St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter announced today that he is going to “double down” on his efforts to help bring families out of poverty within the city.
A few years ago, the city launched a guaranteed income pilot program that helped low-income families by offering them $500 a month.
Recently the 18-month program was concluded with data collected, and Carter says that researchers will study its effectiveness.
While it was scoffed at initially, Carter says that he has heard stories from people who said the program offered real help when they needed it.
Now, Carter says they will add an additional program called “College Bound Boost” that will assist those pursuing higher education without the means to afford it.
“There will be a total of a thousand families in a cohort, a third of which will receive that larger benefit, a third of which will receive a total of a thousand dollars in deposits into their college savings account, and a third of which will be members of our flagship saving accounts initiative,” Carter said.
Carter shared that $4 million in funding for the program comes from the American Rescue Plan and another thousand from philanthropy.
Related
