New Podcast Episode: Cash Matters
Lori Severens | January 10, 2020 | Aspen Family Prosperity Innovation Community
“It really is the agency and dignity that cash restores.” – Aisha Nyandoro, CEO of Springboard to Opportunities, Ascend Fellow, and Family Prosperity Partner
We recently sat down in the studio with Dr. Aisha Nyandoro and Ebony Beals, business owner and Springboard to Opportunities’ participant, to talk about how cash shared with mothers with low incomes — with no strings attached — can have an outsize effect on their lives, and the lives of their children, families, and communities.
Tune in to the latest episode of the Aspen Insight podcast, Cash Matters, to hear the interview with Dr. Nyandoro and Beals.
The Magnolia Mother’s Trust, a Springboard program, is the first guaranteed income initiative that specifically targets extremely low-income families headed by an African American female living in affordable housing in the United States. 20 Springboard families in Jackson, Mississippi were given $1,000 in cash on a monthly basis for 12 months. Most of Springboard’s families make an average of $11,030 annually — more than doubling their income.
The program was developed in partnership with mothers in the community, with their needs, expertise, and insights informing the program’s components — because families know what they need to thrive. Families in the program are free to use the money however they see fit to best meet their financial needs. As Dr. Nyandoro said, “There are no strings, no conditions – we trust our peeps.”
They are already seeing big results: In 12 months, the moms have paid off over $10,000 in predatory in debt, all have opened checking and savings accounts with a minimum of $500 saved, some have gone back to school and been able to secure higher-paying jobs. They have restored relationships because the stress of having to figure out how to make ends meet has been lifted.
Springboard is now working to cultivate the data and have larger conversations about how the data is used, and move toward making policy changes that really center families and their needs — instead of taking a top-down approach to policymaking. As Beals said, “If you’ve never met anybody who you’re making these policies for, you’re kind of out touch… I could be your aunt, your sister. We’re just human.”
Springboard to Opportunities is a Family Prosperity Partner in the Aspen Family Prosperity Innovation Community, a learning and action community identifying new and different ways to ensure families in America have the opportunities they need to prosper, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Photo caption: Ebony Beals, left, and Aisha Nyandoro, right, in the Aspen Institute recording studio in Aspen, Colorado.
Related Posts
The Aspen Family Prosperity Innovation Community Phase II sought to find and foster the most effective and innovative strategies to accelerate social and economic mobility for working families with low incomes. To do so, we elevated the voices and expertise of families with lived experience, were guided by 14 advisors, and we brought together 20 …
In a blog post authored by Trene Hawkins of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Ascend's Managing Director Marjorie Sims shares how Ascend harnesses parent and caregiver leaders’ expertise to create policy and systems change in communities and organizations.
As an organization with a vibrant Early Head Start program and a two-generational approach to alleviating poverty, All Our Kin has been a proud partner in Ascend at the Aspen Institute’s Family Prosperity Innovation Community. Being part of this group among 20 partnering organizations has given All Our Kin the opportunity to bring its innovative model …
Mom and Son Duo Reflect on Family Prosperity Convening Read More »
For many of us with young children at home, the pandemic hasn’t just disrupted our lives — it’s turned them upside down, erasing the boundaries between home and work. We’re seeing more and more stories about parents, especially mothers and specifically mothers in low-wage jobs, struggling to balance being a breadwinner and a caregiver. Only 1 …
Breadwinning and Caregiving Don’t Have to Be Incompatible Read More »
Poverty is the result of poor policy choices. These choices reflect our national values and decide who deserves access to opportunity to achieve their dreams and who does not. This flawed mindset has led to persistent inequities and a hollowing of our shared humanity. Change is possible. The choice is ours.
In an op-ed co-authored by Aisha Nyandoro of Springboard to Opportunities and Trene Hawkins of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Ascend’s Marjorie Sims states the need to honor Black women with bold policies so that future generations can truly thrive. For even as we are achieve historic successes, racist and sexist systems, structures, and narratives persist and prevent our equity and dignity. …
Centering Black women in policy is key to future families’ prosperity Read More »
On Tuesday, June 1st, 2021, Ascend at the Aspen Institute’s Family Prosperity Innovation Community hosted a panel discussion about the recently proposed federal legislation on paid leave. This webinar presented how and why this proposed legislation matters and shared opportunities to advance paid leave locally and nationally. Watch Now Presenters and Panelists Vicki Shabo – New …
Black History Month is a time for celebration and an intentional moment to pay tribute to generations of Black Americans who have contributed to our society. It is also a time to look inward, asking if the work that we are doing today helps to further advance Black communities, or if it instead stifles. Is what we are doing enough to break through rigid obstacles and nurture an environment that truly gives space for families and individuals to meet their full promise and live their values; and in turn, have communities thrive?
In the last year, families have endured and adapted to myriad unknowns, and too often they’ve had to figure it out without basic support and resources. Yet, as new research conducted by Ascend at the Aspen Institute (Ascend) and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) discovered, there is widespread support across political ideologies for solutions that …
Centering Families in Policy Solutions in 2021 and Beyond: What Parents Know Read More »
Earlier this year, Ascend launched the Aspen Family Prosperity Innovation Community, our initiative for breakthrough innovations and collaborations that position families to reach educational success, economic prosperity, health and well-being. As we look toward 2021, opportunities and challenges abound for work-family supportive policies – namely, the future of child care. More than ever, families are …
Our world has changed. The wave of uncertainty touched off by the pandemic is becoming an ongoing process of relearning how to live, work and care for our families. A powerful national movement for racial justice around the world is making clear that we need a new social contract. Our nation faces a reckoning with …
Announcing: New Community of Family Prosperity Innovators Read More »
[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.22″ custom_padding=”9px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”3.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”] Ascend at the Aspen Institute’s Family Prosperity Innovation Community is a collaborative, multilayered community that develops breakthrough innovations to strengthen parents’ and families’ access to employment opportunities, economic security, and health and …
Contact: Lindsay Broyhill Ascend at the Aspen Institute lindsay.broyhill@aspeninstitute.org Bold Leaders to Advance Innovative Strategies for Families’ Health and Economic Prosperity Aspen Institute Launches New Partners and Advisors in Aspen Family Prosperity Innovation Community Washington, DC – Ascend at the Aspen Institute is proud to announce the new partners and advisors the Aspen Family Prosperity Innovation Community, Ascend’s initiative for breakthrough innovations and collaborations that position families to reach educational …
The last few weeks and months have been profoundly challenging, and illuminated clearly the need for a sea change in the way our country engages with and supports families and communities with low incomes. At Ascend, we are particularly focused on deepening and elevating our efforts to address structural racism, including how systemic inequities impact …
New Report: Principles and Innovations to Drive Family Prosperity Read More »
Family prosperity isn’t what it could be in America – and we are looking for partners ready to change that in meaningful and groundbreaking ways. The Aspen Family Prosperity Innovation Community (Family Prosperity) is a learning and action community committed to finding the most effective and innovative solutions to problems that affect working families with …
RFP Submission Guidelines for Aspen Family Prosperity Innovation Community Read More »
Featured from the Ascend Community