Dozens of Columbus' low-income moms to get $500 a month

A partnership among a trio of nonprofits will give 32 Columbus mothers $500 a month over the next year with no strings attached.

Why it matters: The initiative marks what appears to be Columbus' first unconditional guaranteed income program, and it launches as the City of Columbus begins to test the waters of its own direct assistance projects.

Driving the news: Last week, RISE Together Innovation Institute, Motherful, and UpTogether announced the Ohio Mothers Trust program, which will distribute the money to mothers with incomes at or below 80% of the median, surveying participants along the way to track impact.

The big picture: Since multiple cash payments were sent to Americans during the pandemic, various guaranteed income and cash payment programs have been launched nationwide.

• Astar Herndon, Midwest partnership director for UpTogether, says national attitudes around these programs have changed drastically since the pandemic.
• "I don't think it's the same environment as 10 or 20 years ago," she told us. "In the past four years, we've just had a lot of examples of cash at a national level. Now, our struggle is making more examples on a local level."

Case in point: Herndon pointed to Austin's Guaranteed Income Pilot, launched in 2022, as a template for bringing direct cash programs to other cities.

• In an evaluation of that pilot released last week, the Urban Institute found that it "substantially" improved housing security, among other positive outcomes.

State of play: In November, the City of Columbus launched its own $500 a month "Economic Mobility Accelerator Program," which will benefit 200 households but requires them to participate in one of six job training or career services programs.

Yes, but: For Herndon, requirements like that program's perpetuate "mistrusting poor communities" and simply add another barrier to entry for people who need assistance the most.

• "What we've found is that the restriction really limits the ability to decide, based on where you're at, the best decision for you," she says. "We know that families are really in survival mode and they have a number of decisions they have to make on a routine basis. Restricting that restricts their ability to have agency and claw themselves out of some circumstances."

What they're saying: Councilwoman Melissa Green, the first licensed social worker on Columbus City Council and a proponent of the accelerator, sees it as a "steppingstone" toward conversations about expanded cash and direct assistance programs.

• "I don't think there's been anywhere in the United States that has fully implemented a universal basic income program, but I think we all saw the impact of unrestricted cash assistance during the pandemic," she told us.
• "Those stimulus checks cut child poverty rates in half. I think seeing information like that … gives us more motivation to continue forward on this path."