Launched February 2019.

The Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED) was the nation’s first mayor-led guaranteed income initiative. A collaboration between the Office of Mayor Michael Tubbs, the Reinvent Stockton Foundation, the Economic Security Project, and the residents of Stockton, CA, SEED aimed at testing a simple, yet innovative, solution to poverty and inequality. Between February 2019 and January 2021, SEED gave 125 randomly-selected Stocktonians a guaranteed income of $500 per month. The cash was unconditional, meaning there were no work requirements and no restrictions on how the money was spent.

SEED was evaluated using a mixed-methods approach to understand how the additional income impacted recipients’ financial well-being, psychological distress, and physical functioning. Research funding for SEED was provided by the Evidence for Action Program at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.