How do we eradicate poverty?
This was the focus of a panel discussion by city leaders during a panel at the recent Annual Conference of the League of California Cities, co-organized by the League's Asian Pacific Islander Caucus and African American Caucus. After energizing welcome remarks by Juslyn Manalo and Walter Allen, I had the great privilege of moderating a really insightful panel with Mayor Mark Nagales and former Mayor Michael Tubbs.
Mayor Mark Nagales was elected to the South San Francisco City Council in 2018, and is one of the first Filipinos to be elected in South San Francisco. He also happens to represent the area where I grew up, which made his insights extra special to me.
Michael Tubbs, for those of you who haven't been engaged with the efforts on Guaranteed Basic Income, is the Founder of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI), the Founder of End Poverty in California (EPIC), and the Special Advisor to California Governor Gavin Newsom for Economic Mobility and Opportunity. He is also the author of The Deeper the Roots.
Mayor Nagales provided a brief presentation on the City of South San Francisco's Guaranteed Income program. He had been concerned about the City's low income residents for many years and then saw the documentary "Stockton on my Mind" about Michael Tubbs and his work in Stockton and was inspired to work toward a similar Guaranteed Income program in South San Francisco.
The two leaders then engaged in conversation about their lessons learned and how to start up and sustain similar efforts at the city level. Here are my high-level takeaways from the rich, varied, and detailed conversation.
Insight: Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) programs are expensive to start up and to sustain -- the alternative is to spend city money on all the services associated with poverty, which may be more expensive than GBI programs. Lesson: To address city issues, you can focus on prevention (GBI) or you can try to address the fallout of poverty (housing instability, hunger, violence, etc).
Insight: GBI programs should be part of a comprehensive strategy for addressing poverty (including education, pre-K and K-12 education, food security and hunger, mental health, living wage employment, housing stability). Lesson: GBI alone cannot eradicate poverty; cities also need to develop a comprehensive set of services that connect to GBI to address intergenerational poverty.
Insight: Funds for GBI programs may come from federal and state sources as well as private philanthropic organizations and private donors. Lesson: Successful fundraising requires preparation -- know your city, know your needs, and know the probable impact of a GBI program on your residents and communities (this requires that you collect and analyze and monitor data over time).
Insight: GBI is anti-displacement! Lesson: Cities focusing on anti-displacement policies should consider how GBI is a central part of such efforts.
Insight: While cities can start-up GBI programs, because of budget constraints, these efforts may remain small. Lesson: A more sustainable strategy is for annual federal funding to support such efforts nationally.
Thank you Mark Nagales and Michael Tubbs for sharing your wisdom and for your commitment to eradicating poverty. And thank you Annie Lam for inviting me to participate in this important discussion and for being an inspiring leader and empowering communities of color.
Photo: Courtesy of Cat DeGuzman; left to right: Mark Nagales, Michael Tubbs, me, and Juslyn Manalo (Walter Allen is seated on the left and Annie Lam is seated on the right in the audience)
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