Prince George’s County Launches Two-Year Basic-Income Pilot Program

WASHINGTON POST: Prince George’s County will guarantee basic income to up to 175 seniors and young people for a two-year pilot program, county leaders said in a Tuesday news conference launching the project — an achievement for a newer council member steering the Maryland county’s policies in a more liberal direction. The program, known as Thrive Prince George’s, will pay $800 a month over a two-year period to 125 residents ages 60 and up and to 50 residents ages 18 to 24, in an attempt to raise “vulnerable residents out of the cycle of poverty,” County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D) said. Alsobrooks noted that neighboring jurisdictions, such as the District, Fairfax, and Montgomery County, have launched similar programs that have led residents to pay down debt, move into permanent housing and further their educations.“With a guaranteed, steady stream of income, pursuing new opportunities will be much easier,” she said. “It is our hope that this program will lift Prince Georgians out of poverty, setting up some of our most vulnerable residents for success now and for years to come, even after the program ends.”[Black donors and power brokers take note of Alsobrooks’s historic Senate run]The $4 million pilot program is the product of legislation that District 7 council member Krystal Oriadha (D) introduced earlier this year. Since joining the council last December, Oriadha has led legislation aimed at stabilizing rent, raising a Pride flag over the county administration building during Pride Month, and boosting equity among tow truck contracts with the county. The all-Democratic council passed the legislation in April by an 8-0 vote, despite some members’ concerns about how the guaranteed-basic-income project would be funded and Alsobrooks’s concerns about the county’s budget shortfall. Ultimately, the initiative is being funded through private and public money, in a way that Alsobrooks stressed did not and would not affect the county’s budget.