TACOMA, Wash. — How much would an extra $500 a month help with your bills? Starting next month, 175 households in Tacoma will be getting that help.
United Way of Pierce County opened applications on Friday, March 1, for a program called Growing Resilience in Tacoma (GRIT) 2.0. The project gives families a monthly cash gift of $500 until next June.
GRIT 2.0 is a $1.9 million dollar investment from the state, and is a collaboration between United Way, the City of Tacoma, Pierce County, and the State Department of Social and Health Services.
Dona Ponepinto, president and CEO of United Way of Pierce County, said the project expands on Tacoma’s GRIT program, which served 110 families in 2021, and builds on the lessons learned. You can apply here.
“Families want opportunities,” Ponepinto said. “Cash assistance, a cash gift to families, that helps them get over the hump, and is actually improving lives.”
Ponepinto said Tacoma is one of dozens of cities in the country where similar guaranteed income projects are playing out. According to Ponepinto, research shows the money given out in these projects is fed right back into the local economy — and it also gives people a chance to invest in themselves, and leave the program in a better situation.
“They’re working and getting better paying jobs, they’re going back to school, either getting degrees, or certifications, or training certificates,” she said. “There are so many things to show that having this type of program actually helps us all.”
The project focuses on households that fall into what’s called the asset-limited, income-constrained while employed (ALICE) category. These households earn just enough to pass the federal poverty level, but still struggle to cover basic expenses.
Around a third of Pierce County’s households fall into this ALICE threshold, and some communities feel that burden harder.
“You’ve got about 48 percent of the Black households in Pierce County are ALICE families,” she said. “38 percent are Hispanic/LatinX, and then Native American populations in Pierce County, the households are just under 50 percent.”
This comes as many residents in Tacoma say they’ve watched costs skyrocket, making basic necessities harder to afford.
Ponepinto said she hopes the research from the project will help persuade lawmakers to take a closer look at the systems that’re supposed to address poverty.
“Poverty is not a personal failure. Poverty is a systems failure,” she said.
The project specifically targets those who live within certain zip codes within the city of Tacoma:
- 98404
- 98405
- 98408
- 98409
- 98418
- 98444
- 98445
Applicants must be between the ages of 18 and 65 in a single head of household family with children who are 17 or younger, or 21 and younger if they are disabled.
This will be the city of Tacoma's second experiment with universal basic income. Its first study supplying a $500 monthly payment to ALICE families began in 2021. The results of that project have yet to be released.
More information is available on Tacoma and Pierce County’s websites. Applications close March 8. You can apply here.