Once again, Central Valley is left out of key state help, this time for basic income plan

We were thrilled this month to hear that seven guaranteed basic income pilot proposals, all from Southern and Northern California, were selected to receive in total $25 million from the California Department of Social Services to provide low-income residents with a basic supplemental income to help make ends meet.

But that excitement also came with sobering disappointment that none of the awarded funding went to the Central Valley, the region we know to have the highest poverty in California.

Among the rejected applications was ours, crafted by a strong coalition of organizations including Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission, United Way of Fresno and Madera counties, and the Center for Community Voices at Fresno State. Our proposal focused on Fresno, home to the second-highest concentration of high-poverty neighborhoods in the nation — and that was true before we witnessed the second-highest increase in rents nationally during the pandemic. CDSS has so far offered no specific reason why the application was rejected.

In the request for applications for basic income pilots, CDSS named explicit “equity considerations” for the pilots, including how basic income can be “a tool to advance equity for communities that have disproportionately been impacted by poverty and wealth disparities.” It is therefore puzzling that the most poverty-impacted region of the state will benefit not at all from this program.

A recent report by the Little Hoover Commission noted that regional disparities in California are defined by how inland and rural communities have been left out of the state’s booming economic prosperity in the tech and manufacturing sectors, creating over time wide inequalities in income, wealth, education and social mobility, with many communities in the Central Valley, including Fresno, often ranked the lowest on these outcomes. The decision by CDSS seems like more of the same. After a fiscal year that left the state with an incredible budget surplus that allowed for basic income pilots to move forward, the Central Valley was left out.

Over the past year, we spoke to several communities of Fresno residents who would be potentially eligible to participate in a basic income pilot, from farmworkers to college students to families living on the edge of being the working poor. Most of them said that a $500 monthly basic income would cover “some” of the gap towards meeting monthly expenses. Our basic income pilot proposal to the state included $1,000 monthly basic income payments. We were confident that the results would have shown us a different, more hopeful future for Fresno — the beating heart of California where many of its residents work themselves beyond their limits to do little more than just survive.

We need Gov. Newsom and his administration to address this glaring gap. Just one week before the announcement, the governor was in Fresno and said to the Central Valley: “You deserve more and we’re here in that spirit to enliven your confidence in Sacramento, that we have your back, that you matter.” We know from the listening sessions that we have held and co-facilitated that residents of Fresno are deeply fatigued from hearing these words and seeing no follow-through. Gov. Newsom spoke these words to a community that is being crushed by fast-rising rents, an affordable housing shortage, inflation, skyrocketing utility bills, a child-care crisis, and the fallout from COVID. They need action, not words.

When we asked residents what they would do if they had financial stability and money to spend beyond basic needs, most expressed wanting to achieve security through stable housing and reliable transportation, happiness through spending more time with their families and taking vacations, and mobility through higher education and career development. We agree with Gov. Newsom, they do deserve more.

But while we appreciate the governor’s words and physical presence, we need that backed up with concrete action and funding. The answer to why the Central Valley struggles in the fifth-largest economy in the world can be found among the many times the region has been shut out.

Dr. Amber Crowell and Andy Levine are co-directors of the Center for Community Voices at Fresno State.