“The time is always right to do what is right.” Those are the words of the late great Martin Luther King Jr., who would’ve turned 92 years old on Monday, Jan. 15. Commemorating his life and legacy, and in response to the social climate of 2020, community organization Compton Pledge will officially launch their guaranteed income pilot program on King’s birthday.
Led by Compton Mayor Aja Brown, co-director Jamarah Hayner, co-director Nika Soon-Shiong, and design and research partners Jain Family Institute, Compton Pledge will distribute cash relief to low-income residents of the city of Compton, host to 95,000 residents, on a reoccurring basis for two years.
Rollout and progress of the program will be closely monitored by an independent research team to find whether the scheduled direct cash payments are effective and test methods of enrollment and payment, and pay schedules.
“Launching on MLK day, the largest city-based guaranteed income pilot will be one of very few to include our fellow community members who have been incarcerated or who are undocumented,” an email from Compton Pledge reads. “This is a call for a new paradigm to end the shaming of people who live in poverty, people who have been incarcerated (in the country that incarcerates the most people both in real numbers and as a percentage of the population), and people who are undocumented who work alongside us every day, build our economy and contribute to the fabric of our communities. We can move from surviving to thriving when we prioritize humanity over dividends, love over strength, and community over chaos.”
Compton Pledge is on track to enroll at least 800 people into the program by March 2021. Those who were formerly incarcerated, undocumented, or denied welfare benefits, will represent about 25% of the program’s recipients. F4GI, the registered public charity responsible for establishing the Compton Pledge, plans to implement more similar programs across the nation to establish a society of economic equity.
Private donations are funding the initiative, in addition to partnerships with Black Lives Matter, One Fair Wage (OFW), Essie Justice Group, A New Way of Life Reentry Project, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), Compton Advocates, Brotherhood Crusade, the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, My Brother’s Keeper (MBK), and several other organizations who have taken the pledge.
For more information, visit the Compton Pledge website.
