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How to apply to Georgia's $850 a month guaranteed income program

The initiative In Her Hands is accepting applications to give more than 650 Black women $850 a month over the next two years.

ATLANTA — A new guaranteed income program in Georgia working to help more than 650 Black women across the state is taking applicants.

A partnership between the Georgia Resilience & Opportunity Fund (GRO Fund) & GiveDirectly is tackling income inequality in the state through a $13 million privately funded income guarantee program. 

As of Monday, the initiative In Her Hands began accepting applications to give more than 650 Black women $850 a month over the next two years.

This program is different from Atlanta's guaranteed income program which is publicly funded. In Her Hands raised funds through local and federal funds in addition to private donors and sponsors.

“Georgia has some of the starkest economic insecurity and instability in the country, especially for Black and Brown women. The GRO Fund is setting out to test big ideas to tackle this challenge. But the work is grounded in people first, not theory,” Atlanta Councilmember and co-chair of the Old Fourth Ward Economic Security Task Force, Amir Farokhi said in a release

This first project site will focus on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s childhood neighborhood, Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward, as he was a proud advocate for guaranteed income and income equality throughout his career. This site will be the focus of the first round of the program in which 220 people will be selected to receive benefits.

Eligibility requirements include:

  • Women 18 years or older (inclusive of transgender women and non-binary individuals)

  • Must have been impacted by COVID-19 

  • Live within the community site map (Old Fourth Ward)

  • Make less than or equal to two times the federal poverty line

The release statement said eligible applicants will be selected through a lottery pool. Half of the recipients will receive $850 a month for 24 months. The other half will receive a first, lump sum payment for $4,300 followed by 23 months of $700 payments.

For the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood alone, the program will select 220 people to receive benefits. Another 440 will be selected over two rounds later this summer.

While the second site will be in Clay, Terrell and Randolph Counties in Southwest Georgia, the final project site has yet to be disclosed. The final site is expected to be announced later this month.

Applications for these rounds will open in June and July respectively.

Applications for Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward will stay open until May 15 at 11:59 p.m. Those interested can visit the application site here.

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