The Madison Forward Fund is a year-long guaranteed income experimental program for Madison residents. The guaranteed income is a monthly, cash payment of $500 given directly to 155 households for 12 months.
The data in this pie chart shows aggregate spending for guaranteed income participants in Madison, WI. This includes all non-cash expenditures from the participants’ pre-paid debit card that is loaded with guaranteed income payments monthly.
Retail sales and services accounted for the largest share of spending, at 29.02%, followed by Food and groceries (26.35%) and Transport related expenses (16.32%).
The state of California saw significant reduction in poverty as a result of the largest, national pilot in the Child Tax Credit that was implemented as a result of the Covid Pandemic.
This program provided tax credit for eligible taxpayers with qualifying children in the form of cash payouts. The credit amount varied based on factors like the number of qualifying children and the taxpayer’s income. It can lower tax liability or result in a tax refund.
During the course of this pilot, it has been proven to reduce poverty for families with dependent children – in every state.
Basic Information
Children in Households
Gender
Annual Household Income (in $USD)
Featured Story
Mai Kaw is one of the most vibrant and energetic people you’ll ever meet. She is a mom to a 7-month old girl, and lives with her partner in Madison. Her parents immigrated to Wisconsin from Laos in the mid-1980’s, and Mai Kaw was born and raised in Milwaukee, before moving to Madison as a young professional. Right as she was finishing her undergraduate degree, Mai Kaw was hit by a vehicle as a pedestrian, and suffered life-threatening injuries. She was given a 10% chance of survival, but she beat the odds and has worked hard to overcome significant and lasting physical and mental trauma, and even managed to graduate with honors. Mai Kaw now works as a massage therapist, but lasting injuries from her accident limit her physical ability to work more than 20 hours a week. Her reality is that, despite wanting to be able to work more, there are just physical limits to how much she can do without compromising her health, which also limits how much money she can earn each week. Mai Kaw says, “I feel a little bit of societal shame. A lot of my friends are also college graduates and have a lot of financial stability in their lives. They didn’t have trauma like me, they didn’t have setbacks. They have their families, steady jobs. I am someone who was hit with a vehicle, was in a coma with multiple heart surgeries. You would never see that. You can’t judge a book by the cover. I look great on the outside, but [most people] would never assume I was going through such a thing.”
The birth of Mai Kaw’s daughter in 2022 brought immense joy, but also put additional strain on her family’s finances. Her work did not provide any paid parental leave or maternity benefits, and worrying about how to support her family while also recovering from her birth was causing high levels of stress and anxiety for Mai Kaw. But Madison Forward Fund (MFF) was right there to provide a cushion, right when she needed it most. The income from MFF has offset a portion of her lost earnings from not being able to work during the postpartum period and has provided her financial flexibility as she begins her transition back to work. In short, the program helped ensure that Mai Kaw had financial support during her baby’s first few months, something that many parents in other industries have access to through employer-provided benefits, but that is too often unavailable for self-employed workers. Her baby was able to have a mom that was better rested, less stressed and healthier, thanks to MFF.
“This is humanizing. I don’t feel stuck. That is a huge, huge mental break. I feel like I am alive. I am proud to be a mom, and I am proud to be American. We are gonna have differences, gonna have different cultural norms, but at the end, financial stability is a foundation. This country can be a family together.”
Marisol is originally from Puerto Rico and loves her adopted home of Madison, where she has lived since 1999. She has 5 kids, with the youngest still living at home. Marisol has fibromyalgia, a chronic condition that prevents her from being able to work consistently. She struggled a lot, especially during those times when her health was worse, and she couldn’t work. She feels lucky to have some support from the government, but Marisol explains, “With food stamps, I can’t buy detergent, or do my laundry, or get school supplies for my kid.” Once she started receiving payments from MFF, the funds provided a reliable and consistent source of income for her to cover daily family expenses, whether her health allowed her to work or not.
“This money is a big help. A program like this is giving opportunity, and right now this is a blessing. For me, where I’ve been struggling with an illness for so long, and as a single mom when I have to pick whether to pay bills, pay rent, or pay for things my kids need…I’m a person that struggles but I stay strong. Now with this money, it’s making it easier for me to do other things. Before, my kid didn’t get new clothes for the new year, and didn’t get a backpack, nothing. But this year it was like a miracle. The first payment came right when the new school year was starting. The first deposit I got, we ran to the store and got stuff for school, and we were both really excited.”
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Featured Story
Regina is a passionate mom of three kids, ages 4, 8, and 10. Like most parents, she knows the challenge of needing to work to support your family but having most of those earnings go towards childcare. In early 2022, Regina had just started a new job and was working a lot of hours, but still not earning enough to cover basic needs for her family. “Other people say, ‘you need to put in more hours’. That might sound logical to some people, but if you think about it, who’s gonna watch your kids for you to work more hours?” For her, receiving funds through MFF has provided a stable and consistent source of income to supplement her earnings. Since joining MFF, the payments have helped Regina cover her bills each month. “[With MFF,] I’m not choosing between bills anymore, which one to pay now and which one to wait on to pay later.” Regina says programs like this just make sense and she would like to see every family who needs it have access to a basic income. “If there’s not being any pay increases with labor, and minimum wages not going up, plus everything is getting more expensive, I think we should go for it!”
Vanessa is a 28-year-old single mom of two energetic kids, who are one and four years old. Originally from Oshkosh, she has lived in Madison with her family for six years. Vanessa says that as a single parent, even working full time, most jobs don’t pay enough for her family to be able to afford to live in Madison. Prior to joining Madison Forward Fund (MFF), Vanessa and her kids had experienced extreme financial hardship, and at times, didn’t have anywhere stable to live. She wanted to stay in Madison because it offered good long-term career potential, but couldn’t afford the higher housing costs, even though she was working full time. It felt like a catch-22, and the stress of constantly being on the brink of homelessness took a toll on her mental health.
That’s where MFF comes in (Vanessa first heard about the program from her kids’ daycare center). She found out she was selected about the same time that she had applied for a new job as a legal assistant at a large law firm in downtown Madison. The opportunity to work at the law firm meant better pay, enough that she would finally be able to sustainably afford her own place to live with her kids, but the company was reluctant since Vanessa didn’t have a college degree. So, Vanessa had the idea to use her MFF funds to cover the cost of enrolling in school to become a paralegal, something she had always dreamed of but never been able to afford previously. By showing the company that she was taking initiative and dedicated to professional growth, the company decided to invest in her, too. “I’m the only one in my firm that doesn’t have a degree. Being in school and being an active student is really a huge part of why I got this job. [MFF] opened so many doors,” Vanessa says.
Vanessa has been in her position for six months now, and just got a raise and a bonus. She is thrilled to be building a career in the legal field, while also having some income from MFF leftover to pay off debt (she hasn’t had any late fees on bills and her credit score has skyrocketed) and doing special things for her kids that she wouldn’t have been able to do before. She says that she was able to buy gifts for her kids at Christmas, and even got to plan a special birthday party at a trampoline park for her older kid.
“After everything that me and my kids went through, you’re going through the day, horrible anxiety, stressed out, angry, worried, anxious. Now my bills are paid and I’m able to do things for my kids and provide for them. I feel so much lighter and happier. In my personal experience, [having a guaranteed income] put me in a place to get a really good job that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. I wouldn’t have been able to afford to live. It motivates me to want to do better things.”
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