Cortese’s Bill to Provide Guaranteed Income to Homeless Youth Advances

Senator Cortese (D-Silicon Valley) made the following statement when SB 1341 cleared the California Senate Committee on Human Services today, after previously clearing the California Senate Education Committee:

“Our plan to reimagine how we provide social safety net services to our most vulnerable young people is moving forward. Early findings have already demonstrated the success of the Santa Clara County Transition-Aged Youth Basic Income Program that inspired California’s first-of-its-kind Guaranteed Income program last year; direct cash assistance is not only enabling our underserved youth to achieve financial stability, it is allowing them to invest in their education, their careers, and their future.”

Teri Olle, California Campaign Director for Economic Security Project Action, sponsors of SB 1341 said the following:

“We put a lot of stock in the notion that if young people just invest in their futures, with education or a good job, that they can lift themselves from poverty. But for those who start from behind – the 15,000 graduating high school seniors experiencing homelessness – that is just not reality. At this pivotal moment in their lives, they have plans, hopes and dreams – they just need the support to achieve them. The data is telling us, the answer is direct cash support with no strings attached. Whether they need money for moving expenses, tuition, books, rent or food, this program would give these struggling students the resources they need to reach their goals and follow their dreams. California can do right by its young people, now is the time for our leaders to act.”