From Poverty to Hedge Fund Manager to Basic Income Advocate

From Poverty to Hedge Fund Manager to Basic Income Advocate

Darryl Finkton, Jr. is a hedge fund manager turned community organizer. Raised in a poor black family in Indianapolis, Indiana, Darryl went on to graduate from Harvard College and Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. In his new book End Poverty. Make Trillions, Darryl shares how he rose from rags to riches and searched for a way to end poverty. In 2021 he left his job as a hedge fund partner to promote the adoption of a universal basic income to end poverty in the U.S. with the help of venture dollars via his EPMT (End Poverty. Make Trillions.) fund, and then came up with a proposal to ensure everyone has an opportunity to generate wealth.

He calls his proposal “The Seed Money Act”. It would establish an unconditional, permanent, regular grant to every US household, set to an amount that’s equal to the federal poverty guidelines. “For example, for a single-person household in 2020, the amount would’ve been $1,063.33 per month.” Darryl also helped found a pilot basic income project in which recipients tell their own stories on a YouTube channel, Basic Income Works. He says “I want that program to be about the participants so I don’t want to promote the details of the pilot, just provide a platform for people to tell their stories.”

South Africa’s RightfulShare wins recognition as an innovator

South Africa’s RightfulShare wins recognition as an innovator

RighfulShare: An Income Movement  is the first unconditional basic income transfer with GoodDollar in South Africa. The project is growing in strength, pioneering fairer income access bringing both resources and web3 solutions to the small town of Groblershoop in the Northern Cape.

 “We need a new approach to addressing poverty in South Africa. The current system is not working and we can no longer pretend that there will be enough jobs for everyone. By bringing visibility to the benefits of a digital basic income transfer, we’re expanding the possibilities for South Africans”, says Karen Jooste, Founder of RightfulShare.

The participants are using their monthly basic income to alleviate day-to-day financial stress and open up space for creativity and entrepreneurship.

For example, Darryl Wessles who has been building his pig farm to address a gap in the market for smaller meat parcels for the community. Meanwhile Joyberne Neels has picked up an interest in cryptocurrencies and the potential global digital financial ecosystems can provide.

 All the participants are bringing their own life experiences and outlooks, providing diverse stories and outcomes to this UBI project. However, each has spoken to how relieving the constant burden of unemployment has been life changing. See more testimony by participants here.

 The project was recently recognized by the Swiss/South African Blockchain Innovation Challenge as one of the most innovative projects in the blockchain space.

Currently, RightfulShare is teaming up with GlobalGiving for Giving Tuesday, an effort to connect nonprofits to donors to create targeted meaningful impact. All donations go towards supporting more young entrepreneurs in South Africa kickstart their dream venture, escape poverty and overall reduce income inequality. It is super easy to donate, simply click on the link below. All donations will be matched on the 28th November 2023

SUPPORT A YOUNG PERSON WITH A BASIC INCOME TODAY
Launch of Tijs Laenen’s book “The Popularity of Basic Income”

Launch of Tijs Laenen’s book “The Popularity of Basic Income”

The official launch of Tijs Laenen’s latest book The Popularity of Basic Income: Evidence from the Polls was held on November 16. During the event, he presented the book, followed by a critical discussion by Prof. Philippe Van Parijs (UCLouvain, Belgium), co-founder of the Basic Income Earth Network. You can view a recording of the book launch here.

A short summary of the book can be read here

Basic Income and Climate Change

Basic Income and Climate Change

“Basic income is one of the necessary components of a global, national and regional policy
mix for socio-ecological transformation”, say Ronald Blaschke from Germany and Min Geum
금민 from South Korea. Their memorandum “Basic income as a necessary component of a socio-ecological transformation and key element for climate justice” was first presented at
BIEN’s 2023 congress in Seoul, South Korea, and has gained support by over thirty
organizations and many UBI advocates worldwide. The authors are still looking for more
supporters to join them in their call for a Basic Income addressing climate change.

Signatures can be sent to blaschke@grundeinkommen.de. The full text can be found here.

Second UBI sense-making session on Hunome

Second UBI sense-making session on Hunome

UBI Lab Finland started building understanding on the many perspectives and possibilities of UBI (Universal Basic Income) on the Hunome ‘social 4.0’ platform (see more about Hunome and why we’ve started using it below). UBI Lab Finland is part of the worldwide UBI Lab Network, comprising of over 40 individual local and thematic UBI Labs around the world.

In a previous session on October 24 people with different backgrounds added new perspectives into the UBI Spark map. Results were fascinating and people just loved how easy and rewarding it is to bring their thinking and experiences around UBI in one place in Hunome.

Read more…

Basic Income for the Arts in Ireland – What Have We Learned after 14 months?

Basic Income for the Arts in Ireland – What Have We Learned after 14 months?

“UBI Lab Arts, UBI Lab Leeds and UBI Lab Network, in association with Basic Income Ireland present:

Please join us for the third in our special series of discussions dedicated to reflecting on what we can learn from the Irish Basic Income for the Arts Pilot Scheme, as it unfolds.

When? Wednesday 6th December 2023 6:30pm – 8pm GMT

Where? Please register with the Action Network for the online event here.”

Read more