Participants in St. Louis’ guaranteed basic income program say they appreciate the safety net the effort has provided.
Five of the 540 recipients met Wednesday with Mayor Tishaura Jones and Treasurer Adam Layne to share how they are spending the money and what other resources the city might provide. The program uses $5 million in federal COVID relief funds, plus a $1 million donation from tech entrepreneur Jack Dorsey to give families $500 monthly checks.
To be eligible for the program, families had to live in the city and be the parent or legal guardian of a minor enrolled in a city public or charter school. They could also make no more than 170% of the federal poverty level, which is about $53,000 for a family of four.
“We were very specific and intentional about the families we wanted to reach, which were families who were too rich for benefits but too poor for anything else,” Jones said.
The participants can spend the money however they want. One mother who attended the roundtable uses the check to pay for groceries. The funds help another work fewer hours, giving her more time to spend with her daughter, who will be 5 in July.
Travious Brooks is using his share to rebuild savings that were wiped out during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“My kids are wanting to go on a vacation, so we’re saving up to do that,” he said.
He also needs to make repairs to his house, which is more than 120 years old.
All five of the roundtable’s participants said they are glad for the extra help. But they also expressed a need for things like safe transportation for children, more resources for small businesses and financial literacy classes.
“There are a lot of resources in the city, and sometimes they’re not all coordinated,” Layne said. “We’re working on trying to get a resource hub so one place where people can go to our city site, here are all the resources, they’re all connected.”
Funding for the program is only available through mid-2025, and Brooks said that was on his mind as he thought about how to use his share.
“That was one of the reasons, not knowing the longevity of the program, that I would rather just sit on the funds and have something in the event that anything happened I had something built up,” he said.
Jones said she is looking for ways to extend and expand the program.
