The Weekly Slice: Going big on guaranteed income
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Economic Mobility
Direct cash guaranteed income is often spoken of as a fringe idea, but such systems have been put in place around the world and there’s hard data to show how effective they can be.?
There is soft data, as well—stories of people who found a path out of poverty and a new sense of dignity thanks to a regular infusion of cash. In an op-ed for Newsweek, Pete Subkoviak, Director of Guaranteed Income and Economic Mobility at the Cook County Bureau of Economic Development (and a policy fellow at Institute’s Financial Security Program) talks about what he’s experienced running a guaranteed income program.
What it is:
The Cook County Promise Guaranteed Income Pilot is the nation's largest direct cash pilot; 3,250 families were randomly selected to get $500 a month for two years.
What happened:
Data isn’t final yet on the Cook County project, but other trials have seen improved financial and mental health outcomes without reducing unemployment. “When participants could predictably afford child care, transportation, and training programs, they had the financial freedom to invest in their own futures,” writes Subkoviak.
Why current systems don’t work:
“Traditional benefits stop people from complete destitution, but as they are structured today, they can also keep people down,” writes Subkoviak. “While they prevent the worst outcomes, they also set low limits on income and their hard cutoffs prevent people from moving up in the world.”
The upshot:
“For most Americans facing economic struggles,” says Subkoviak, “their chief problem is a lack of cash, and not a lack of character.”
Worker Voice
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Employees Had a Lot to Say in 2023. Which Business Issues Will They Shape in 2024?
Workers spoke up a lot last year, and many businesses weren’t prepared to listen. The Institute’s Business and Society Program wants to make sure this year is different.?
“Companies can’t meet the needs of the modern workforce if they rely on old reactive or ad hoc approaches to employee input,” says the program in a post on the Institute website. For corporate board directors and others on the listening side, the BSP has recently published Agenda for the Prepared Board and Corporate Boards in the New Era of Employee Voice, featuring strategies to help navigate this new era.?
To welcome 2024, the program asked four leaders to weigh in on the question, “What area of business could be unexpectedly shaped by worker voice in the year ahead?”
Health Equity
Global Wishes for 2024: Pay for Family Leave. Empower Black Men. Respect Rural Voices
Continuing its (relatively new) New Year’s tradition, NPR’s Goats and Soda asked thirteen global health and development leaders to offer up a wish for the coming year. Among those selected were fellows and a partner from the Aspen Global Innovators Group’s New Voices Fellowship.?
Climate and support for community health workers were at the center of their responses, with each looking at the crisis through a different lens, from food insecurity and global health to financial technology.
The wishes from AGIG fellows and partners:
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