Independent data on the first year of Rise Up Alameda, a guaranteed income pilot program, showed that recipients reported improvements in their financial well-being, mental health, and sense of community, with no negative effect on employment.
The primary goal of Rise Up Alameda is to reduce economic instability for program participants. Using funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, the program provides 150 eligible residents with an unconditional cash payment of $1,000 per month over 24 months, which began in December 2023.
To ensure that the pilot program enhanced the growing national body of research on the impacts of providing a minimum basic income, the City partnered with Abt Global to design a rigorous evaluation, which included a control group of 180 randomly selected applicants with similar demographics. Analyzing the first year of data, the interim report found that Rise Up Alameda participants are doing better than their control group counterparts across several key evaluation markers.
- Financial well-being.
Rise Up recipients showed improvements in their financial stability and resilience. They were more likely than the control group to be able to handle a $400 emergency, and were nearly twice as likely to have $500 or more saved. Only 15% of recipients said they were going into debt, compared to 42% of the control group. Rise Up participants were also more likely to have money left over at the end of each month (13%) than the control group (1%). - Mental health
Recipients reported improved mental health across a variety of measures—lower stress, increased hopefulness, an improved sense of mattering, and less chaotic home environments. These differences were statistically significant compared to the control group. - Sense of community
Recipients were 10 percentage points more likely to be involved in community activities, including PTAs and parent groups, religious and social clubs, professional associations, and more.
Recipients also demonstrated statistically significant improvements in emotional connection, group membership, and fulfillment of needs, and a marginally significant improvement in community influence. This indicates that Rise Up Alameda helped people feel more connected to their community.
“Rise Up Alameda is intended to support the financial stability of families, and I’m pleased to see that after receiving benefits for a full year, it is doing that and more,” stated Alameda Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft. “The mental health and community impacts underscore the fact that everyone benefits when families are not struggling to make ends meet. I am proud that Alameda is one of many cities in California leading the way in demonstrating the tremendous potential of guaranteed income programs.”
Michael D. Tubbs, founder of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, stated, “California would be the fourth-largest economy in the world if it was its own nation, yet too many of our families continue to struggle financially. The interim findings from Alameda demonstrate how unconditional cash gives people the freedom and flexibility to meet their own needs in the best way they see fit, and that has resounding benefits in their overall well-being. This aligns with data from over 20 other cities, proving that guaranteed income is a policy solution for poverty and income inequality.”
Alameda’s pilot is affiliated with Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, a coalition of over 180 mayors. The research findings build upon similar results from other mayor-led guaranteed income programs across the nation, which have shown greater financial stability, increased employment, more parent-child time, and better levels of overall well-being, among other findings. Additional survey work will be completed at the conclusion of the second year of the program.