Towanda Perkins is a single mother with two grown sons. Sheworks as an office manager at a nonprofit organization in Milwaukee. During the pandemic, she has seen many mothers with childrenwho have lost their jobs and been evicted by landlords. Perkins is expecting tosee more homelessness once the temporary halt on certain evictions issued bythe CDC — recently extended to Oct. 3— ends. Perkins knows from personal experience what many low-incomeAfrican-Americans families are facing — and how a basic income program beingpushed by some politicians and policy makers could change their lives. She participated in the New Hope Project, an experimentconducted in Milwaukee in the mid-1990s. In 1994, she was a 23-year-old singlemother, six months pregnant with her second child. The program helped her finda job and to get off welfare. Perkins said the support helped her set a newcourse for her life. Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing! Today, in addition to counseling prospective homeowners, sheworks as an office manager overseeing payroll for the Dominican Center, a nonprofit social service agencythat works with residents of Milwaukee’s Amani neighborhood. “Itwas a big help because I felt like without the New Hope Project, I don’t knowwhere I’d be,” Perkins said. Entrepreneurs, scholars and politicians, including 2020Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, have proposed programs such asguaranteed income or universal basic income (UBI) to alleviate the persistentwealth and income disparity between whites and people of color. Such programsgive all residents, or in some cases just low-income residents, a set income tobe used however recipients see fit as a way to meet basic needs. In fact, the Child Tax Credit in President Joe Biden’sAmerican Rescue Plan, which gives parents up to $3,600 per child, has beencalled a “baby step” toward a guaranteed income program. Basic income programs proliferate Madison, Milwaukee and Wausau are just three of 50-plus U.S. cities participating in the Mayors for a Guaranteed Income program, which advocates governmentfunding of an “income floor for all who need it.” Stephen Young is a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor who studies basic income programs in the United States and worldwide. Young said universal basic income is not a “magic bullet solution” but an idea that has gained traction in the past decade to “address structural unemployment and poverty.” Former Stockton, California Mayor Michael Tubbs launchedthat city’s program in February 2019. The Stockton Economic EmpowermentDemonstration (SEED) gave 125 Stocktonians with anincome under $46,033 — the city’s median income — $500 per month for 24 months.The program was funded with more than $3 million in private donations,including $1 million from the Economic Security Project. SEED released its first-year data inMarch. Erin Coltrera, one of the authors of the preliminary analysis, said the numbers show the programworked. One key finding in Stockton was anincrease in full-time employment among recipients across the first year, from28% to 40% — weakening the common critique that guaranteed income would resultin fewer people working. The extra money also allowedrecipients to buy small luxuries like birthday cakes and afforded free time tospend with friends or family, the report found. Additionally, the supplementaryincome stabilized households where the money for necessities routinely runsout. At the start of the program, only25% of recipients could pay for an unexpected expense without borrowing money.A year into the program, 52% could pay for such an expense without going intodebt. “I don’t think anyone on the teamthought that it would play out that drastically,” Coltrera said. Wisconsin joins basic income movement Similar programs in Madison, Milwaukee and Wausau are stillin the planning stages. While none of them has fully laid out how itsguaranteed income program would work, the source of the funding is set: TwitterCEO Jack Dorsey, a well-known proponentof guaranteed income. He gifted $15 million to Mayors for a Guaranteed Incometo help fund programs across the country. Wausau’s program expects to receive $100,000, and Madison expects $600,000. Madison has also raised another$300,000 from local donors, totaling$900,000. Details of Milwaukee’s program are not yet publicly known; Mayor TomBarrett announced the city’s plan to participate in late March. Wausau Mayor Katie Rosenberg said the city is searching foradditional funding from local organizations to aid more residents with itsprogram, which is geared toward the working poor. “We’re almost at 15% poverty in Wausau,” Rosenberg said.