Cash Transfer Pilot Readies 3rd Cohort

An extra $500 a month didn’t cover every bill for Michael White as he reacclimated to life in New Haven outside of prison.

But it did allow him to stay home a bit longer with his newborn son; help him and his wife start their own ​“last-mile delivery” small business; cover some of the costs of groceries and diapers. 

White is one of 40 New Haveners to have participated in the first two cohorts of the Elm City Reentry Pilot — a privately funded, publicly boosted cash transfer program for formerly incarcerated city residents.

“You could rely on it. There was no hesitation. No withholding,” White said about those cash transfers. ​“You could count on that” regardless of what else may be going on. ​“It was everything.”

The program represents a small-scale experiment in guaranteed basic income for a targeted group of New Haveners, and has received the rhetorical and logistical support of City Hall, even as the Elicker administration has chosen not to invest one-time federal pandemic-relief dollars in this program or any other universal income efforts. 

Since launching last March, Elm City Reentry Pilot has provided $500 a month for 12 months each to two 20-person cohorts. 

The first group of 20 received those cash transfers, delivered through Elm City Resident ID cards, from March 2023 through February 2024. The second 20 participants received $500 apiece per month from August 2023 through July 2024. 

The program is run and funded by a statewide nonprofit called 4‑CT. According to director Sarah Blanton, the Elm City Reentry Pilot is gearing up for a third 20-person cohort, scheduled to start sometime later this fall.

The program is funded entirely through private philanthropic dollars, she said. Mayor Justin Elicker confirmed that the city has contributed no public dollars to the enterprise, outside of some time spent by city employees doing ​“a little bit of matchmaking with Project M.O.R.E.” and 4‑CT, and ​“facilitating the Elm City ID cards” for the program participants.

Blanton and Elicker said that 4‑CT and City Hall are paying close attention to the data the nonprofit has been gathering about how well the program is working so far: about how successful it’s been at keeping participants out of prison, in jobs and housing, and on track to successful reentry.

Blanton said, at least for these first 40 participants, the program appears to be a success.

Only two program participants were not able to finish their respective year-long pilots because they ended up back in prison. 

In interview after interview, she said, cash transfer recipients have spoken about how this money has helped not just with groceries and rent and phone bills, but also with reconnecting with family members and reducing stress. ​“The number of people able to buy their mothers flowers on Mother’s Day,” she said, or a present for a child for graduation, speaks to how surprisingly far such a relatively small amount of money goes in making people feel like contributing family members again.

If the results continue to be positive, Elicker said, this pilot could lead the city to invest public dollars in a similar type of cash transfer program. But for now, the city is keeping an eye on how this third 20-person cohort goes.

“A pilot like this could scale quite easily if we have the resources,” Blanton said. ​“I still want to keep learning. The benefits have been so clear.”

White, 39, and Kevin Boyd, 32, described exactly that type of small-dollar big impact when reflecting on their respective experiences in the cash transfer pilot program. 

White said he was incarcerated at the age of 19, sentenced to 25 years in prison, and ultimately released in 2022. 

“Getting out of prison is hard,” he reflected. Obtaining IDs, getting your driver’s license, applying for jobs — regular, necessary parts of everyday life are that much more difficult when figuring out how to operate in the world outside of bars. ​“You have to explain for a gap” to prospective employers, he said. He noted he had only had two jobs in his life: one at Walgreens, one at SNET, and then 18 years of no work while in prison.

He ended up getting a job at a marijuana grow facility in West Haven, and was involved in the state’s first cannabis workers union. White also got married and had a son. It was around then that he connected with Blanton through the Grand Avenue reentry nonprofit Project MORE.

Enrolling in the cash transfer program was ​“perfect timing,” he said, as it allowed him to stay out of work past the duration of the state’s paid family leave, and after his wife had return to her job as a postal worker, so that he could care for their newborn son for a full four months. 

Their family could afford for him to stay home ​“and not fear about money” partly in thanks to the cash transfer program. ​“Getting that $500 a month, it closed that gap. It helped us get through hard times,” White said.

Now, he said, he and his wife have started their own company, a ​“last-mile delivery” service. They’ve got a cargo van and a few contracts, and they’re looking to grow.

The program ​“inspired me to not only create my business,” he said, but also to hire formerly incarcerated workers if and when he’s able to bring on employees. ​“I want to give back.”

Boyd detailed a similar experience with the program.

He said he was in prison for nearly seven years, and also got out in 2022. ​“The program, it was a life saver for me,” he said about the Elm City Reentry Pilot.

When he came out of prison, he said, ​“I was literally just drowning in life, financially and everything.” He connected with the program through Project MORE after being released from prison to a halfway house in New Haven.

“This was a relief of so much tension,” he said. ​“I know it was only $500. It really went a long way for me personally. If it wasn’t for this pilot, I probably would have never stayed in school, would have gotten a dead-end job.”

But instead, he did stay in school — learning to become a truck driver. He’s still in training, but is on his way to that full-time work. He said he’s driven trucks all over the country over the past year. He was getting ready to drive back from New Jersey to New Haven at the end of one such work trip when he spoke with this reporter.

Boyd said the $500 per month helped him catch up on back rent. It also let him ​“do little things” with his kids, like take them to a bounce house in Milford and to Chuck E Cheese’s.

He emphasized that having this $500 guaranteed every month helped him find his next job, moving from warehouse work he really didn’t like in East Haven ultimately into his current trucking gig.

“Sure, the $500 helped,” he added, ​“but the check-ins were everything.” He credited Blanton’s regular check-ins and interviews with program participants as providing a reliable, caring venue just to talk about how he was doing, and how life outside of prison was going.

“Once I get on my feet, I want to come back and try to donate to the program,” he said. So that he can do his part to help someone else like this program’s helped him.