
About the People's Prosperity Pilot
The City of Saint Paul ran the People’s Prosperity Guaranteed Income Pilot between October 2020 and April 2022. This innovative pilot program provided 150 Saint Paul families with $500 per month in guaranteed income for a period of 18 months. The goal of our guaranteed income pilot was simple: get cash to families in our community with no strings attached so they can buy the things they need like food, housing, and other essentials.
The People’s Prosperity Pilot was offered to families participating in CollegeBound Saint Paul, the City’s college savings initiative which is providing every child born to a Saint Paul resident on or after January 1, 2020 with a college savings account and a $50 seed deposit. In an effort to build families’ wealth while supporting their income, their child also received a monthly $10 bonus deposit in their CollegeBound Saint Paul account.
The People's Prosperity Pilot is being evaluated by the Center for Guaranteed Income Research at the University of Pennsylvania, and results are scheduled to be released in 2023.
Who was Eligible for the People’s Prosperity Pilot?
People’s Prosperity Pilot participants were selected at random from families with CollegeBound Saint Paul savings accounts and met with staff from the City’s Office of Financial Empowerment to enroll in the program. The Office of Financial Empowerment reached out to families through mail, email, or phone to inform them that they had been selected. Since only the families that were randomly selected were eligible, there was not an open application to apply to the People’s Prosperity Pilot.
Those randomly selected to participate were eligible if they met the following criteria:
- They are Saint Paul resident with a child with a CollegeBound Saint Paul account.
- They are not employees of or elected officials in the City of Saint Paul.
- They must have been impacted financially by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as:
- being furloughed, laid off, or having work hours reduced due to COVID-19; or
- being unable to work due to a COVID-19 diagnosis for you, your spouse or partner, or your dependent; or
- being unable to work due to a lack of childcare due to COVID-19; or
- closing or reducing hours of a business that you own or operate due to COVID-19;
- They must meet the income eligibility guidelines.