Ventura County hosts State’s guaranteed income pilot program for foster youths
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. – California has launched two state-funded guaranteed income pilot programs focused on helping foster youth with one program operating through the Ventura County Human Services Agency.
The State awarded the Ventura County Human Services Agency $1,538,758 to provide 150 former foster youth with $1,000 a month for the next 18 months.
Recipients will get unconditional, individual, regular cash payments to disrupt poverty and advance equity for former foster youths who have aged out of the state's care detailed a press release from the California Department of Social Services.
"This is an amazing opportunity to break the cycle of poverty experienced by many young adults transitioning out of foster care,” said Ventura Human Services Agency Director Melissa Livingston. "Investing in them is not only an investment in their future but in that of the broader community.”
This targeted guaranteed income pilot program builds off of the results of the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration.
"Nearly 4.5 million Californians live below the poverty line -- not because of personal failures, but because of policy choices,” said Special Advisor for Economic Mobility and Opportunity and Mayors for a Guaranteed Income Founder Michael Tubbs. "It's far past time for us to end poverty in our state and the California Guaranteed Income Pilot Program is a critical step in doing that. We saw with the first mayor-led guaranteed income program that I ran in Stockton that guaranteed income is effective at increasing not just financial stability but also mental and physical health, parent-child relationships, and people's ability to strive for goals. I'm excited to see those results replicated as the first payments of the CDSS pilot begin to go out in Ventura and San Francisco."
