Exciting Basic Income News for December
Published on November 30, 2021 by Alex
Dear neighbours,
DECEMBER IS GOING TO BE A SPECIAL MONTH FOR THE SE15 COMMUNITY FUND!
We have some really exciting news. We are receiving over £800 from a project that we have been working on with a campaign group called the Basic Income Conversation. That means we will be able to distribute this money very soon and grants in December will be funded by supporters for a basic income!
For anyone curious to know a little more about the project, we’ve shared some more details below:
The Basic Income Conversation believe everyone has a right to financial security so they campaign for something called a basic income.
A basic income would guarantee financial security for all. It has five core characteristics:
- Cash: it’s money you can spend on whatever you want.
- Regular: so you know the next payment is coming.
- Individual: Each person gets their own basic income, paid to the individual not the household.
- Unconditional: You don’t have to work or make any promises to get your basic income, there are no strings attached
- Universal: everyone gets it.
As you may have read in our previous announcement about the project earlier this year, we decided to team up with the Basic Income Conversation and several other London solidarity funds because there are many overlaps between what we do in our solidarity funds and a basic income. For example, we give neighbours cash so they can spend it on whatever they need to - no questions asked. Our cash payments are also unconditional - it’s a core value of what we do in the solidarity funds to ensure our funding has no strings attached. Our only criteria for funding is proof of address in SE15.
Key differences are that we can’t make regular payments to absolutely everyone, and basic income payments would be a lot bigger than the £50 we are able to give. Currently there are no government policies to provide a basic income, but we think that financial security for everyone should be the future! So that’s why we wanted to team up with the Basic Income Conversation.
Over the last couple of months, the Basic Income Conversation and London solidarity funds raised £3610 from supporters of a basic income! This money has now been split amongst the London solidarity funds so we can share this money with neighbours in need. Here in SE15 we're getting a big chunk of that.
To say thank you for this support, throughout December we’ll be sharing some information about the campaign for a basic income. Please help us spread the word about the need for a basic income so we can help make financial security for everyone a reality!
We’ll also be asking neighbours who receive money from the fund to help by filling in a short survey. Those neighbours will also be invited to express an interest in joining a small paid focus group. Participants in the focus group will be paid £45 plus any travel expenses for a 90 minute focus group session as the SE15 Community Fund and Basic Income Conversation really want to make it worth neighbours’ time and energy to help evaluate the project.
We hope that answers any questions you might have, but please do email us at [email protected] if not!
The SE15CF Admin Team
on
Arnold Dixon