Guaranteed Income Works: Data from Providence, ri
Providence Guaranteed Income Program (PGIP)
The Providence Guaranteed Income Program (PGIP) provided $500 per month to 110 households for eighteen months. The initial 12 months of PGIP were funded entirely through private philanthropy, including $500,000 from Mayors for a Guaranteed Income and contributions from the United Way of Rhode Island, Rhode Island Foundation, Providence Community Relief Fund and ONE Neighborhood Builders, for a total of $1.1 million in cash and in-kind donations to fund the direct cash payments and administrative costs associated with the pilot program. In the summer of 2022, the City of Providence was able to extend the pilot for an additional six months, allocating $500,000 of the city’s American Rescue Plan funds.
Providence residents aged 18 and older, with an income below 200% of the Federal Poverty level, were eligible and recipients were selected by lottery, as were people in the control group. Median incomes for the recipient and control groups were around $12,000 and $10,000 per year, respectively, and the majority of participants had a child at home. The PGIP was administered by Amos House and evaluated by the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Guaranteed Income Research.
Key Takeaways
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Full-time employment among recipients rose from 17% at Baseline to 33% at the end of the program and the percentage of unemployed participants seeking work fell from 31% at Baseline to 12% at 24 months. The percentage of stay-at-home caregivers in the recipient group fell slightly from 11% to 9% over the same period.
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Initially, a lower percentage of people in the recipient group were able to cover a $400 emergency compared to the control group. At every point afterwards, guaranteed income had significant positive effects on this ability, including after payments stopped
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Over time, the percentage of recipients reporting homelessness significantly decreased, while the rate of homelessness for people in the control group remained unchanged.
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Parents who received guaranteed income reported higher levels of engagement with their children’s school activities, including attending parent-teacher conferences and PTA meetings, as well as participating in other school events.
Overall, recipients of PGIP showed improved financial resilience, increased workforce participation, less homelessness and more parental engagement at school. While the PGIP was enormously significant to participants, the need for this kind of unconditional cash support is much greater in Providence. City leaders will continue to advocate for the state and federal government to allocate funding for guaranteed income programs.