The city of Pomona is launching a universal income pilot program that will give money to hundreds of residents.

Through a lottery, the Pomona Household Universal Grant Program (HUG) will choose 600 eligible residents and assign them to two groups — a paid group and a control group.

The paid group includes 250 residents who will receive a monthly payment of $500 for 18 months.

The remaining 350 residents are part of the control group and will receive $20 monthly payments for 18 months.

Eligibility requirements include:

• Must be a resident of Pomona at the time of application
• Must be 18 or older at the time of application
• Must be the parent or legal guardian of a child under 4 years old at the time of application
• Must meet at least one of the four ARPA qualifiers – full list is provided under the “Detailed Eligibility Requirements” on city website
• Agree to consent to a research study conducted by UCLA

The universal income program will include a research study conducted by the University of California, Los Angeles to analyze how income-based grants will impact program participants. The research study is sponsored by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

All program participants can also participate in surveys from UCLA. Each completed survey will include a $50 bonus payment.

Select participants will be offered free benefits counseling, financial coaching, parenting skills, and career counseling through Los Angeles County services.

Online applications are open from June 17 through July 8 at 11 p.m. PST.

A lottery to select winners will be held on July 10. If selected, the first payments are scheduled to be disbursed through a reloadable debit card on Aug. 26

Residents who may need help applying for the income program can attend an in-person event at the Pomona Public Library on June 25 from 2 p.m. – 7 p.m.

The application for the Pomona Household Universal Grant Program can be found here.