Businessman Andrew Yang, shown at a Des Moines, Iowa, forum in January, said his non-profit will spend $1 million to help families affected by the spread of the coronavirus. File Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI | License Photo

March 20 (UPI) -- Andrew Yang, through his new non-profit, will spend $1million to assist working families impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, the former Democratic presidential candidate said Friday.

Humanity Forward, an organization the wealthy tech entrepreneur formed after dropping out of the presidential race, is teaming with the Collective Education Fund and Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners, to locate families in need as businesses around the country close up shop because of the virus.


The move is an offshoot of his universal basic income theory which Yang campaigned on. He plans to start giving about 500 families in the Bronx $1,000 per month starting this month. The non-profit will also raise money for the project through its Humanity Forward Coronavirus Relief Fund.

"It seemed much more important to put money into people's hands because people are struggling and wondering how they are going to be able to pay their bills," Yang said. "So rather than doing basic income trial, we deiced to get money into people's hands immediately and it seemed like the most effective way to do it."

In a New York Daily News op-ed Friday, Yang said current bailout talk has centered around businesses and industries and not workers.

"I'm glad to see the federal and state governments taking steps to ensure that there is some assistance," Yang said. "However, too much of the focus has been on helping businesses, with no-interest loans or interest rates being lowered to help corporations' bottom lines.

"Instead, we've got to focus on doing the one thing that we know will help people hit the hardest economically by this crisis," he said.

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