Resilient Communities for Every Child – San Diego Guaranteed Basic Income Pilot 

Alliance Healthcare Foundation is pleased to provide initial anchor funding to support the San Diego Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) Pilot through San Diego for Every Child.

Background
Alliance Healthcare Foundation recognizes that evidence links greater wealth and financial stability with better health. According to many studies, people with greater wealth and income tend to live longer, have lower rates of chronic disease and have more favorable health outcomes. Unfortunately, wealth in America is unequally distributed by race. Communities of color face systemic barriers to opportunity, freedom and prosperity in the United States.

We also know that income, wealth, and education, along with their behavioral impacts, are stronger predictors of a child’s future health than genetics, access to health care, or physical environment combined.

As part of Alliance Healthcare Foundation’s strategic grant initiative, we are supporting systems-change interventions that address upstream root causes contributing to health and wellness, such as economic security and mobility.

About San Diego for Every Child
San Diego for Every Child is a county-wide initiative of individuals and organizations committed to cutting the experience of child poverty across San Diego County in half by 2030. Jewish Family Service of San Diego acts as the coalition’s coordinating agency. San Diego for Every Child is piloting a guaranteed basic income project, Resilient Communities for Every Child, as an economic justice tool to help address the racial and gender inequities that impact the lives of children experiencing poverty. With COVID-19, social unrest, deep and significant racial inequities in our country, and an emerging recession, guaranteed income is an ideal program to address the experience of child poverty both in the current moment and beyond. San Diego for Every Child is committed to cultivating a deeper understanding around the root causes of child poverty by illuminating the systems-level changes needed to create a San Diego that works for every child.

According to Mayors for Guaranteed Basic Income, most households live one paycheck away from financial crisis, and our current safety net is ill-equipped to remediate it. Pre-pandemic, it is estimated that 40% of Americans could not afford a $400 emergency; a statistic that dramatically and disproportionately impacts communities of color at higher rates.

About Guaranteed Basic Income
Guaranteed Basic Income is a proven, yet still emerging best practice to reduce childhood and family poverty. The American Rescue Plan’s Child Tax Credit (a form of guaranteed income) has been hailed as a historic effort that could cut child poverty in half in the short term, but it is currently only slated to last one year.

Other guaranteed basic income pilots across the country have demonstrated significant outcomes such as:

• Reductions in income volatility
• Improved self-reported mental and physical health
• Improved sense of hope and overall wellbeing
• Positive effect on children
• Positive effect on other social behaviors
• Reduced stress as measured by cortisol levels
• Debt reduction and other financial security measures

While still in early design phase, we are eager to join forces with other community partners and align with emerging parallel efforts to support the San Diego GBI pilot. We will share more details in the coming months.

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