Basic Information
Country
United States
Region
New York
Governing level
Municipal
Funding
Budget (local currency)
US$0.80 million
Budget (USD 2022)
$0.86 million
Budget currency
USD
Funding type
Private
Additional funding source
External public
Funding description
Ulster County, New York, The Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley and Ulster Savings Bank funded the first county-led guaranteed income program in the United States
Budget description
This amount covered the cash transfers, namely 100 participants x 14 months x 500 USD/month. The amount decreased as the program titrated, with participants receiving less cash in the final three months (of 17 months, the total duration of the program), namely, $400 in July, $350 in August and $250 in September of 2022. Other administrative and operational services from the County's office, the program partners or the cost for the selected independent research partner, the Center for Guaranteed Income Research at Penn's School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2), are not included in this budget
Timeline
Project start date
01/05/2021
Project start year
2021
Final project release date
01/09/2023
Length of project (days)
853
Project length description
Project Resilience was launched in 2021 by Ulster County. Initially, 100 participants received a $500 monthly payment in the period of 1 year. The programme took place from May 2021 until April 2022, with a later phased extension until September 2022, due to COVID-19. The amount decreased as the program titrated, with participants receiving $400 in July, $350 in August and $250 in September of 2022. A total of $800,000 was invested in the community in the form of cash transfers. The cohort consisted of Ulster County households earning less than 80% AMI ($46,900 per household)
Experiment start date
01/05/2021
Experiment start year
2021
Experiment end date
01/09/2022
Experiment end year
2022
Number of start dates
1
Length of experiment (days)
488
Participants
Number of treatment groups
1
Sample size (intervention)
100
Sample notes
The study sample included 100 participants in the treatment group, exhibiting comparable demographic characteristics to the control group. The average age of participants was 43 years for the treatment group, with 46% of households having more than one child. The majority 61% were single. Marital status showed 16% of the treatment group were married and 23% were partnered. Women predominated, constituting 66% of participants. Ethnically, the majority were non-Hispanic (84%), and the racial composition was primarily White (72%), followed by Black participants (20%), with the smallest proportion identifying as Other races (5%). English was the primary household language (92%), and Spanish speakers were also represented (7%). Educational attainment was similar across groups: 46% had less than a high school education; Associate’s and Bachelor's degrees were held by 23% of the treatment group; and 25% reported other educational levels, including postgraduate degrees and trade/technical school. Appoximately 40% earned less than $20,000 annually at baseline, which is below the 2020 Federal Poverty threshold of $21,720 for a family of three. 31% of the respondents identified as SNAP beneficiaries and 5% as beneficiaries of SSI. According to the qualitative findings, despite full-time labor market participation, participants were living paycheck to paycheck and were still categorized as low-income or found themselves navigating a benefits cliff when a small wage increase reduced or made them ineligible for public benefits
Unit of analysis
Individuals
Control group?
Yes
Control group sample size
84
Control group description
The study sample included 84 participants in the control group, exhibiting comparable demographic characteristics to the treatment group. The average age of participants was 44 years for the control group, with 50% of households having more than one child. The majority 61% were single. Marital status showed 13% of the control group were married and 26% were partnered. Women predominated, constituting 63% of participants. Ethnically, the majority were non-Hispanic (81%), and the racial composition was primarily White (68%), followed by Black participants (15%), with a very slightly smaller proportion identifying as Other races (14%). English was the primary household language (96%), and Spanish speakers were also represented (4%). Educational attainment was similar across groups: 48% had less than a high school education; Associate’s and Bachelor's degrees were held by 38% of the control group; and 13% reported other educational levels, including postgraduate degrees and trade/technical school. Appoximately 40% earned less than $20,000 annually at baseline, which is below the 2020 Federal Poverty threshold of $21,720 for a family of three. 26% of the respondents identified as SNAP beneficiaries and 5% as beneficiaries of SSI. According to the qualitative findings, despite full-time labor market participation, participants were living paycheck to paycheck and were still categorized as low-income or found themselves navigating a benefits cliff when a small wage increase reduced or made them ineligible for public benefits
Target group description
Ulster County hoseholds earning less than 80% AMI ($46,900 per household)
Gender target
No
Income target
Yes
Age target (outside working age)
No
Family target
No
Labour market status target
No
Disability target
No
Occupation target
No
Industry target
No
Design and Implementation
Saturation
Dispersed
Legal powers
31% of the respondents identified as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries and 5% as beneficiaries of Social Security Income (SSI)
Evaluation
External
Conditionality
Only unconditional treatments
Taper rates
No tapers
Alternative interventions
None