Thanks to an anonymous donation, 20 households on the Olympic Peninsula have been participating in a pilot basic income program for the past three months that’s helping people get by.

The program was made possible thanks to a $200,000 donation to Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP), a nonprofit that coordinates several public assistance programs in Clallam and Jefferson counties. Executive Director Cherish Cronmiller said the donation was made by an anonymous couple in Sequim who wanted the money to be used for a basic income program.

The program started in August, and on the 15th of every month, participants receive $500 transferred to a VISA debit card. Participants are free to use the money as they see fit, and they can use the card to withdraw cash.

OlyCAP can see the categories of purchases made, but it isn’t tracking individual purchases, Cronmiller said. The idea behind a basic income is to give the recipient flexibility in how they choose to spend the money.

“The idea is you’re giving the power back to the family and the individual. It’s not for us to scrutinize every purchase they make,” Cronmiller said. “Though we work with some of these families for their larger goals, what do they want to achieve for their household?”

Pilot program

Cronmiller said participants in the pilot program were selected by staff from households already receiving assistance from at least one of OlyCAP’s other programs.

“We were looking for families that we felt like the $500 would be impactful in their lives,” Cronmiller said. “Most of the families have children.”

Of the 20 participants, seven live in Port Townsend, six in Port Angeles, two in Sequim, two in Port Hadlock, two in Forks and one in Joyce.

According to OlyCAP, ages of the participants run from 21-65 and there are 47 children among the recipient households.

Eleven participants have full-time jobs; two have part-time jobs; and three are on social security or disability, according to OlyCAP.

“I don’t know what I would do without it; all of this has been really scary,” said Christina Ballew, a Jefferson County resident and participant in the program.

“I don’t know how I’m going to be a single parent. With the help of this program, I was given a lot more ease.”

Ballew said she moved to Port Townsend last year after she took a job with the art nonprofit Centrum, and she suffered health problems and was fleeing domestic abuse.

Ballew said she was already receiving rental assistance from OlyCAP and her 4-year-old daughter is in the Head Start program when she was selected for basic income.

“It’s paying off a little bit of debt from moving,” Ballew said of the payments, three of which have gone out so far.

“I have a lot of allergies. I had to buy air filters. My electricity bills are a lot higher. It’s been to support those types of things.”

Basic income programs have been piloted across the county and internationally, and while the data on their impact is still limited, the idea of providing people financial aid with little or no restrictions on how it’s spent has gained traction.

The idea of a universal basic income — a payment to all people, regardless of income — has been proposed by those across the political spectrum, but so far most pilot programs have focused on payments to low-income people.

The program has enough funding to run for 18 months, but Cronmiller said she’d like to be able to find funding to keep it going.

OlyCAP is working with Community Financial Resources, an Oakland, Calif.-based nonprofit that’s worked with the city of Stockton in its own basic income program.

A 2021 study of Stockton’s program found the guaranteed income reduced month-to-month income volatility, enabled recipients to find full-time jobs and reduced anxiety and depression.