It's an idea that's grown increasingly popular in recent years, guaranteed or universal basic income payments.

Now a pilot program is launching in Gary, Indiana.

It's distributing $500 a month to 125 randomly chosen citizens with no strings attached.

The public-private pilot is about expanding the safety net for residents straining to make ends meet.

You were selected to receive $500 a month for 12 months.

Yes.

Oh my gosh, yes.

Now I'm able to actually make a payment.

So that made my day.

Well, now I can get some art supplies for my business.

What is it that you need in your communities?

What is it that you need in your city?

What do you think our federal government should be doing for individuals across our nation?

The G.I.V.E.

program was a blessing really.

It came out of nowhere.

I was very happy.

I was able to do things, uh, that I hadn't been able to do before.

And one of my hopes was to get back into school, something in the social sciences.

I want to be an advocate for the downtrodden, because once I was downtrodden.

Everyone always put this stickler of poverty on black and brown people.

What covid exposed was everybody was hit with poverty.

Even the working class whites, Asians didn't matter.

I lost my job and two days later my daughter lost hers.

So thinking about how can I help my family, I came across an article.

And they were talking about Mayors for Guaranteed Income.

And I talked to Mayor Jerome about it.

I'm like, can we do this <laugh>?

And he's like, yeah.

And so it just took off from there.

Coming from a city that's economically depressed, where a significant portion of the residents live below the poverty level, certainly glad to benefit people here in the city, but uh, also glad to be a part of a national movement and help other people across the country.

Back in 1976, I got out of the Air Force to work in the steel mill.

I was earning a lot of money working at the steel mill.

Off and on it was twenty-six years.

Gary has some historic challenges.

At the height, US Steel probably employed about 30,000 people.

Today, I believe they're down to somewhere right around 7,000.

There's not very many industries here in the city that have the ability to employ as many people as US Steel did.

I'm hoping that the majority of the people who participate will have found an opportunity through this program to not only create pathways to elevate themselves out of poverty, if you will, but to enhance their standard of life.

I am a disabled veteran.

I had a heart attack in 2018 and being a diabetic, getting the money from the program made it easier on my pocket.

I take insulin before I eat, twice a day.

One of my hopes was to do more for my family, such as sending my handicaps son care packages.

This is the Staples that I like to do all my shipping from.

He's 27 years old and he loves hot chips and he loves to dress and he loves cologne.

So he likes to look good and smell good.

He's non-verbal and he lived with me for a while, but I was unable to take care of him the way I wanted to because of my ailment.

He's in a group home.

He does fairly well.

Sometimes he's violent.

He can't explain hisself because he can't talk.

He gets frustrated and it comes out as a violent act, but they're working to get his medication mellowed out.

Hello.

Augustine.

How are you?

I'm good.

How are you?

Great.

This Miss Peoples from the G.I.V.E.

pilot.

Yes, yes.

Dude.

I have some wonderful news.

Well, you know, I already know that G.I.V.E.

Is an organization, guaranteed income is just one of our programmings.

I have a meeting coming up and I would love for you to attend to...

Okay.

Yeah, because I want more people to know what IUN is doing and they can see what IUN is doing for you.

And they'll, they'll wanna just go and check the school out.

And my prayer is that they will want to enroll.

Cause there's a lot of individuals that want that higher education degree.

They just don't feel like they can do it because they don't know about the different programming or the scholarships that's available.

The dollars are great, but a lot of the participants like, man, these resources, we've never had opportunities like this before.

And being available to have those talks and to listen and to pray for those that need prayer.

This is the, that's the greatest part of this job for me.

You know, doing the disbursements is wonderful, but being available for the participants, that is what I find my greatest joy.

Hey boy.

How you doing?

How are you?

I'm pretty good, thank you.

All right.

Thanks a lot hon.

You too.

Take care.

The Covid had everything locked down.

Visiting with Austin, my handicapped son, was non-existent.

Recently that opened up the doors again to have visits.

We're going to Flora, Indiana down across from Lafayette, Indiana, which is approximately 84 miles from here to see my son, Austin.

I haven't seen him in two years.

It's a pretty good little trip.

I'm pretty excited about getting to see him.

Nice kitchen.

All right.

Got some goodies for Austin.

Can you put 'em away for him?

<laugh> He knows, doesn't he?

How you been man?

Give me a hug or something.

<laugh> Austin, I like your haircut, man.

It was a great visit.

Medications are helping him function better.

They said his appetite is good, his weight gain is good.

I'll have to make it down here more often.

Hopefully when I do get my degrees, I can purchase a home and I'll be able to have it big enough for me and Austin to have a staff to help take care of Austin.

Five hundred dollars a month reassured me and made me more determined to get something done with my life.

I'm taking sociology and I'm taking introduction to African American history.

I do have a love for this city and there is a need for advocates in this city.

I really want to help Gary rise again.

We realize that a $500 allotment or gift as we're calling it, isn't going to be the panacea or the resolution to all of your issues.

We're just trying to provide an opportunity that hadn't existed before and create some synergies with people that allow them to uplift themselves.

The people that live here, they want more.

They want better.

They don't want to just move away and leave a desolate.

No, they wanna put their hands into the plow too.

Poverty is not a lack of character; it is a lack of cash.

Nobody wants to be in poverty.

Even the ones that accepted it do not want to be in any form of poverty and sometimes a little help financially.

It will just turn the light on cuz they see a possibility.

And Augustine, it was like, listen, I want more than this.

He's like, I'm gonna get this degree.

And he has taken ownership of his future.