Photo: WBZ NewsRadio Archive
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — A pilot program that gives $500 monthly payments to low-income families in Cambridge is showing some positive results, according to the city and the Cambridge Community Foundation.
The 18-month pilot program included nearly 2,000 families who lived below the federal poverty line. The money could be used for food, housing, child
Independent research organization MDRC analyzed data from the Rise Up Cambridge cash assistance program, which is funded by ARPA. They found that the additional income relieved stress and anxiety for single-parent households living below the poverty line for 96% of the respondents.
Read More: Nearly 100-Year-Old Elementary School In Braintree Set To Close This Year
Geeta Pradhan, president of the Cambridge Community Foundation, said the funds had a reverberating impact on families.
"Some of them were working two to three jobs. Some of them gave up one of their jobs so that they could spend more time with their children," she said.
Pradhan said cash assistance or guaranteed income is not a solution to poverty, adding that there needs to be more systemic change to pull people and families up.
"From a real economic perspective, it stabilized families, but when we looked at data six months after the payments stopped, that stability was gone. Families were back to square one," she explained.
WBZ NewsRadio’s James Rojas (@jamesrojas.bsky.social) reports.