In People We Trust (with Aisha Nyandoro)
How To Citizen with Baratunde
What Are the Questions Others Are Asking of These Families?
In springboard opportunities, you decided to ask families living in poverty what they needed. And you asked these questions ecause no one else was asking these questions. What were the questions others were asking of these families? They weren't asking him anything. So how were they interacting? What did they look like? I am going to tell you you have to do x i z.
This week, Baratunde digs into the world of Universal Basic Income and Guaranteed Income, in other words distributing money, much like we do when we subsidize farmers or oil companies, but instead to individual households. Where does this money come from? Who gets the money? Will people still work? What will people even spend it on? And how on earth does free cash help our economy? Baratunde sits down with Aisha Nyandoro to find out what exactly happens when you give people in extreme poverty a thousand dollars a month, no strings attached.
Guest: Aisha Nyandoro - CEO of Springboard To Opportunities
Twitter: @aisha_nyandoro
Bio: Aisha Nyandoro is the Chief Executive Officer of Springboard To Opportunities. Springboard provides strategic, direct support to residents of affordable housing. The organization’s service delivery model uses a “radically resident-driven” approach designed to improve quality of life and end the generational poverty trajectory.
SHOW NOTES + LINKS
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We are grateful to Aisha Nyandoro for joining us! Follow Aisha at @aisha_nyandoro on Twitter and learn more about Springboard to Opportunities and Magnolia Mother’s Trust.
ACTIONS
PERSONALLY REFLECT
Change the story
Consider the commonly told stories you’ve heard about poverty in America. Stories like “people are poor because of bad choices,” “poor folks are uneducated,” and “never give spare change to a homeless person because they’ll use it on drugs.” Now flip those stories. Think about the systems at play that keep people poor. Things like predatory payday lending, doctor-prescribed opioids, red-lining, social welfare programs with unrealistic thresholds, and drug-related incarceration rates for people of color. Who is benefiting from these misleading narratives, and keeping certain segments of society poor?
BECOME INFORMED
Look for other models
Universal Basic Income and Guaranteed Income has been tested in a few different countries, regions, cities, and towns. So do some reading, and find out what the economists say about these programs. Check out this article from Vox listing out everywhere that has tried these programs and what learnings came out of each program. You can also check out the results from the most recent UBI experiment in Stockton, CA that spanned the course of two years. Learn about it here.
PUBLICLY PARTICIPATE
Donate to Magnolia Mother’s Trust
Got some capital you’re looking to liberate? This one is simple. Donate to Magnolia Mother’s Trust. Checkout springboardto.org/magnolia-mothers-trust/ to find out how. If you are sold on UBI as a part of the solution, get involved with others in the Income Movement and attend or sponsor a march near you planned for Sept 25th, 2021.
If you take any of these actions, share that with us - action@howtocitizen.com. Mention In People We Trust in the subject line. And share about your citizening on social media using #howtocitizen.
Visit the show's homepage - www.howtocitizen.com - to sign up for news about the show, to learn about upcoming guests, live tapings, and more for your citizen journey.
Also sign up for Baratunde's weekly Recommentunde Newsletter and follow him on Instagram or join his Patreon. You can even text him, like right now at 202-894-8844.
CREDITS
How To Citizen with Baratunde is a production of iHeartRadio Podcasts and Dustlight Productions. Our Executive Producers are Baratunde Thurston, Elizabeth Stewart, and Misha Euceph. Stephanie Cohn is our Senior Producer and Alie Kilts is our Producer. Kelly Prime is our Editor. Original Music by Andrew Eapen. Valentino Rivera is our Engineer. Sam Paulson is our Apprentice. This episode was produced and sound designed by Stephanie Cohn. Special thanks to Joelle Smith from iHeartRadio.
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