by Peter Knight | Jun 29, 2024 | News
“MGI was founded in June 2020 with 11 members. The Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED), which was announced in 2017 and implemented in 2019, had proven Mayor Michael Tubbs’s assumption that low-income residents would use the money on basic necessities, and independent research showed that full-time employment increased, mental and physical health improved, and more people were able to save enough money to afford life’s unforeseen emergencies. Mayor Melvin Carter of Saint Paul, MGI’s Co-Chair, joined Mayor Tubbs and nine other mayors to create MGI and begin advocating for guaranteed income pilots in their cities.
In just four years, we’ve grown to 160 mayors, with members in almost every state. Building off of that momentum, we launched Counties for a Guaranteed Income (CGI) in February 2023 and we’ve doubled the number of county elected officials who are part of the movement since then. All together, we’ve supported 60+ pilots, delivering $300 million in direct, unconditional relief to everyday Americans.”
To read the full MGI/CGI June Newsletter, click here.
by Sarath Davala | Jun 5, 2024 | Events, News
Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity introduces Citizen Funds and a Universal Basic Dividend (UBD) as bold proposals to reduce inequality, increase wellbeing, and boost creativity and innovation in a time of social and economic upheaval.
This webinar will delve into the core concepts, potential benefits, and real-world applications of UBD as a transformative policy drawing on the experiences of our expert panel. We will explore:
- The fundamentals of Universal Basic Dividend
- Its potential to address economic inequality and enhance wellbeing
- The potential impact of UBD on sustainability and environmental stewardship
- Case studies and evidence from around the world
The panel:
Sarath Davala is an Indian sociologist, and President of Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN). He is co-author of the book: Basic Income: A Transformative Policy for India and contributing author to the Earth4All deep-dive paper Unconditional cash transfers and the five turnarounds: beneficiaries’ perspectives. He was Research Director of the Madhya Pradesh Basic Income Pilot (2010-2014) and is currently co-director of WorkFREE, a Basic Income pilot with waste collectors in Hyderabad. He is the co-founder of India Network for Basic Income and Mission Possible 2030 – both working on promoting informed conversation about Basic Income.
Ken Webster is a Visiting Professor at Cranfield University and a Fellow of CISL (Cambridge University Institute for Sustainability Leadership). From 2010 – 2018 he was Head of Innovation for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a circular economy pioneer organisation where he helped shape current notions of a ‘circular economy’, and is the founder of the Society for the Circular Economy. He a member of Earth4All’s Transformational Economics Commission, contributing author of Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity, and lead author of three Earth4All deep-dive papers on Universal Basic Dividend.
Caroline Whyte has a background in ecological economics and does research and advocacy for Feasta, the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability. She has a particular interest in global environmental justice, Just Transition and financial system reform. She contributed to Feasta’s books Fleeing Vesuvius and Sharing for Survival. Along with four other Feasta Climate Group members she helped to launch the CapGlobalCarbon initiative at the COP-21 summit in Paris in December 2015. She is a steering group member of the Wellbeing Economy Hub for Ireland, which she represents in the European Union Wellbeing Economy Coalition, and she is a member of the Irish National Economic and Social Council.
To register and send your questions to our panel, click here.
by Peter Knight | Jun 4, 2024 | News
“Last month, the US state of Iowa enacted a law banning local governments from adopting basic income programmes. This follows similar developments in Arkansas, Idaho, and South Dakota.
In Texas, after lawmakers failed to get their own such law adopted, the state’s attorney general filed a case to prevent Harris County from launching the basic income pilot that its officials had authorised. Declaring the pilot “unconstitutional”, the attorney general has taken his case all the way to the Supreme Court of Texas. What is going on here? And why do the intricacies of seemingly obscure local US politics matter?”
To read the full article for Al Jazeera by Neil Howard, click here.
by Peter Knight | May 21, 2024 | Events, News
This is to announce the fourth in a 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.
The Government of Ireland is running a Basic Income pilot that began in September 2022. 2000 artists and cultural workers will receive a weekly unconditional income of €325 weekly for a period of three years. This fourth session will be an opportunity to check-in with some of the artists involved in the pilot scheme and learn from them about how it is affecting them and their creative communities.
To learn more and access the links for this fourth discussion and recordings of the previous three, click here.
See the recording of this fourth session by clicking here.
by Peter Knight | May 3, 2024 | News
Photo by Ioann-Mark Kuznietsov on Unsplash
Note: These pilot programs do not meet BIEN’s definition of basic income.
“Ingrid Sullivan, 48, used her cash from the San Antonio guaranteed basic-income program to rent a home where her grandchildren can play in the yard. And Monique Gonzalez, 41, moved herself and her family out of a San Antonio motel.
A Denver resident, Jarun Laws, 51, used his basic income to pay his rent and buy food.
“My life was always just a couple hundred dollars short,” Sullivan told Business Insider. “For the first time, I can breathe.”
Guaranteed basic income has become an increasingly popular poverty-solution strategy in US cities. Over 50 municipalities have tried the GBI model since 2019, offering low-income participants between $100 and $1,000 a month, no strings attached, for a set time period.
To read the full article in Business Insider, click here.
