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- Birmingham's guaranteed basic income program gave 110 single mothers $375 a month.
- The program aimed to alleviate poverty for single mothers and help them afford bills and childcare.
- Participants were more financially stable during the pilot, but felt "hopeless" after.
Birmingham, Alabama's guaranteed basic income program was the support some single mothers needed to get by.
"I can work knowing that she's safe, she's cared for, and when I get off she's happy to see me," one participant, who was able to keep a full-time job because she spent basic income on day care for her preschooler, told program researchers.
The Embrace Mothers pilot gave 110 moms $375 a month from March 2022 through February 2023. Participants told researchers that the money allowed them to pay for childcare, maintain stable work, and cover household expenses, according to the pilot's final report that was published on August 12.
The cash payments also helped moms spend more time with their children, and some said they took their family to Christmas dinner, purchased toddler toys at Dollar Tree, or bought a package of cupcakes to celebrate their child's birthday.
Embrace Mothers is one of over 100 guaranteed basic income pilots across America, and one of many focused on families. The model — which is an approach to poverty reduction — gives participants money for a set period of time, no strings attached.
The program was a partnership between the city, the advocacy network Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, and several foundations. It had no income requirement, but the majority of participants were low-income, according to the report. All final report findings are based on participant spending surveys and interviews.
But, for the majority of Birmingham participants, the positive impacts of cash payments didn't last. Most mothers reported sliding back financially in the months after the program ended: again falling behind on bills and struggling to afford childcare.
"This was a great year, but now what?" another participant told researchers.
Single moms used basic income to pay bills and afford childcare
About half of all households with children in Birmingham have single mothers as their main household income earner, according to the Embrace Mothers' report. Leaders of the program said their goal was to alleviate the heightened impact of poverty on single mothers, especially among Black and Hispanic women.
Researchers surveyed all participants every six months throughout the program about their spending and GBI experience. They also interviewed participants six months after the program concluded. The 110 participants were compared to a group of 132 single mothers in Birmingham who also met the program's criteria but were not chosen to receive payments.
Prior to Embrace Mothers, the majority of participants reported being food insecure and enrolled in government assistance — despite 73% being employed or a full-time caregiver. Nearly 80% of participants were behind on paying for their utilities, like electricity or heat.
While receiving $375 monthly, many participants reported better financial health than control group members, including lower utility bill debt and a higher ability to cover a $400 emergency expense. Mothers in the labor force also said they could better afford consistent childcare, allowing them to maintain jobs, improve work attendance, and work more stable hours compared to the control group. This also allowed some parents to spend more time with their children.
"These women are the engine of our economy, getting up every day to do what's necessary to provide the best they can for their children," Randall L. Woodfin, the mayor of Birmingham, said in a press statement. "They're already experts in making a little stretch a long way, Embrace Mothers proves that even a modest guaranteed income can help them overcome the barriers of poverty."
Still, participants only received guaranteed income for one year. Researchers said the short-term cash did not have a statistically significant effect on participants' psychological and physical health, food security, education enrollment, and housing outcomes between the beginning and end of the program.
Experts say basic income is 'critical help' even if pilots are temporary
When researchers surveyed participants six months after Embrace Mothers ended, the majority felt their financial gains had vanished.
While participants experienced stronger savings, fewer gaps in childcare, and lower debt than the control group during the program, both groups had similar levels of debt, childcare issues, and financial stress in the months after Embrace Mothers' conclusion. This data suggests that participants were not able to maintain their positive lifestyle changes, researchers said, and many of the mothers reported feeling "hopeless" when their payments ended.
"At the end of the pilot and beyond, participants reported less hope for the future and less sense of mattering than their control group counterparts who had not received a guaranteed income," researchers wrote. "That is, while receiving the money was helpful, losing it may have hurt more."
To be sure, Embrace Mothers was a short-term program, and more research is needed to understand how cash payments could impact participants in the long run. Researchers said other systemic barriers faced by participants — like high housing costs, a weak social safety net, low wages, and limited job opportunities — could have hindered the impacts of guaranteed income on their finances over time.
Researchers added that future GBI pilots might see success with longer runtimes, larger payments, and more robust financial counseling and support for participants at the end of the program.
The Birmingham Mayor's Office also told BI in a statement that some of the benefits of GBI for families "were highly individualized and more difficult to capture quantitatively." For instance, many parents were able to spend more time with their children and create positive memories — but improved childhood happiness can be challenging for researchers to quantify in a dataset.
Melvin Carter, the mayor of St. Paul, is a member of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, the organization that supported Birmingham's pilot. He told BI that the Embrace Mothers results show that many of America's families still need economic support — alongside the agency to manage their own money.
"That was critical help that they still need," Carter said. "The problem isn't that we helped families. The problem is that we need to help families more."
Have you benefited from a guaranteed basic income program? Are you open to sharing how you spent the money? If so, reach out to this reporter at allisonkelly@businessinsider.com.