The Californer - Long Beach Pledge Guaranteed Income Pilot Program to Expand with Second Cohort

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Long Beach, CA ~ The City of Long Beach is expanding its guaranteed income pilot program, the Long Beach Pledge, to include a second cohort of 200 households. This expansion will be available to households with children living under the federal poverty level in five Long Beach zip codes. Those selected for the Long Beach Pledge will receive $500 a month for 12 months.

Mayor Rex Richardson said, "I'm proud that we are expanding the Long Beach Pledge to a second cohort of families in West and North Long Beach. We're giving vulnerable families in our city direct financial support that will help them pay for needs like housing, bills, groceries, and emergencies. That can make a big difference in helping folks stay afloat throughout the new year."

The online application for the second cohort will be available in early January at longbeachpledge.org/apply and will be available in English, Spanish, Khmer and Tagalog. Applicants without computer or smartphone access may visit a public computer lab at any open Long Beach Public Library location and can receive computer assistance from Library staff at the Family Learning Centers at Billy Jean King Main Library and Michelle Obama Library. Selected applicants will be notified in early 2024 and payments are anticipated to begin in spring 2024.

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In order to be eligible for this program, households must have dependent children and gross household income (before taxes) of 100% or less of the federal poverty level; they must also reside within one of five zip codes: 90802, 90804, 90805,90806, and 90810. Those who do not meet these criteria can find out about other available resources through the Resource Line by calling 562.570.4246.

The funding for this expansion was made possible by the Long Beach Recovery Act with $1.2 million allocated through the City's local homelessness emergency proclamation; this is an effort to implement additional upstream homelessness prevention strategies as one of the City's identified goals established at the start of the emergency was "to invest in innovative solutions to prevent families from becoming homeless" according to Alison King, Acting Director of the Department of Health and Human Services.

At their December 5th meeting, The Long Beach City Council approved with a 7-0 vote to extend contracts with Fund for Guaranteed Income and California State University, Long Beach Research Foundation which are required to expand this program; these contracts were previously announced back in November 2022 when applications opened up for their first cohort which had 2,800 applications received with 250 single-headed families with children selected from 90813 zip code area alone whose households are made up of 937 total members including 583 children receiving payments through April 2024 as planned.

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The Department of Economic Development is leading this pilot program while overseeing all activity with Fund for Guaranteed Income (F4GI) facilitating payment and administrative platform as well as informing participants about additional supportive services while managing disbursement of monthly payments via four payment options; California State University is conducting research on both cohorts evaluating its impact on low-income families through randomized control trial by their foundation as well as providing resources and support for some our most vulnerable families during recovery after pandemic according to Bo Martinez who is Director of Department of Economic Development .

More information about The Long Beach Pledge can be found on their website longbeachpledge.org/.

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