Stimulus update: Direct payments worth $500 for more than 300 families to be sent in nine days
Brady Knox
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A program that will send $500 monthly to 305 families in Sonoma County, California, is set to send its next payment in just nine days.
The Pathway to Income Equity pilot program selected 305 out of 6,450 applicants. To be eligible, applicants had to have at least one child under 6 years of age, be affected in some way by the COVID-19 pandemic, and have a household income of no more than 185% above the federal poverty level, according to the Sonoma County Administrator’s Office. Its first payment was issued last month, and its next payment will be issued on April 19.
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The program is partially an experiment to see how guaranteed income affects impoverished families.
“These payments will help families with young children who are often struggling under the double burden of the high costs of housing and child care — typically the two highest household expenses,” Supervisor Chris Coursey, the chairman of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, said. “The information we gain from this pilot program will help shape future efforts to improve the health and welfare of our community.”
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Angie Dillon-Shore, the executive director of First 5 Sonoma County, an independent public agency focused on early childhood development, defended the program as essential to fighting familial poverty and preempted criticisms that it may incentivize laziness.
“The number of applications we received speaks to the issue that so many in our community are struggling,” she said. “The idea that giving people cash is a disincentive to work is a myth. Most of our selected recipients are already working, many working more than one job or more than 40 hours a week just to survive. This extra income will allow them to spend more time with their families, find a better job, or improve their financial well-being, resulting in better outcomes for their kids.”