- 5340 Skylane Blvd. Santa Rosa, CA 95403
First 5 Sonoma County is honored to lead Sonoma County’s Guaranteed Basic Income Pilot program. This program is funded by the County of Sonoma, City of Healdsburg, City of Petaluma, and City of Santa Rosa American Rescue Plan Act dollars and private investments from Corazón Healdsburg and operated in partnership with community organizations around the county.
The pilot program aims to alleviate financial stressors felt by pregnant and parenting families with young children in Sonoma County, particularly those low-income and BIPOC families who were already vulnerable or marginalized prior to the pandemic.
Research from other pilots around the country have shown increases in financial stability and full-time employment and reduction of anxiety and depression. With this investment in households with pregnant individuals and children under six, together we can help ensure that Sonoma County children are learning and growing in stable environments.
The Pathway to Income Equity program will award 305 randomly selected qualifying Sonoma County residents $500 a month for 2 years. This cash assistance is unrestricted COVID Disaster Relief and it is not taxable income.
Eligibility for this program is a gross household income (before taxes) of 185% or less of the federal poverty line. This number depends on how many individuals are in your household/family unit. For example, a household of 3 must have a gross monthly income of $3,551 or less, or a gross annual income of $42,606 or less.
Household/ Family Size | Annual | Monthly | Twice Monthly | Bi-Weekly | Weekly |
1 | $25,142 | $2,096 | $1,048 | $967 | $484 |
2 | $33,874 | $2,823 | $1,412 | $1,303 | $652 |
3 | $42,606 | $3,551 | $1,776 | $1,639 | $820 |
4 | $51,338 | $4,279 | $2,140 | $1,975 | $988 |
5 | $60,070 | $5,006 | $2,503 | $2,311 | $1,156 |
Each additional family member add | $8,732 | $728 | $364 | $336 | $168 |
Many people lost jobs, income, childcare and housing for reasons related to COVID-19, directly or indirectly due to one or a combination of factors, such as illness caused by the virus, illness of a family member, slow down of the local economy causing businesses to lay off workers and many other “ripple effects”. The application will allow you to select one of the following three options to indicate the impact that COVID-19 had on your household. If any of these apply to your household, then you are “impacted by COVID-19” and eligible.
Everyone who completes an application and meets the eligibility requirements: 1) a resident of Sonoma County 2) has a household income of 185% of the federal poverty level or less 3) has a child age 0-5 or is pregnant and 4) has been impacted by COVID-19 will be entered into a lottery. 305 applicants will be randomly selected to participate. If you are one of the selected households, you will be notified via a text or email that you provided during the application. You will be asked to submit documentation verifying your eligibility, only if you are selected for participation. Once all required verification is submitted and approved, you will choose your payment method and start receiving payments in January 2023.
Application period for this program is closed.