In one California city, offering free cash helped fight poverty and COVID
“When Stockton, California, resident Gregory Gauthier had to take time off from his job at auto dismantler Pick-n-Pull to recover from hernia surgery, he was grateful to have a financial cushion courtesy of the city: a guaranteed paycheck. The $500 no-strings-attached monthly stipend also proved vital for a 48-year-old woman who came down with COVID-19 early in the pandemic, before vaccines and treatments were widely available. The money allowed her to stay home from work and isolate while she was sick without having to worry how she would make ends meet.”