Through a new guaranteed resource program, called the Bridge Project, Latina women in New York City will be able to receive an income boost that will pay some mothers of infants and pregnant women $500 to $1,000 per month over a three-year period.

 

Approximately half of the Bridge Project participants are Black women and half are Latinas. Of these, a first group of 100 mothers already began receiving payments last July 2021. 

 

The second group of 500 women will be new mothers who are pregnant, especially those located in East Harlem, Manhattan. These mothers will begin receiving their subsidies in April of this year. 

 

Of the participants in the project, one in five is undocumented, and most reside in the Central Harlem, Inwood and Washington Heights neighborhoods of Manhattan.

 

The last such incentive given by the federal government was in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, when three stimulus checks were sent out, and monthly child allowances of up to $300 per child were also approved. However, these grants expired this January.

 

Without that monthly tax credit money that women receive for their children, nearly 4 million children could fall into poverty, according to research from Columbia University in New York.

 

Many U.S. cities are also experimenting with guaranteed income projects of their own aimed at helping low-income residents improve their financial security. The Bridge Project is the first to focus on New York.

 

The idea for the project comes from the Monarch Foundation, a private family foundation run by Holly Fogle, a social entrepreneur, and her husband, venture capitalist Jeff Lieberman.

 

Daniela Gutierrez, 28, a Harlem resident, was accepted as part of the first group of women and said she was surprised to learn about the program when a social worker recommended she apply.

 

"I didn't know if it was a gimmick," she said.

 

Gutierrez has been receiving $1,000 a month, a sum she describes as a "lifeline."