Recommendation to adopt Specifications No. RFP ED22-023 and award a contract to Fund for Guaranteed Income, of El Segundo, CA, to implement and administer the Long Beach Guaranteed Income Pilot Program, in a total amount not to exceed $460,915 for a period of two years, with the option to renew for three additional one-year periods, at the discretion of the City Manager; and, authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to enter into the contract, including any necessary subsequent amendments.  (Citywide)
Thank you. Item number 28, please. Adam 28 Report from Economic Development. Recommendation to award a contract to fund for guarantee income to implement and administer the Long Beach Guaranteed Income Pilot Program in a total amount not to exceed four than 60,000 for a period of two years citywide. Okay. So I'd like to get a staff report on this, please. Yes, Councilman. We have Nick Schultz here who will give a presentation of this proposed program. Thank you. Good evening, council members. It's my pleasure to give you a brief staff report regarding the guaranteed income pilot program. Clickers not. So on March 16th of 2021, the council approved the Long Beach Recovery Act to support COVID 19 recovery for residents and businesses, economic recovery, health and safety, as well as securing our city's future. This specific program that the Long Beach Guaranteed Income Program is part of the economic recovery category, and it is funded at just over $2 million. Overarching themes of guaranteed income pilots are to lift residents out of poverty, reduce economic inequalities that exist in communities where people live and work together. And to provide payments that stimulate the local economy by boosting access to discretionary income, the spend on goods and services in the surrounding community. Some findings of recent GI pilots, specifically the Compton Pledge. Some folks use the funds to buy groceries. Pay rent. Start small businesses. And three participants in the Compton pledge actually started their own nonprofit. The Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration Project, or Seed, found that overall participants were healthier, showed less depression, anxiety and attained enhanced well-being based on the opportunity to receive a guaranteed income payment. Languages gives foundation started with a community working group in April 2021, the established group had representative selected for their diverse background in nonprofit administration, academic achievement and prior service to residents. The group reviewed dozens of historical GI related programs, including those already launched and those that were in a pre-launch status. The group concluded that a Long Beach pilot would have the most impact on our residents who have been hit hardest by the COVID 19 pandemic and are living in poverty with it in one concentrated geographic area. The Select the GI selection criteria became focused on single head of households that are living in poverty in ZIP code 90813 . That's the highest concentration of poverty in the city of Long Beach. One out of every four families in 90813 lives below the federal poverty line. These residents were also hit the hardest by the pandemic, and the predominant occupation was within hospitality, retail and tourism sectors, where unemployment rates peaked at over 25% of residents at the time of our research also had the highest concentration of COVID positive positivity rates and the lowest percentage of vaccinations in the city. Community impacts anticipated from pilots. 250 households randomly selected to participate in the treatment group. Yet a yet undetermined. Set to participate in the control somewhere between 2250 to 300. The program would provide 500 a month for 12 months to those participating. The actual number of beneficiaries when you count the number of folks in households should exceed 1000. Efforts are ongoing to identify additional grant or indoor matching funds to expand our pilot and research results from the pilot will actually be added to regional, state and national dialog on the value of guaranteed income. So the item before you tonight presents for GI as our recommendation to administer the pilot. There are Los Angeles County based nonprofit that administers and implements guaranteed income programs. Their current experience includes the Compton Pledge and two efforts in Chicago. At for GI is led by Nica Soon-Shiong, who is the founder and executive director of f0f for GI staff are based in Southern California, many with family roots in Long Beach, and a few actually do reside here in the city. F for GI is also connected with over two dozen endowments who invest in GI programs and they were selected through a competitive RFP and review process. I'll stop there and take any questions you might have. Thank you, Mr. Schulz, for the very detailed presentation. Well, I will I'll start with a motion. Obviously, this is a program that will provide a unique opportunity to help a lot of families. And in our city, in terms of the $2 million, is as set aside from our Recovery Act to do that. What opportunities are there to get any sort of private or endowment donations to to bolster this fund? Or is there anything available today? So it's interesting that you asked that. Today, the state had a call about a $35 million matching fund that that's available. We we are not, in terms of their criteria, a priority applicant for that. However, we can we can still apply. There is the opportunity to grab $2 million through the state program with $1 million of match. Also tell you that one of the strengths of effort by our recommended administrator today was the amount of private or other funding that they've secured in support of the Compton pledge. Okay. And a question that we always get is, are there any restrictions on the funds provided to to the families in terms of what they can spend those funds on? There there are no restrictions. Okay. Councilmember, you want to. Thank you, Charleston. In regards to the actual payments to the individuals. How did what form with that take place would be a voucher or a a check, a direct deposit? What is the way of payment with the immediate. So the recommended administrator has a platform. That platform interacts with direct deposit or or checking accounts. There's the ability to put it on a similar to to a debit card and utilize it that way. The participant has a variety of choices. Are there any restrictions on the types of merchandise you can buy? I know you have your groceries, rent, small business. Any other any restrictions at all for the types of of purchases you can make with with these vouchers? No, councilmember, there are there are zero restrictions. It is their income once received. Okay. Thank you. I can't remember the days. You do. Thank you, Nick, for all that great information in regards to the recommended administrative administrator. I'm really excited about this. I know we've been working on this for months together. And so finally, to, you know, get to a point where we have an administrator that comes with highly recommendations, I think is very, very important. I really, really like that you brought up, you know, their success stories of their other pilots. And it really excites me to what our success stories will be here in the city of Long Beach, 9813 is in my district, and I can already see all the positive impacts that it's going to bring to all those single parents that we're addressing. So I just wanted to say thank you and I look forward to continuing working on this project with you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Councilmember, is there any public comment on this item? There's no public comment. Public comment then please, members, cast your vote on this. The motion is carry great.