NEWARK, NJ — The idea of providing all Newark residents with a "guaranteed income" is marching forward in the Brick City, officials reported Thursday.

On July 25, the city launched its new Guaranteed Income Task Force with a meeting at the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation. The mission of the new task force is simple, yet complicated… figure out if a "basic income" pilot would make sense for Newark. Universal basic income – offering people regular cash payments with little or no requirements –remains a controversial way of fighting poverty. Supporters hail its simplicity and equity, but skeptics worry about its fiscal cost and incentives, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Newark's task force is made up of members from various community groups, including the Newark Community Development Network, Advocates for Children of NJ, the Center for Law, Inequality, and Metropolitan Equity (CLiME), Newark Alliance and the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation. During Thursday's meeting, the new task force heard presentations from the Economic Security Project and the Jain Family Institute, who are both providing technical assistance as the city probes the feasibility of guaranteed income.

The meeting was also joined by Chicago Alderman Ameya Pawar, a co-chair of the Chicago Resilient Families Task Force, which just concluded its work and recommended a guaranteed income pilot in Chicago. The task force will convene again in September, and will eventually release a report of its findings, city officials said.

Mayor Ras Baraka – who pushed for the idea of guaranteed income during his 2019 state-of-the-city speech (see below video) – said that despite a recent boon of development, one in three Newark residents still lives in poverty.

"This is another step in our work to end poverty in Newark, and create a more equitable and empowered city," Baraka said.