$500 monthly payments to 100 Columbia fathers set to begin in pilot program
An experiment in income equality has begun in Columbia.
On Monday, Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, Democratic state Rep. Jermaine Johnson of Richland County and others announced that the first payments in a guaranteed income pilot program have started in the capital city. Through the Columbia Life Improvement Monetary Benefit (CLIMB) initiative, 100 Columbia fathers are set to receive $500 per month for one-year. Columbia is one of several cities nationwide trying the pilot program through the group Mayors for a Guaranteed Income.
The Columbia program is being funded with private dollars from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.
Benjamin said that the 100 Columbia fathers participating were set to begin receiving payments — loaded onto debit cards provided by the program — on Tuesday. The recipients were identified by the nonprofit Midlands Fatherhood Coalition. The Fatherhood Coalition is part of the S.C. Center for Fathers and Families and offers community-based programs and support services for fathers.
The Central Carolina Community Foundation has assisted in managing the funds.
There are no strings attached or instructions on how recipients are to spend the money. Program leaders will be able to anonymously track the spending and identify trends in how the guaranteed income was used through the year.
“This pilot seeks to determine the effectiveness of regular, monthly payments to address financial instability and the subsequent effect of strengthening fathers, their families and their communities,” Benjamin said.
The Columbia pilot program has been in the works for nearly a year. While it is funded philanthropically, Columbia City Council passed a resolution earlier this summer expressing support for the initiative.
Johnson is the founder of the CLIMB initiative, perhaps unsurprising considering he was an early endorser of Democrat Andrew Yang’s presidential bid in 2020. A key proposal from Yang was a universal basic income for all Americans.
While guaranteed income differs from universal basic income — the guaranteed income programs are targeted toward groups where there may be a need — the concept of monthly payments remains.
Johnson said the Columbia initiative will analyze data from where the money is spent and examine the economic impact of the pilot program. He said the 100 fathers are a mix in terms of demographics. Some are single fathers, some are married.
“When we did the onboarding, I asked all of them one on one how they planned on spending their money,” Johnson said. “You’d be surprised at some of the answers we got. ‘It’s a blessing because I get to fix my car’ or ‘Its a blessing because I get to save up and give this to my child when he gets older’ or ‘I get to open up a new bank account.’ ... None of the things they said were self-serving ideas. It was about uplifting their families.”
