research, science and public health partnerships to inform health initiatives broadly.  Roberto has focused in recent years on building partnerships for the reduction of cancer and metabolic disease disparities, including in the development of policy, systems and environmental change. 

He loves this work because he is passionate about health and social equity, sees tremendous value in partnering academia with community, for the benefit of both, and toward more equitable health outcomes. 

Shirley Yee

With over two decades of experience addressing social and economic systemic inequities throughout the Bay Area, Shirley Yee is the Economic Justice Director at MyPath, a San Francisco based non profit working to transform systems and policies to create new financial capability and economic inclusion pathways with and for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) youth from low income and low wealth communities. MyPath plays an active leadership role in the emerging guaranteed income (GI) movement. In addition to being a partner in two GI pilot programs, the only GI pilots in the country focusing on youth transitioning into adulthood (Santa Clara County with youth exiting the Foster Care System and San Francisco with pregnant and parenting young mothers), MyPath also actively participates in the GI Learning Circle (National) coordinated by the Economic Security Project, and the California Statewide GI Convening (State) bringing together GI pilot programs and policy advocates across the state. Growing up bisexual in the Midwest working in her parents' Chinese restaurant from 7th-12th grade, Shirley is the daughter of immigrant parents (from China and Japan) and grew up within a cross class experience and is committed to addressing racial inequity across the state of CA.

Meeting #1 - Friday, April 16 at 1:00 p.m.
Now is the Moment: Guaranteed Income and Economic Security
Agenda | Minutes | Video

Meeting #2 - Friday, May 14 at 1:00 p.m.
What we know about Guaranteed Income  
Agenda | Minutes | Video

Meeting #3 - Friday, June 11 at 1:00 p.m.
Economic Insecurity, Safety Net, and Future of Work
Agenda | Minutes | Video

Meeting #4 - Friday, July 9 at 1:00 p.m.
Developing Criteria for a Potential Guaranteed Income Pilot 
Agenda | Minutes | Video
Video about Designing the Abundant Birth Project 

Meeting #5 - Friday, August 13 at 1:00 p.m.
Beyond Cash - Considering Longer-Term (and Radical) Solutions 
Agenda | Minutes | Video

Meeting #6 - Wednesday, October 27 at 2:00 p.m.
Where Do We Go from Here?  Recommendations and Reflections
Agenda | Minutes | Video

Meeting #7 - November 
Review draft report and recommendations