Santa Clara Basic Income Program Cohort 2 (Transition-Age Youth Basic Income Pilot)
The Santa Clara County Basic Income Program, officially the Transition-Age Youth Basic Income Pilot, is a county-run guaranteed income program for young adults aging out of the foster care system. This is the program's second cohort, providing 50 former foster youth with $1,200 per month for two years via prepaid debit cards distributed by Community Financial Resources. It builds on a first-in-the-nation 2020 pilot (Cohort 1) that served 72 youth and showed measurable improvements in housing stability, employment, and financial well-being. The program is funded through a mix of American Rescue Plan Act funds, County general funds, state funding secured by then-Supervisor/now State Senator Dave Cortese, and AB 109 funds, with in-kind financial mentoring from Excite Credit Union and MyPath. Enrollment occurs only through referral by the County's Social Services Agency, not open application.
Foster Youth, Transition-Age Youth, Randomized Control Design, County Government Pilot, Guaranteed Income
Headquarters
- Organization Name
- County of Santa Clara – Office of the County Executive (in partnership with the Social Services Agency)
- City
- San Jose
- State / Province
- California
- Country
- United States
Contact
- Phone
- +1 408 299 5105
- Social media links
Status & Funding
- Organization status
- Active
- Program status
- Inactive
- Application status
- Timed
- Number of recipients
- 50
- Funding type
- Government, Nonprofit
Benefits
- Currency Type
- Fiat
- Currency
- USD
- Total Amount
- 28,800 USD
- Avg. Per Month
- 1,200 USD
- Payment frequency
- Monthly
- How long the program lasts
- 24 months
- Distribution Type
- Pre-paid debit card
- Benefit details
Participants receive $1,200 per month, unconditional, loaded onto a prepaid debit card ('Focus Card') issued and administered by Community Financial Resources (CFR). Alongside cash payments, participants are offered voluntary financial mentoring/coaching from Excite Credit Union volunteers, coordinated and trained by MyPath, covering credit building, financial planning, and general money management support. Cohort 2 launched in August 2023 as an expansion of the original 2020 pilot, this time reportedly structured with a comparison design (about 50 receiving payments and roughly an equal number in a non-paid comparison group) to support rigorous evaluation. No public final evaluation report for Cohort 2 specifically was located as of this research.
Eligibility
Overview
- Eligibility details
Eligibility targets young adults transitioning out of (aging out of) the Santa Clara County foster care system; the original 2020 program design specified former foster youth ages 21 up to 24, and this age band appears to carry over to Cohort 2 though it was not independently reconfirmed. There is no public application — participants are identified and referred into the program by the County's Social Services Agency and partner providers based on foster care case status, not income or other means-tested criteria. No explicit income, asset, or household-size limits were identified in county documentation.
Demographics
- Minimum age
- 21
- Maximum age
- 24
Family
- Family Status
- Foster Youth
Geography
- US states covered
- California
- Countries covered
- United States
- Counties covered
- Santa Clara
- Residency of Target Geography
- Yes
Participation
- Research / data sharing
- Required
- Complementary program enrollment required
- Voluntary financial mentoring/coaching through Excite Credit Union, coordinated by MyPath
- Research / participation requirements
The County contracted an independent evaluator for the GBI pilots; Cohort 1 was evaluated via baseline (Aug 2020) and post-pilot (Sept 2022) surveys tracking housing, employment, education, and financial outcomes. Cohort 2 (this record) appears to have been designed with a treatment/comparison structure (~50 receiving funds vs. ~50 in a non-paid comparison group) to strengthen causal evaluation, per news reporting; a dedicated public Cohort 2 evaluation report was not located during this research.
Application Process
- How to apply
There is no public/open application. All enrollment into the County's GBI programs, including this cohort, is through referrals from partner organizations (primarily the County Social Services Agency working with foster youth case managers), per the County's own program page.
- Selection process
Participants are identified and referred based on their foster-care case status (aging out of the Santa Clara County foster care system within the eligible age range) by Social Services Agency caseworkers and partner providers; the County has noted prioritizing older former foster youth as being in greater need. Cohort 2 reportedly used a comparison-group design, with roughly half of identified eligible youth receiving payments and a similar-sized group not receiving payments for evaluation purposes.
