Wage Boosts for Local Workers

Despite soaring housing costs, the city government in Paris aims to achieve mixité sociale. That essentially means it's preventing economic segregation to ensure residents from a broad cross-section of society reside in the city and own businesses there. It’s doing so by nabbing real estate to create public housing and providing real estate subsidiaries for small businesses.

A guaranteed income program in Cambridge, Massachusetts, provided 130 single caregivers who made below 80% of the local median income with $500 cash payments, no strings attached. The 18-month program, Cambridge Recurring Income for Success, helped participants increase their savings, cover emergencies, and spend more time with their children.

Sacramento’s Cannabis Opportunity and Racial Equity program is helping people who were adversely affected by discrimination during America’s war on drugs to start businesses in the regulated cannabis industry. Qualifying entrepreneurs receive wraparound support including funding and small-business education. So far, 10 dispensary licenses have been awarded to participants.

Groups of women in Nigeria are forming rotating savings programs on WhatsApp because formal banking is often inaccessible. Essentially operating like an informal credit union, each member of the group gives an equal amount to a chosen admin, and a payout is given to a different member every month based on need.

The two-year pause on federal student loan payments in the United States during the pandemic allowed Black women, who share a disproportionate amount of the country’s student debt, to redirect the money they would typically use for repayment toward other needs.

Around the world, students borrow money to pay for college, but, in the United States, students are more likely to fall behind on loans. Australia may offer some lessons: borrowers in Australia only start paying back their loans once their earnings reach $40,000, and beyond that they pay four percent of their income until the loans are repaid. The system does not penalize borrowers when they face economic hardship.

Alfanar is a venture philanthropy organization that helps fund social enterprise businesses in the Middle East. The group offers grants and zero-interest loans. It has helped more than 185 social enterprises and has provided over £6 million in funding.

A pilot program in Philadelphia is providing low-income residents with unlimited free rides on public transportation, which they may not otherwise be able to afford. Participants did not need to apply and were selected by lottery or through community-based organizations.

The Biden-Harris administration’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan is helping more student loan borrowers achieve forgiveness. The program reduces monthly payments based on the person’s income and family size and covers interest costs to stop the overall amount from ballooning.

Volunteers of the PDX Housing Solidarity Project are working to redistribute generational wealth through homeownership in Portland. The project connects people with ample resources to Black and Indigenous homebuyers and helps facilitate cash gifts, no-interest loans, or other ways to assist throughout the process.