Belmont Cragin Equity Fund (BCEF)

Belmont Cragin Equity Fund

Status: Program ran from July 2021 - July 2022 (appears to be completed)

Overview: Modeled after national and global Universal Basic Income programs, the Belmont Cragin Equity Fund promotes the idea that government should provide citizens unconditional basic income to break cycles of poverty and help families meet basic living expenses.

Geographic Scope: Belmont Cragin neighborhood, Chicago, IL

Focus Areas: Direct financial assistance to break poverty cycles

Eligibility

• Must be a resident of Belmont Cragin
• Must identify as Black and/or Latinx
• Prioritized participants: Latinx households, multigenerational households, immigrant and undocumented community members, single or fixed income households
• Additional prioritization criteria:
- Households with children - Older adults - Single parents - Immigrants and undocumented members - People with disabilities - Fixed income households - Documented economic hardship - Households with incomes at or below 20% AMI

How It Works

• 50 households total selected to participate
• Participants randomly divided into two groups:
- Group 1: Quarterly payments of $550 (July 2021 - July 2022) - Group 2: Monthly payments of $350 (July 2021 - July 2022)

Selection Process

• 30 slots reserved for families engaged through NWC programs
• 20 slots offered to organizational partners to nominate families
• Selection based on rubric weighing household demographics and financial situations

Evaluation

Program evaluation conducted to contribute to academic literature on direct cash assistance compared to traditional service-based programming, targeting nonprofit direct cash assistance programs in the US.

Contact: info@nwshc.org

Partner: UpTogether