On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with Dr. Michelle Robinson about the Madison Forward Fund 2.0, which was recently unveiled by the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness. The guaranteed income program will focus on maternal-child health and support 42 families, each getting $500 a month for 12 months. This program builds off of the Madison Forward Fund that ran from 2022 to 2023. 

Robinson provides insightful context on the history of income inequality, the interacting realities of racial and gender-based inequity, and the fact that there is precedent for these kinds of programs in our existing public policy. 

Our economic system is designed to maintain structural unemployment in order to keep wages and inflation stable. But what is our collective responsibility to the folks who get left behind, asks Robinson. That’s where guaranteed income programs come in. GI programs are regular, unconditional cash payments made to a targeted group, usually the most economically vulnerable. Participants use the funds to buy groceries, pay off debt, and close rent gaps. These programs also acknowledge the domestic labor that happens outside of formal employment and the dignity of people who cannot work. 

Robinson frames the problem of income inequality as a matter of dignity. At a time when poverty and wealth disparities are growing, a smaller and smaller number of people are able to afford ends meet. In light of the nearly 60% of the US population who live at or near poverty including 21.5% of people in Dane County, we need social and economic policy that is rooted in freedom, dignity, and care, says Robinson. Farm subsidies, employment tax credits, and tax breaks to corporations are all examples of existing guaranteed income policies. The issue is who is perceived as deserving of economic support. 

Dr. Michelle Robinson serves as Chief Programs and Partnerships Officer at the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness. In this role, she leads the organization’s health equity leadership development, policy and advocacy, environmental justice, and maternal-child health initiatives. She also directs the Madison Forward Fund 2.0, a guaranteed income program, and oversees evaluation, measurement, and impact efforts across FFBWW’s portfolio. Dr. Robinson holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. For over a decade, she has advanced research, policy, and advocacy on cash assistance programs, including guaranteed income, earned income tax credits, and child savings accounts.

Featured image: a graph of net personal wealth from the World Inequality Database via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). 

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