Low-Income Earns Cash for Being Good

Conditional cash transfers, as they are sometimes called, are the focus of a new program in New York, according to the Associated Press. This same program is being used in Mexico and Brazil. Mayor Michael Bloomberg traveled this past spring to see the plan in action.

The Associated Press reported that city officials laid out the plans for this on Monday, calling it "an experimental anti-poverty program." Some of the incentives are $150 for keeping a job, $200 for keeping doctor's appointments, and $300 for high marks on tests.

This is a two-year pilot program that has involved 14,000 participants. Funding for the project will come from a private fund that Bloomberg raised. He did not feel it was appropriate to spend the city or state's money on an experimental program that did not have a track record yet. Linda Gibbs, the Deputy Mayor told the Associated Press that had been more than $43 million raised, with a goal of $53 million.

The idea behind this program is to get the low income from being caught in a vicious circle of setbacks that keep them at or below poverty level. As an example, the Associated Press used the doctor's visits. A person who does not keep up with proper medical treatment could potentially become more and more ill and those their job.

Bloomberg was quoted in a statement by the Associated Press as saying the program "gives New Yorkers in poverty a financial incentive to look ahead and make decisions that will improve their prospects for the future." Bloomberg feels paying people will help them break the set back cycle.

Critics of the program, like Margy Waller, co-founder of Inclusion, feels the program is sending the wrong message. The Associated Press quoted Waller as saying, "It just reinforces the impression that if everybody would just work hard enough and change their personal behavior we could solve poverty in this country, and that's not reflected in the facts."

Waller feels time and money would be better spent by focusing on wage laws and benefits programs for the working class. Labor issues need to be addressed more closely. Waller was a domestic policy adviser during the Clinton administration.

The city, according to the Associated Press, is asking the Federal government not to tax the incentive bonuses. Some of these include $150 a month for keeping a job, $25 for 95% adherence to school attendance, $25 for parent teacher conferences, $100 per family member who regularly visits the dentist, and $400 for graduating high school. The average family can earn anywhere between $3000 to $6000 per year.

The program is scheduled to begin this fall. Participants are being chosen now. There are three small programs umbrellaed under the one. With each having their own criteria and awards. The participants will include about 2,550 families, 2,400 single adults and 9,000 children from 4th to 7th grade.

The rewards program participants will be compared to a control group with similar situations and sizes. The control groups will be surveyed and reviewed by an independent social policy research group, according to the Associated Press. This will allow the city to measure the effectiveness of the program.

Source: The Associated Press, Sara Kugler; NYC Poor to get Cash for Good Behavior, http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/POVERTY_PLAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-06-19-00-39-36