Fifty-two Illinois families are currently participating in a guaranteed income pilot program that gives them $500 a month to spend as they see fit.
The California nonprofit UpTogether is running the one-year pilot program that launched in September 2024. It's funded by a private donor. The pilot was open to families making up to 80% of the area median income, and the goal is to demonstrate that direct cash payments can provide more stability for families.
Astar Herndon is the Midwest Partnership Director for UpTogether.
"What we're finding so far is that actually around 50% of the participants use their income on housing, which indicates there's extreme housing burdens with families," Herndon said.
In Illinois, Herndon said 78% percent of participating families are below the federal poverty line. Sixty-seven percent are employed and working at least 34 hours a week.
Bria Gregory is a Peoria mom of three participating in the guaranteed income pilot. She's also working at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and going to Illinois Central College to earn a degree in business administration.
Gregory said the money helped her buy coats for her kids. It also came in handy when she had a major unanticipated expense pop up.
"It definitely made a difference. My car was down and I had to pay to get the car fixed. So a lot, a lot had happened during that time," she said.
Herndon said UpTogether makes clear from the get-go that the pilot program income won't last forever for participants, but they're hopeful the short-term infusion of money can be a launchpad for helping people to go back to school, obtain transportation, or take other actions that help increase their earning power.
Participants are from Peoria, Carbondale, Springfield, Bloomington, Normal, Champaign, Rockford, Belleville, and East St. Louis. Previous pilot programs focused on Chicago and Cook County, but Herndon said it's important to show guaranteed income makes a difference in downstate communities, too.
"We're really excited to show the evidence of what the impact does downstate, because I really think that that's going to create a new conversation right around the palatability of all state officials thinking of the positive impact of direct cash," Herndon said.
UpTogether and other nonprofit partners want to use the data they collect through the pilot to advocate for state lawmakers to create a new $90 million dollar statewide guaranteed income program, with the funds evenly split between Chicago, Cook County, and downstate.
