Stimulus update 2023: Deadline to apply for direct $500 monthly payments in two days

Asher Notheis

February 25, 06:00 AM February 25, 06:00 AM

Iowa families only have a couple more days to apply for a guaranteed income program that would provide them with $500 every month.

The UpLift program will select 110 applicants to receive monthly payments over two years. Researchers will track how participants use these payments each month. Recipients have total freedom with how they spend their money, according to the research firm Harkin Institute, which is helping with the program.

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“Poverty is a chronic obstacle,” said Ashley Ezzio, lead programmer of UpLift. “Month upon month of limited income in the face of steady to rising financial obligations impacts a family’s ability to simply survive.”

Applications for this program opened on Feb. 17 and will be accepted through Feb. 27.

To be eligible for this program, applicants are required to live in Dallas, Polk, or Warren counties, have at least one dependent no older than 25, and have a household income at or below 60% of the area median income.

The required area median income varies depending on the applicant's number of dependents. An applicant with two dependents cannot make more than $3,940 per month, and an applicant with three cannot make more than $4,433.

“What other projects have shown is that even the smallest boost in regular income can make a vast difference for a family,” said Michael Berger, another programmer of the project. “Participants aren’t looking for handouts. They just need paths to greater financial stability and, hopefully, prosperity.”

A random control study will also compare outcomes from these 110 recipients to 140 people who receive no monthly payments.