To study how guaranteed income combined with the right mix of support programs impact socioeconomic mobility for caregivers and their families.

As a result, we will identify new strategies that demonstrate new ways to address poverty. Through this program, we highlight the experience of poverty as a social construct, instead of a character deficit, and work with the community in real-time to develop solutions that eliminate it. By providing a base of income and programs focused on social entrepreneurship, health, and wellness, we create an environment that changes how participants view themselves and the world. We examine this shift in awareness on their overall socioeconomic health.

To develop this project design, Café X: By Any Beans Necessary hosted several focus groups with Black women who lived in affordable housing in San Diego County and assembled an advisory board wholly comprised of Black women. These conversations showed us there was a need for more humane, 21st century programming that stabilizes participants now while preparing them for a dignified future. To do that, each person’s level of awareness has to expand and the resources provided have to build communal resilience.

We believe that guaranteed income or universal benefits are the foundation for community programming and are seeds that help grow to economic security. So, with guaranteed income experts on our team, we decided to combine our tools to help women in our program become owners of their time, talent, and resources - in true cooperative fashion.

Our vision is clear: people are naturally abundant and stable. We need only provide the tools, love, and space for them to organize themselves and undo years of accumulated stress and intergenerational trauma.

We will provide income of approximately $1,000, over three years, to low-income caregivers in San Diego County. As participants in the program, women will have the option to participate in financial consciousness programming to free the mind and cooperative development courses to build their livelihood. All services we provide are optional because Choice is a value and a right. We know caregivers know what they need and how they need it.

Referrals to other community services will help them improve their personal, economic, mental and spiritual and social lives.

To evaluate how we’re doing, we will use a participatory action and mixed methods research to assess our outcomes, working with women in the program to determine success.

We want to build a loving community ecosystem that helps families live good, healthy lives.

The investment is $3.03 M for the guaranteed income and targeted work over three years. This investment could increase to $3,844,800 depending on the number of women who choose to participate in the project.

Our motto is “Deep Work.” We anticipate beginning with cohorts of 25 - 60 women phased in overtime. The cohorts will receive this cash sum plus opt in to tailored supports. Supporting this small number of women, with intention, to achieve greater economic and social mobility is what makes us different. We believe in optimal outcomes over quantity in outreach to give every caregiver the care they need.

In the end, we suspect that the long-term, sustained outcomes will outweigh the cost two-fold and we will illustrate this through cost-benefit analysis.

This investment total also includes this includes capacity support to fund staff positions, guaranteed income, and program evaluation as major expenses; consulting, sub-grants and workshops hosted by local educators for the women are additional.

An allocation of $230,000 - $250,000 would fully jumpstart the capacity-building work for the next year. Income payments for the first cohort will begin in Spring 2026 with financial consciousness and cooperative development courses to follow.

Motherful is the Black Women’s Resilience Project’s fiscal agent, providing fundraising and administrative support.

Check them out at Motherful.org.