News

The Challenger News recently featured an article by Nannette D. Massey that conveyed the voices and stories of three local individuals who have benefited from our People's Fund guaranteed income program. Open Buffalo is proud to have designed and administer the ongoing fund, in partnership with ally organizations (Crossroads Community Fund).

Massey's article appears below:

A Tale of Three Women

Recipients of People's Fund $500 A Month Free Guaranteed Income Program Share Their Stories

In July, Open Buffalo announced it was accepting applications until the end of the month for its pilot universal basic income program where participants would receive $500 a month, no strings attached, for a year. Open Buffalo is one of several community action organizations that together form Crossroads Community Coalition and Crossroads Community Fund. With a $1.3 million endowment from a source remaining anonymous, they were tasked with confronting economic inequality in Buffalo in ways that will directly benefit frontline communities. The People’s Fund Guaranteed Income Program is the first of three endeavors they’ll be rolling out.

Contenders had to be residents living in three of  what were deemed Buffalo’s poorest zip codes; 14208, 14211, and 14212. Alex Wright, formerly of African Heritage Food Co-op, is the liaison for this program as the Interim People’s Advocate. “We wanted to make sure the application process itself wasn’t oppressive, you know, and that everybody had equal access.” Staff even made house calls to help some people complete theirs. 

Over 600 applications flooded in. The selection team checked them over looking for a “hierarchy of needs,” as Alex put it. “What was your emergency? Like if somebody was unemployed, that was a check box. If your lights were cut off, that was a check box.” After the team whittled them down to those best fitting the criteria, those applications were fed into a randomizer software program already in use by Impact Charitable in Denver, Colorado, which spit out the final fortunate thirty. Alex had the happy job of calling them with the good news and scheduling an initial meeting.

Carrie Ingram is one such recipient. In her mid-sixties, she lives on the East Side, and is retired from the Buffalo Board of Ed. as a teacher’s assistant. She was a volunteer classroom mom in 1991 at school #53. “The principal was Donette Ruffin and she said ‘well Carrie, do you want a job?’ and I said ‘sure’ and that’s how I got started.’” Carrie heard about The People’s Fund  on local TV. “I kinda’ brushed it off, I thought I would never get picked. But my block club leader said ‘you have as much of a chance as anybody else.’ So I went ahead and got my application in at the last minute.”

Carrie was so ecstatic she can still remember the date she got the call. It was August 29th. As a retiree “that income is set, but these bills continue to go up.” Just as the temperature dropped, there was an issue getting her home furnace ready for the season and that extra money sure came in handy. With the windfall she’s been able to keep up with winter maintenance on her car, and the rising price of groceries. “It allows me to breathe just a little bit easier.”

Keisha Allen, 46, moved to Buffalo from Tennessee in 2021 as a new widow hoping the geographic change would help her make a fresh start. She was shortchanged of a significant amount of what her husband left behind by some unscrupulous relatives. Then she found her Section 8 housing benefits would not transfer to her new state as she’d planned. There seemed to be one cascading problem after another. “Life kept happening,” Keisha says. By winter 2023, Buffalo police found her one night living in her broken down car in Freedom Park at the Foot of Ferry.

They got her car towed and found her a bed at a temporary women’s shelter. Eventually she moved to Hope Gardens permanent supportive housing for homeless single women where she lives today. She was still struggling to pay the $15 a month rent, and getting second hand clothes from church donation closets. She heard about The People’s Fund by word of mouth and put her application in, also with her mind on the slim numerical chance of being one of the chosen.

“I was beyond excited,” says Keisha, when she got that call from Alex. “I was crying happy tears.” She caught up on back rent owed to Hope Gardens, and was able to pay a few months ahead. It left her comfortable when the government shutdown delayed the regular issue of SNAP benefits for November. And she treated herself to something most people wouldn’t think of. “I’ve been to the zoo.” 

“I’m buying new clothes for the winter, it’s been an absolute miracle for me. I felt like a real person, I felt presentable. I didn’t feel like a second hand citizen anymore.”

Fortune continues to smile on Keisha as she will be moving into an apartment of her own later this month with the help of the Housing First program. She plans to spend some of her new money on moving boxes and tape. “The money gives me a safety net from all that stress, and keeps my mind positive instead of on things I would have been considering out of desperation.” (She could probably use some couches, plates, and lamps if you have them to spare.)

Anna Marcos (named changed for privacy) is 58 and made sometimes $2,000 a week supporting herself as a home health aide. She had some health troubles of her own, but she was always able to power through and get the job done. The spring of 2020 arrived and humbled us all. Anna was besieged with Covid which exacerbated her diabetes, vertigo, and the shelter-in-place order resulted in some muscle loss. Unable to make a living, Anna was homeless for six months too before she found an apartment in a senior living building in Cheektowaga.

This building provides basics like bathroom tissue and garbage bags. Anna was going to a pantry at nearby Villa Maria College for soap, shampoo, and toothpaste. “I have a car, but I only used it for doctor’s appointments and the supermarket. That’s it. I didn’t have any money to go anywhere.”

A woman in the office of her building told her about “a program going on, something about different zip codes and writing a brief summary about what happened to you. I didn’t even think they were going to pick me. I didn’t put no mind to it, I just submitted the paperwork and went on about my business.”

Anna says she just sat with her mouth open when she got the call from Alex. Just sat, for a long, long time.

Her first order of business was necessary repairs on her car. Little things like new windshield wipers, an oil change, and everything that comes with passing inspection can add up to a pretty penny. After that, it’s all about her three small grandchildren. “Now I can pick them up without worrying about wasting gas, make cupcakes, have a sleepover; make good memories, like my uncle used to do for us.”

Program participants are given an electronic benefits card and the money is loaded onto the card monthly. They all have a monthly call with Alex, and Alex is available to them for any other questions or concerns they may have regarding the program or the card’s use. Alex hopes that the end of the program will see a better quality of life unfold for everyone. “The hope is that after the twelve months, wherever they started at, they end up at a higher level–whatever that means for them.”