The screening of the 2023 documentary “It’s Basic” at Hudson Hall will be followed by a roundtable discussion on HudsonUP, the five-year UBI program created by The Spark of Hudson in 2020.
The pilot is funded by a grant from Spark Founder Susan Danziger’s Eutopia Foundation, and gives $500 a month to 128 participants across three cohorts. HudsonUP Ambassador Lira Campbell, who has taught for the Hudson City School District, says four years in, the pilot has given her a certain peace of mind while juggling high inflation and a wave of medical bills from her husband’s fight against cancer.
“Just knowing that I got backup, I got help – I got a hand-up, not a handout – so I didn’t have to go asking for anything. It was a great relief," says Campbell.
Danziger says Campbell’s peers have experienced similar benefits: she argues employment has almost tripled among participants, and their physical and mental health has improved as well. Wednesday’s event is part of a national tour by the Mayors for Guaranteed Income – which Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson is a part of – to promote the growth of UBI pilot programs across the country. In itslatest annual report, the network counts more than 60 pilot cities nationwide.
Johnson, a Democrat, says establishing an “income floor” benefits Hudson as a whole because participants often spend their money at local businesses. While Danziger stresses that the pilot is not just for poorer Hudson residents, she feels it can be instrumental in disrupting the cycle of poverty. Those eligible for the HudsonUP lottery fell below the city’s median income (which Danziger estimates to be around $37,000), and were given extra tickets depending on their gender, race, and location in the city.
Joan Hunt, with Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood, is administering the pilot.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen a program directly meet the needs of participants in such a real way," says Hunt. "You know, someone being able to get their license and buy their first vehicle in a rural area. That’s completely transformational.”
Participants are not restricted on how they spend their funds. The“Guaranteed Income Pilots Dashboard” by Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania tracks more than 30 UBI programs across the country, and says most of the money is being spent on retail sales and services, followed by groceries.
The first of HudsonUP’s cohorts, which includes Campbell, is set to end in 2025. Whether a version of the pilot will continue once the cohorts expire remains to be seen – beyond the funds needed to keep it going, Danziger says it takes a village to support and administer a UBI program. Johnson acknowledges that approving a city-backed version, with taxpayer money, would be more complicated, and advocates are still discussing just how UBI meshes with other social programs, like SNAP benefits. But he hopes to one day see a UBI program at the state or federal level.
"This is something that has been talked about for years and years. Martin Luther King was a big proponent of UBI," adds Johnson. "It’s time to think outside the box when we look at how we’re gonna further the progress of our nation."
The Mayors for Guaranteed Income suggest a state or federal UBI program could be backed by a sovereign wealth fund or by taxing the country’s wealthiest residents.
Asked if she’s worried now that her funding is set to expire, Campbell says she’s confident HudsonUP has given her a solid foundation. She says these pilots are what you make of them, whether that’s building savings or starting a business.
“You want to be able to sit down and say, ‘Well you know what? I had it for five years, but for five years I did this, I did that, I did this’ – and be satisfied," says Campbell. "And that’s all we want. To be satisfied with whatever financial decisions you made with the money that you were given.”
Wednesday’s screening of “It’s Basic,” directed by Marc Levin, starts at 6 p.m.
