A former basic income recipient used her $500 a month check to start a business. It's keeping her afloat 4 years later.
Crystal Crawford, 40, received a $500 monthly basic income for one year. Photo Courtesy of Crystal Crawford Crystal Crawford, 40, received $500 a month for one year from a guaranteed basic income pilot. Years later, she landed a new job and feels more able to pay household bills. Crawford still worries about savings, but feels GBI was helpful for her stability. Crystal Crawford wasn't losing sleep over bills. She could confidently afford her apartment in Augusta, Georgia, and felt her spending was well within her means. That all changed in the summer of 2020, when she unexpectedly lost her job as a social worker. Amid the financial anxiety, Crawford learned that she qualified for a local guaranteed basic income program . Nearly 300 households in the area received $500 a month for one year. She said the cash she received between December 2021 and December 2022 was the leg up she needed. "If it wasn't for that one moment, I don't know where I would be," she told B...
