Rio Grande Foundation President Paul Gessing is questioning the inclusiveness of the pilot program Santa Fe will be partaking in, which claims to establish universal basic income.
Part of Gessing’s concern emerges from how the program is being financed.
“The state legislature has actually embarked upon an experiment which they purport to call a universal basic income,”Gessing said in a podcast. “The first sign that it's not a real universal basic income is that it's funded through the Mayors for a Guaranteed Income project. Which is not universal, right?”
The Mayors for a Guaranteed Income project recently received a $15 million donation from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, according to Santa Fe New Mexican. In order to offer the income assistance program to its citizens, Santa Fe would need to supply $500,000 of its own funds to match the organization’s $500,000 grant, and seeks $175,000 in donations from the community.
Santa Fe is one of 25 cities participating in the program, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
Once approved by the City Council, 100 low-income Santa Fe Community College students under the age of 30 and who have children will be eligible to receive between $400 and $500 monthly in stipends.
