12.02.24
Participant Perspectives on Policy
If policymakers were to ask you what kinds of programs or policies would be most helpful to you, what would you say?
In the fifth round of qualitative interviews—conducted during the final months of the unconditional cash transfer program—we asked participants what they would tell policymakers about programs or policies that could help them and their families. Here are some of their responses:
Amber, recipient
"I really feel like blue collar families like my own, you are not broke but you're not rich ... We're getting yanked and, and it's really hurting our children because we're teaching our children to succeed and press forward, but succeed and press forward and be blue collar like myself is telling my kids … setting them up for failure basically.
They're gonna be in the same rat race. And it's, you damned if you do and you damned if you don't. And I see people that don't work, nothing is wrong with them, able bodied and they get public assistance.
It should be some type of, I feel like helping hand for the blue collar. I get up, I work every day for you. I stress, I take my kids to school, and I still get nothing. I pay into myself. Uh, I pay my taxes, I vote, I'm law abiding, it should be some type of safety net for us."
Holly, recipient
"Um, free preschool...things of this nature that would just basically give people, you know, the basic necessities that, that people need to not have to worry about. Like they shouldn't have to worry about where they live. They shouldn't have to worry about what they're going to eat. They shouldn't have to worry about their safety.
[People] should just be able to exist. You know, get up, eat their food, and go to a job that, you know, makes them feel, you know, respected, and dignified and that they're doing good for the work.
Like it — even if it wasn't a CEO job, like, I mean, going out and doing sanitation, that is a very necessary work, but to feel like they're doing in a safe manner, that they're respected, that they're seen as a respected individual in the, the community, or just respect and being able to freely give it and show it."
Yasmin, recipient
"I feel like everyone should get free healthcare. That way they don't have to worry about, you know, being sick of being ill. If your health is good, then you'll be able to work or get a job.
Um, I would say people who have criminal backgrounds. Because there's some people who learn their mistakes and they actually wanna better themselves, but they're not able to get a good paying job because of their, you know, past mistakes that they've made.
Like, um, try like giving moms or a free year of childcare, so the way they can work and then kind of go by their income as to how much they need to pay. Because you know if you miss work, people don't understand, you can't take your kids to work everywhere. Um, it just makes it harder."
Scarlet, control participant
"I would like to see a cap on college tuition because that's insane and educated people make for a stronger society. I mean, and I'm not saying everybody has to go to school, that's not for everybody and that's fine, but ... anybody who wants a job that requires a college degree has to pay for their training in order to get through it and to be a better person and a person who's contributing more to our society."
Tessa, recipient
"Probably like helping young people like get into a home and build like equity and wealth, instead of making them be lifelong renters, things like that. Like maybe some incentives for starting families because it's kind of de-incentivized with how expensive everything is."
Eugene, recipient
"Provide like work training programs for some people, because a lot of jobs, they require people to be trained, but to be able to get that training you have to pay on, a lot of people don't have the money to spend."
Rochelle, recipient
"Mine would be childcare, I can work with everything else around. If I had childcare, I'm fine but I'm not leaving my children in the care of anybody, so that's the problem.
And I don't trust people because I don't like how they raise their kids. My kids fine, they got all As and I look at the kids that they age in my family, they all doing dumb stuff. Real dumb stuff. Trouble with the law."
Isaac, control participant
"There's so many restrictions for so many jobs that it makes it next to impossible for people to get them.
And in public schools, teach kids some kind of actual skill. I, when I was in school, I never learned anything about taxes. I never learned anything about balancing a checkbook. I didn't learn nothing about an actual skill. I just learned history and math. And although math is very important and very practical, it don't get you very far because at some point you gotta do something. So, I think the school system should drastically change to where they're teaching an actual practical skill."
Robyn, recipient
"Like change the way they do the qualifications for the financial assistance and stuff from the state. I feel like taxpayers and people that actually work, we don't really get the same opportunities to apply for financial assistance such as food stamps or things like that.
And they make everything so hard to ask for assistance. So, it's like you got people out here committing all kind of crimes and looting and stealing and robbing because like they need help, and they can't get the help that they need because y'all denying them the help based off of something that they don't even see."
Ivy, recipient
"In Texas, they'll give the kid Medicaid, but not the parent. So, if anything happens to the parent, they, they might not have insurance, but the kid does. So, like you know … what's the point of having a kid on insurance if you have … if a parent who's responsible to take care of the kid can't take care of their own health."
Zelda, recipient
"I would say stop taxing the poor. Tax the rich like you're supposed to. Stop, you know, defunding programs that, that really need it, and stop funding programs that we don't need."
Alyssa, recipient
"And then also like, it feels like the help like SNAP and all that, you know, like government help, it's for like low, low income, but like there is a new class of like middle class low income. And like those people can't get help because they're, they're, they're right above whatever they say the poverty line is, but these people are still drowning."
Sage, control participant
"I think the two top ones would be education and healthcare. Well, and I guess, maybe homelessness. Yeah, those are the big three. I don't know how I would change them, but I think those are the three things that America really needs to focus on, because people are not thriving. People are starving, and people are homeless, and people can't afford anything when they're sick. Not really a good country right now. I don't really think—sorry, I just don't really think we have anything to help other countries, when we can't help ourselves."
Cheryl, recipient
"I think it should be a mandatory thing where everybody's provided a roof. I don't care if it's a tiny home, you know what I'm saying? You don't need these giant ass houses. You need a kitchen, a bathroom, and a place to sleep, that's it. And so, I think healthcare and housing and then food obviously. I think those, those are the three basic shelter, food, medical care, are the basic, basic, the bare essentials, to, to even have a shot at thriving."
Jessie, recipient
"I do feel like childcare is outrageous. And it's, it's, it's bad for a couple of reasons. You can't get good daycare workers because they don't pay you anything...So, it's hard to find workers. And parents can't afford it. I mean, if you've got one in daycare a, a, a baby, you're looking at a mortgage a month. Add on a sibling or two, it's not possible.
There is, there is a subsidy program, and it's okay-ish. Um, when I lost my subsidy, I literally made $200 too much for that year. And if I just hadn't done a little bit of overtime, I would've qualified instead I lost the entire subsidy. So, that … the subsidy needs to be better."
Alexis, recipient
"Maybe increasing the housing subsidy. Because I feel like I'm in this like weird gray area where the, the cost of living in my area is high and I really can't afford it … but I make too much to qualify for housing assistance."
Autumn, recipient
"I guess, like I don't know how they could make it easier, but for like me to go to school, like if they could figure out a way like maybe like a school that has like a daycare in it. I mean, those might exist, I just don't know about them… or maybe like somewhere somehow that could like pay you to go to school, I don't know."
Haley, recipient