A program in Washington D.C. provided $10,800 cash payments to low-income mothers with no restrictions on use, with which one recipient, Canethia Miller, accepted as a lump sum and promptly spent $6,000 on a luxury family trip to Miami.
While Miller felt the trip provided educational value for her children, critics argue most of the funds were spent on frivolous items rather than long-term needs.
“Some of it I just left alone,” she said. “The other side is, I wanted to blow it. I wanted to have fun. [My kids] got to experience something I would never have been able to do if I didn’t have that money.”
The program aimed to help families’ economic mobility, but allowing large sums with no financial guidance risked funds being wasted, as seen in Miller’s case.
Some recipients used the money wisely, but others like Miller spent it all at once without achieving lasting improvement.
“A lot of communities in my area don’t know the financial gain of credit, saving for your kids; that’s why we’re broke, that’s why we don’t have nothing to pass down or no house to give down,” Miller said. “I’m trying to get to the level where I’m passing something down that really matters, so I can be set and my kids can be set, and they don’t need to push so hard like I’m doing now.”
The effectiveness of such unconditional cash programs is debated.
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