Legislation Details

File #: 2026-6286   
Type: Regular Agenda Item
Body: City Council
On agenda: 10/6/2026
Title: Recommendation to Receive Rise Up Alameda (Guaranteed Income Pilot Program) Final Reports. (Base Reuse and Economic Development)
Attachments: 1. Exhibit 1: Two-Year Insights, 2. Exhibit 2: Final Report, 3. Exhibit 3: Why All Guaranteed Income is Narrative Work
Title

Recommendation to Receive Rise Up Alameda (Guaranteed Income Pilot Program) Final Reports. (Base Reuse and Economic Development)
Body

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council

From: Gerry Beaudin, City Manager

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

On May 17, 2022, City Council approved a $4.6 million allocation from American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funds (ARPA) to develop Rise Up Alameda (RUA), the City of Alameda’s (City) first-ever guaranteed income pilot program. RUA provided $1,000 per month to 150 low-income Alameda households over a two-year period from 2023 to 2025. The goals of the City’s RUA program were to:
Help reduce economic volatility for program participants;
Change local narratives and perceptions surrounding poverty and sense of community belonging; and
Collect data and contribute to information gathered from other Guaranteed Income programs nationally, and inform the larger policy discussions regarding anti-poverty.

Staff partnered with several consulting firms to measure the pilot program outcomes and document participant experience. The consulting team included: Abt Global (Abt), the pilot’s research partner, conducting surveys of the participants to measure the statistical significance of the program’s effectiveness; Maven Collaborative (Maven), who held narrative workshops with the RUA Advisory Board to develop a narrative change campaign; and Wild Seed Consulting & Productions LLC (Wild Seed), who filmed, photographed and conducted in depth interviews with eight RUA participants who shared personal stories about their experience in RUA.

This report is a complete study of the program and concludes the research and narrative storytelling work. Exhibits 1 and 2 include Abt’s 24-month, final program study of RUA.
Exhibit 1 includes the Rise Up Alameda Guaranteed Income Study: Two-Year Insights and Wild Seed’s final report. Exhibit 2 includes the Rise Up Alameda Narrative Archive Final Report.

Analyzing data from the ...

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