Opinion: A basic income study is right for Polk County right now. Here’s why.

What could we learn about effective and efficient strategies to reduce poverty as a way of also alleviating the social issues caused by poverty?

As funders, my colleagues and I in the UpLift Funder GRoup are often asked to invest in temporary solutions to address poverty — solutions that help people access shelter, food, health care, and other needs in times of crisis. While these temporary solutions may address critical challenges in the moment, they do not address the consistent experience of poverty that cause crises to continually arise.

A year ago, we asked ourselves: What if we could imagine more for our community? What could we learn about effective and efficient strategies to reduce poverty as a way of also alleviating the social issues caused by poverty?

The economic health of a community is directly tied to the health and well-being of its members. Consider: 1 in 7 working households in Iowa cannot meet a basic needs budget, as reported last year by the advocacy group Common Good Iowa. The cost of living for Iowa families with children has risen nearly 11% since 2018. Ten percent of Iowans are food insecure and over a third of people accessing central Iowa food pantries are 17 years and younger, according to Food Bank of Iowa and the Des Moines Area Religious Council’s fiscal year 2022 report. According to United Way of Central Iowa, 1 in 4 central Iowans spends more than 30% of their income on housing . Knowing all of these things, we knew we needed root-cause solutions that help families address their ability to be economically stable. When people can meet their basic living needs, they can move out of crisis and show up more fully for their families and in the workforce, thus fostering a thriving community.

Basic income is an innovative model to reduce poverty that is being tested throughout the country. As funders, we believe in cross-sector support to address community needs. Thus, we are proud of the public/private/corporate partnership that helped launch a basic income study in our community known as UpLift – The Central Iowa Basic Income Pilot.  Eleven entities, including Mid-Iowa Health Foundation, Principal Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, Bank of America Foundation, The Directors Council, Telligen Community Initiative, and United Way of Central Iowa, along with the city of Des Moines, city of Urbandale, city of Windsor Heights, and Polk County, came together to fund this collaborative research opportunity.  With other pilot communities showing promising results in improving low-income families’ economic well-being, we believe it is critically important to study how this model works in our region and with our unique mix of metropolitan, micropolitan, and rural geographies within our study area.

On May 15, 110 randomly selected low-income individuals will begin receiving a monthly stipend of $500 per month for two years. Participants live with at least one dependent and can use the money to best meet their specific household needs. Researchers will track spending data and health and well-being outcomes compared with a control group of 140 participants who do not receive the stipend.

As a society, we champion innovation as the tool to move a sector forward. We must also be innovative in the social services and public benefits space, ensuring the most impactful use of public and philanthropic funds. The UpLift study will provide sound data that can directly inform decisionmakers as to where to invest resources and the type of policies to support to help our community thrive.

We are grateful for the UpLift research partners at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Guaranteed Income Research and Des Moines University Department of Public Health, for the pilot implementation partners at the Harkin Institute at Drake University, for the numerous community-based organizational partners who have been instrumental in supporting the pilot, and for the study participants whose experiences will provide an invaluable learning opportunity for our community.  We look forward to engaging all central Iowans in this community-wide, collaborative learning opportunity over the next three years.  To learn more about the study and a profile of the participants within Dallas, Polk and Warren counties, visit www.upliftiowa.org.

Nalo Johnson is president and CEO of Mid-Iowa Health Foundation; she submitted this essay on behalf of the UpLift Funder Group.