The Guaranteed Care Income San Francisco pilot started in June 2024 and supported ten low-income single mothers for one year.
The participants received an unconditional payment of $2,000 a month.
At a press conference on Wednesday, the people who ran the program highlighted the impact of guaranteed income on family caregivers.
As Sergio Martinez, one of the researchers who evaluated the pilot, shared, "Together, these findings show that when you trust and support caregivers directly, you affirm mothers’ roles as decision makers and strengthen their families."
He and his team found that the program brought “economic stability," "better housing," and "reliable transportation.”
It also allowed mothers to spend more time with their children, take care of their health, and feel more in control of their lives.
Shantae Jones, who is a mother of two and one of the participants in the pilot, said, "With the financial support, I was able to protect my children by staying in hotels when we had nowhere else to go. That money meant we didn’t have to choose between safety and survival. It gave me the time and breathing room to begin healing from trauma and to start planning for a better future."
The pilot was initiated by the In Defense of Prostitute Women’s Safety Project. They plan to use the report to lobby for guaranteed income for single mothers. Their aim is to “go from pilot to policy.”
