In Her Hands Program Expands Guaranteed Income in Atlanta

In Her Hands – an innovative guaranteed income program that pays low-income women about $1,000 per month in cash to strengthen their financial stability – will recruit 270 additional participants, thanks to a new $14.5 million grant from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. and other donors.

The In Her Hands initiative is a joint project of Atlanta nonprofits the Georgia Resilience and Opportunity Fund (GRO Fund) and Give Directly.

They launched In Her Hands in fall 2022 for more than 650 participants, who receive monthly cash payments of $700 to $850 for two years. Participants decide how best to use the money, whether it’s building a rainy day fund, investing in education for better jobs, funding childcare, buy groceries or pay rent.

Phase two participants will receive $36,000 over the next three years, making it one of the largest direct cash pilot programs in the country.

Just as the first phase of the program was neighborhood specific, focusing on black women in the Old Fourth Ward, College Park, and rural Clay-Randolph-Terrell counties, the expansion will bring In Her Hands to low-income women in Bankhead, Washington Park in Atlanta. , English Avenue and Vine City.

Tamicka Royal, an Old Fourth Ward resident participating in the first phase of In Her Hands, told the Atlanta Civic Circle that the initiative is “like a silent partner” that helped her make ends meet when she was out of work due to injury. Royal, now a flight attendant for a subsidiary of American Airlines, used the guaranteed income to survive after being evicted from her apartment and train for her new job.

For the second phase of the program, nearly half of the women residing in English Avenue and Vine City, two majority-black neighborhoods, live in poverty, GRO Fund Executive Director Hope Wollensack said in a statement released Wednesday.

Despite recent economic development in these neighborhoods, “these gains are rarely shared among low-income residents,” Wollensack said. “In Her Hands brings to life a model not only of flexible and dignified support, but also of an economy in which all of us, no matter where we come from, can thrive. »

Participants in the second phase of the guaranteed income program can choose between two payment structures each totaling $36,000. Option 1 is to receive $1,000 per month for three years. Option 2 is to receive $800 per month for three years, with the balance paid in a lump sum to participants at a time of their choosing.

How to apply for In Her Hands:

To be eligible for the second phase of In Her Hands, you must be at least 18 years old, live in the English Avenue, Bankhead, Vine City or Washington Park neighborhoods, identify as female and earn no more than twice the federal poverty income. level. Currently, this represents approximately $30,000 for an individual and $51,000 for a family of three.

Applications will be accepted from May 15 to May 31. You can sign up to receive an alert when applications go live at www.thegrofund.org/apply.

Applicants who meet the eligibility criteria will be randomly selected by drawing lots. If you would like to apply in person, you can meet with In Her Hands staff at Westside Works, located at 261 Joseph E. Lowery Blvd NW on the following dates and times:

• Wednesday May 22 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
• Saturday May 25 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Wednesday May 29, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.