The Hudson UBI Pilot

HudsonUP is a basic income pilot created by The Spark of Hudson and based in Hudson, NY. The initiative is being designed in collaboration with the community and is championed by Mayor Kamal Johnson.

Our world is rapidly transforming. Many advocates of basic income have long maintained that the coming technological shift and wave of automation would wipe out millions of traditional jobs and leave everyday Americans without a safety net. Now, in light of the COVID-19 emergency, it is abundantly clear that the future is now and, unfortunately, we’ve been vastly unprepared. 

As this global pandemic quickly turns into a profound economic crisis, it is now more important than ever to build a resilient, “trickle-up” economy that works for everyone. The concept of a universal basic income is a simple one: unconditional, regularly recurring payments made to everyone. With HudsonUP, The Spark of Hudson & Humanity Forward aim to partner with the Hudson community to test this simple concept by providing $500 each month to 25 randomly-selected Hudson residents for five years. 

This implementation (while not truly “universal”), by virtue of being long-term, will afford tremendous new research and insights on the effect(s) basic income can have on an individual over time. In addition to data yielded by this research, HudsonUP will also create personal stories from those in the community who have been impacted by the program, both directly & indirectly. The HudsonUP team will work to develop & boost these voices in order to tell the story of how a basic income can change lives & transform communities.

Hudson is a small, diverse community of approximately 6,000 residents, of which nearly a third live at or below the poverty line. Compared to major cities (especially its downriver neighbor, New York City), the cost of living in Hudson is low. These characteristics make it such that even a relatively small-scale pilot like HudsonUP can have a real impact on the lives of its participants and the community at large. That’s why we’re so excited to have the blessing of community organizations such as the Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood, and the support of both the Mayor’s Office & Columbia County Department of Social Services behind the HudsonUP initiative.

HudsonUP, we believe, is an opportunity to both better understand, and learn to tackle, the serious issues we face as a country: rising wealth inequality, intergenerational poverty, and eroding collective mental health. Together, we can create a more just and inclusive world; a world in which humans are measured by their intrinsic value rather than their economic worth.