Guaranteed income has suddenly gained bipartisan support in the wake of COVID-19. As the nation’s first mayor-led guaranteed income pilot, SEED is on the frontlines of what unconditional cash can do in emergencies. Although this pandemic currently threatens our physical and economic health, its impact mirrors the long-time reality of SEED’s low-income recipients: a persistent and pervasive threat of an economy that doesn’t work for all of us.
Even Americans who previously earned enough or more than enough are suddenly facing extreme economic insecurity. They can’t afford to heed the public health warnings without paid leave protections and could lose…
The Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration, or SEED, is the nation’s first mayor-led guaranteed income initiative. A collaboration between the Office of Mayor Michael Tubbs, the Reinvent Stockton Foundation, the Economic Security Project, and the residents of Stockton, California, SEED aims to test a simple, yet innovative, solution to poverty and inequality.
When we first launched SEED, we never expected that a Presidential candidate would be embracing a universal basic income (UBI) just a short year later. Andrew Yang lifted up the concept of UBI to the national level with his proposal to provide $1,000 per month to all U.S. citizens…
By Elvira Ramirez and George Manalo-LeClair, Special to The Record
{This article was originally submitted to and published in the Stockton Record on November 19, 2019}
Food is a basic need and a powerful asset. It can aid in the brain development of young children. It can improve academic outcomes for students. If can fuel a workforce. It can help our elders age with dignity.
But for many in the San Joaquin Valley, in what has been called the “food basket of the world,” food is not a strength but a struggle. …
Between 2011 and 2013, Tomas Vargas Jr. attended 13 funerals in his hometown of Stockton, California. The names of the family and friends Tomas lost to some of the deadliest years in Stockton’s recent history are etched across his arm — Marcus, John, Ricky, Humphrey.
Next to the memorials on Tomas’s arms is a tattoo that reads “Rendon Ave,” an homage to the mistakes he made as a teenager and vows not to repeat. Tomas was sent to live with his grandmother when he was 12, growing up in a public housing development in South Stockton.
Today, Tomas works as…
Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED)
SEED is the nation’s first mayor-led guaranteed income initiative.
