Guaranteed income programs test new approaches to economic relief by providing direct cash assistance to community members in need.

This section outlines how to design a guaranteed income program using lessons learned from the 14 pilots in the Los Angeles Guaranteed Income Coordinating Council (LA GICC).

Jump to the Overview of Pilots section to learn more about each LA GICC pilot.

Engage the Community

Successful programs involve the community from the start. Partner with trusted local groups, such as health care clinics and grassroots nonprofits, especially those working in underserved areas. Invite input from residents and service providers to shape how you design your program.

Collect feedback from participants to improve the application process and payment systems. Keep enrollment simple and responsive by offering direct outreach and hands-on assistance to potential participants. Ongoing engagement with participants and the community can help ensure your program addresses real needs while honoring participants’ dignity and autonomy.

Several guaranteed income pilots in LA GICC took a participatory approach to designing their pilots and built strong relationships with participants early on. A few community engagement strategies that emerged from this approach include the following:

• Set up a diverse governing committee. The Abundant Birth Project is a guaranteed income pilot with the goal of improving birth and maternal health outcomes. Expecting Justice, the pilot’s implementing agency, assembled a governing committee that helps co-create every stage of the initiative, including its evaluation. Members of the committee include public health professionals, representatives from the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and Department of Public Health, members of the African American Infant and Maternal Mortality initiative, and community members with lived experience. The committee actively shapes key pilot elements, such as eligibility criteria, outreach strategies, and wraparound support services. This makes the initiative both culturally responsive and effective in addressing systemic health disparities.
• Create a community advisory council. The Compton Pledge, a pilot that aims to disrupt the cycle of poverty and incarceration, set up a community advisory council of 20 local leaders that shaped every aspect of the pilot, from communication strategies to onboarding. The council met monthly and included pastors, residents, educators, and nonprofit representatives. Serving as ambassadors and beta testers, the council members achieved a 99 percent enrollment rate and spurred participant-centered pilot features like in-person payment card pickups and a community resources page.
• When a pilot launches, invite all community organizations to a meeting to learn more. The Long Beach Pledge, which supports single parents in a high-poverty, low-income zip code, began their pilot with a virtual gathering of every community organization and leader within their ZIP code. At the meeting, they shared information about the pilot, invited trusted community voices to help spread the word to eligible participants, and discussed outcomes from other pilots.
• Sustain community ownership through a regional taskforce. With the goal of helping mothers in South Los Angeles achieve financial stability, Mothers Rising for Guaranteed Basic Income took a participatory approach to designing their pilot. They collaborated closely with a regional task force composed of South Los Angeles residents, who actively shaped program design and evaluation methodologies. Working with the regional taskforce enhanced the pilot’s relevance and effectiveness and helped sustain community ownership.

Choose a Target Population

Guaranteed income programs often serve groups like low-income families, foster youth, seniors, pregnant people, immigrants, and artists.

Identify who needs support most in your community. Use local data, census data, policy agendas, and advocacy priorities to guide your selection. To maximize impact, align your program with other programs and benefits.