Cambridge to Explore Continuing Guaranteed Income Program Despite Budget Fears

The Cambridge City Council voted unanimously to explore a successor to the city’s guaranteed income program during its Monday meeting, even as Councilors have raised concerns about the city’s growing budget.

If Cambridge moves forward with a successor program, it will remain one of the few cities to provide direct cash payments to its residents. But Vice Mayor Marc C. McGovern stressed that any follow-up will likely have a reduced scope as the city braces for likely budget reductions.

“We’re not going to be able to write a whole bunch of blank checks the way we used to,” McGovern said. “Some things we can do full force, and some things we’ll have to scale back.”

Cambridge originally provided 130 single-caretaker households with monthly $500 payments as part of a pilot program spearheaded by then-Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui during the pandemic, funded by philanthropic efforts led by the Cambridge Community Foundation.

A University of Pennsylvania study found that the initiative increased employment rates, financial health, and educational outcomes for children.

The city then expanded the program — now known as Cambridge Rise Up — in 2023 using nearly $19 million of federal Covid-19 relief funds, making it the third-largest direct income program in the country at the time.

But with funding for the program projected to deplete in February, its supporters are looking for a permanent funding mechanism.

Former Vice Mayor Alanna M. Mallon, who led the initiative alongside McGovern and Siddiqui, said addressing the city’s financial concerns would need “creative” solutions.

“Maybe the universities help fund it, like they did in the pilot,” Mallon said, referring to Harvard and MIT’s six-figure donations to the original program.

“There’s certainly a biotech community here that has a ton of money. I think there’s a way for Cambridge to come together to make sure that this program continues. I’m just not sure that the City of Cambridge could do it on its own,” she added.

But Siddiqui said she was not “too worried” about Cambridge’s ability to finance the program.

“Given our billion dollar budget last year, I think there's so much wealth in this city. Whatever we can do to help the families who need the most should be a priority,” Siddiqui said.

Geeta Pradhan, the president of the Cambridge Community Foundation, acknowledged that maintaining Rise Up would require a sizable investment. Still, she said continuing the program would be especially impactful considering Cambridge’s high cost of living.

“For a family to live a healthy, stable life in Cambridge, you need to be earning at 500 percent of the federal poverty line,” Pradhan said, “This program actually applied to families that were at 250 percent of the federal poverty line, which means these were families that were already struggling to make ends meet.”

Beneficiaries of the program also spoke passionately about its impact on their lives.

Lita Griffin, who works as a digital navigator for the city, said the program helped her recover after losing two jobs during the pandemic.

“Cambridge Rise Up has helped me to support this and feeling stability,” she said. “I just want to say that it has helped me to even get my job that I have right now.”

Joanna Jimenez, a local mother of eight, said receiving payments through the pilot program helped her finish highschool and start paralegal training.

“Depression could have been my last name until the RISE program came about,” she said.

“I know for a fact that I would have not been able to be where I’m at today if it wasn’t for this program who helped me pay bills and take on that financial hardship,” she added. “I can focus and change the trajectory of my life, my children’s life, and I can now see that I’m going to have a future.”

—Staff writer Benjamin Isaac can be reached at benjamin.isaac@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @benjaminisaac_1.

—Staff writer Avani B. Rai can be reached at avani.rai@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @avaniiiirai.