Select families in Tacoma will soon be eligible to apply for a guaranteed-income program where they can receive $500 cash a month for 12 months to supplement their incomes and stabilize their financial situations. Applications for the Growing Resilience in Tacoma project open March 1. The project is a collaborative effort between the City of Tacoma, Washington State Economic Services Administration, Pierce County and United Way of Pierce County. The goal is to alleviate poverty by improving a family’s economic stability, housing security and mental health and empowering them to address financial crises on their own terms. From April through June 2025, 175 randomly selected families will be awarded $500 each month with no strings attached, as long as they meet the criteria.
In order to be eligible, you must be a single head of household with children (up to age 17 or 21 years old, if the child has a disability), be a resident within the eligible zip codes (98404, 98405, 98408, 98409, 98418, 98444 or 98445) and meet United Way’s Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained while Employed criteria. Residents’ income must be above 100% of the Federal Poverty Line and below 200% of the Federal Poverty Line for your household size. For a household size of two, that means you would have to make at least $20,440 and no more than $40,880. Applications for the program are available at https://www.uwpc.org/grit-20-guaranteed-income-project. The link will go online a couple days before March 1 and will be available in Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodian as well as English, said Shawn Paton, United Way of Pierce County’s interim vice president of community impact. Applicants will be notified by March 20 about the status of their application. The guaranteed income program is part of a growing movement to “empower families by providing them with the resources they need to support their families” and “reduce feelings of overwhelm and toxic stress, improve economic stability, increase housing stability and improve health and well-being while reducing poverty in our community,” according to
“For many households, a small monthly infusion of financial support can make the difference between stability and vulnerability,” according to United Way of Pierce County. “Despite the overall prosperity of the Puget Sound area, in Pierce County more than one in four households struggles to meet their basic needs,” and the COVID pandemic and economic inflation “have magnified these inequities.” This isn’t the first time the city of Tacoma has implemented such a program. In 2021 another GRIT program launched by Mayor Victoria Woodards served 110 individual families in Tacoma. Most participants were single women with an average household size of three and an annual mean income of $25,250. Testimonials from program participants throughout the country say the cash helped their families significantly, helping them pay for daily necessities, catch up on bills, spend more time with their families and save for their future. This story was originally published February 27, 2024, 1:08 PM.
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