Arlington’s Guarantee: Evidence of Impact from Pilot Program
About Arlington’s Guarantee
For the past three years, the Arlington Community Foundation and the Arlington County Department of Human Service have piloted Arlington’s Guarantee, a guaranteed income program in Arlington County that provides monthly cash assistance of $500 to 200 working families with low incomes for 18 months. Results from the program indicate a reduction in homelessness and increased housing security within the community.
In addition to Arlington’s Guarantee, The Community Foundation is proud to be an investor in several pilots operating around the region. Guaranteed income is one of the core economic mobility strategies of the Together, We Prosper campaign to provide families with greater economic stability and mobility.
Increasing Economic Mobility in Greater Washington
Our guaranteed income program investments are part of our multi-year commitment to increase economic mobility to close the racial wealth gap. Contributions raised through our Together, We Prosper Campaign will help accelerate the work to pursue economic justice and shared prosperity for all the people of our region.
We believe that by increasing economic mobility and building community wealth, we can help our entire region prosper. The Together, We Prosper campaign will help build sustainable funding for community needs today and into the future while enabling us to put powerful economic strategies to work in the parts of our community experiencing the deepest disparities.
Other Guaranteed Income Pilots
The Greater Washington Community Foundation is an early adopter and investor in several guaranteed income pilots throughout our region, including:
Arlington’s Guarantee (Arlington, VA) launched in September 2021 as a partnership between The Arlington Community Foundation and Arlington County Department of Human Services. This pilot program provides a monthly unconditional cash payment of $500 over 18 months to 200 families. Target outcomes for participants include increased financial well-being, a heightened sense of personal agency, and community belonging.
MoCo Boost (Montgomery County, MD) launched as a public-private partnership to provide $800 a month to 300 households for 24 months. This pilot program includes 100 households recently served by the Montgomery County Homeless Continuum of Care and 200 participants with at least one child/dependent who had previously sought assistance from the County during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In DC, The Community Foundation joined with several local and regional foundations to launch Let’s Go DMV!, a 5-year guaranteed income pilot providing $1,000 a month to 75 hospitality workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic. Cash payments started in March 2022. All but one participant is a person of color, with about half being immigrants and the other half being primarily from DC or the region.
Thrive Prince George’s launched in November 2023, a two-year, $4 million guaranteed-income pilot that seeks to provide greater economic stability and mobility for families in the region. The program, which is spearheaded by the Greater Washington Community Foundation, Prince George’s County Executive and Council, and the Meyer Foundation
Join the Campaign
If you would like to support Arlington’s Guarantee and other Guaranteed Income Initiatives in our region, visit https://donate.thecommunityfoundation.org/guaranteedincome