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Elevate MV, the Guaranteed Basic Income Pilot Program Concludes

Elevate MV: A Guaranteed Basic Income Pilot Program

The Mountain View Elevate MV pilot program provided direct cash payments of $500 per month to 166 randomly selected eligible extremely low-income Mountain View residents to elevate their basic income and provide more financial security from December 2022 through December 2024.

The pilot program sets itself apart from other direct relief programs by providing unrestricted financial assistance to the most vulnerable in our community. This means participants in the pilot are empowered to choose how the assistance best meets the basic needs of their family and is not tied to conditions.

Elevate MV was operated through the City’s partner Community Services Agency (CSA), supported by YMCA, working with the payment processor, Community Financial Resources. The pilot program is a research study and will be a part of a national study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania Center for Guaranteed Income Research along with participants from other cities across the State and nation.

Program Information

Amount and Number of Participants: $500 per month ($6,000 per year), serving approximately 166 families
Eligibility: Extremely low-income Mountain View residents below 30% Area Median Income (AMI); and Pregnant or caregiver for at least one child under the age of 18 at the time of application (September 2022).
Selection Process: participants will be selected by an unbiased randomized process completed by the researchers (not the City or CSA)
Pilot Program Length: 24 months (December 2022-December 2024)
Timeline: 1st Payment issued December 15, 2022. Last payment will be issued November 15, 2024. Elevate MV pilot program concluded December 2024.
Transition Period: City and its implementation partner, Community Services Agency of Mountain View, Los Altos & Los Altos Hills, met with Elevate MV participants about the program’s end and ways that CSA can help. CSA also connected participants with their Community Resource Navigator Program to inform them about existing services and resources.
Research Report: A final report of all findings from the Elevate MV pilot will be available spring 2026.

Program Results

The Elevate MV pilot program includes a comprehensive Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) survey conducted by the Center for Guaranteed Income Research (CGIR) at the University of Pennsylvania to understand the effects of providing an unconditional guaranteed income. CGIR will provide the City of Mountain View with a final report of all findings from the Elevate MV pilot 12 months after the final collection round, which occurs six months after the final disbursement in November of 2024. This means the comprehensive report will not be available spring 2026.

However, the City shares ongoing updates about the pilot throughout its duration. Through a partnership with CGIR and the Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, Stanford Basic Income Lab has received demographic and anonymized spending data from program participants. The information is presented in a dashboard accessible at: https://guaranteedincome.us/mountain-view

Lastly, the City has had ongoing media engagement throughout the pilot with a cohort of recipients who are supported to share their stories on a purely voluntary basis about how the $500 per month in direct cash, impacts their lives. The cohort will be ongoing from December 2022 to December 2024.