FOLLOW US

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey donated an additional $15 million to help launch guaranteed income programs for poor individuals in more than 25 cities across the United States

The Mayors for Guaranteed Income (MGI) announced Dorsey’s donation on Wednesday. This is his second donation to the organization. In July, he gave $3 million. Dorsey made the donations through his the Economic Security Project

Mayor Michael D. Tubbs of Stockton, California and the Economic Security Project founded MGI, which serves as a network for U.S. mayors to work together to advocate for a guaranteed income.

According to MGI, Dorsey’s latest financial gift is “already being allocated to launch or expand guaranteed income pilots” in multiple cities including Columbia, South Carolina; Los Angeles, California; Madison, Wisconsin; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Providence, Rhode Island; Richmond, Virginia; Tacoma, Washington; Saint Paul, Minnesota; and New Orleans, Louisiana, and many more cities to be announced later.

In a statement, Stockton Mayor Tubbs said, “We are a nation in crisis and the last one of this scale yielded dramatic social reform; this is our New Deal moment. We need a social safety net that goes beyond conditional benefits tied to employment, works for everyone, and begins to address the call for racial and economic justice through a guaranteed income. These pilots and the resulting evidence will be instrumental in shaping what the 2021 social contract looks like in America.”

On the other hand, Los Mayor Garcetti commented that the funding provided by Dorsey is a “testament to the momentum” of MGI and its goal. He added that it is also a “tribute to a simple, yet innovative idea: that offering direct aid to struggling families translates into greater security for our economy, stability for our communities, and peace of mind for households across our cities.”

Garcetti is a member of the executive committee of MGI.

Meanwhile, one of the beneficiaries of the guaranteed income program in Stockton, Laura Kidd-Plummer, said, “I’m breathing a sigh of relief at this point because without being with SEED or being a participant, I don’t think I’d be sitting in this chair right now.”

In a tweet, Dorsey expressed gratitude to the U.S. mayors for “these universal income pilots!”

Thank you Mayor and to all the Mayors of @mayorsforagi for these universal basic income pilots! I hope they inform federal policy in the future. https://t.co/6ItPWx3Lld

— jack (@jack) December 8, 2020

----------------------------------------

Have a story you want USA Herald to cover? Submit a tip here and if we think it's newsworthy, we'll follow up on it.

Want to contribute a story? We also accept article submissions – check out our writer's guidelines here.