Northwestern Events Calendar

Jan
31
2023

Raising the Floor Documentary Film Viewing and Sneak Preview of "Nixon's Reversal"

When: Tuesday, January 31, 2023
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM CT

Where: Kresge Hall, #1515, 1880 Campus Drive , Evanston, IL 60208 map it

Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Public - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students

Cost: Free

Contact: Julie Lavin  

Group: American Studies Program

Category: Academic, Global & Civic Engagement

Description:

In spring 2020, a global pandemic sent the city of Chelsea, Massachusetts, spiraling into chaos. Chelsea’s frontline workers risked their lives to help others, while its essential workers’ incomes dropped to zero overnight. Hundreds of citizens waited in blocks-long lines to pick up food at a makeshift distribution center. Chelsea quickly became a COVID hot spot, and the governor was forced to call in the National Guard to distribute food boxes throughout the city.

City leaders, overwhelmed by the high costs of feeding a city and humbled by their own lack of expertise to do so efficiently, came together in a desperate moment with a simple but inspired idea: give people money and let them spend it however they see fit. It was the beginning of CHELSEA EATS, the largest basic income pilot in American history: one that gave 2000 individuals and families direct payments of up to $400 a month with no strings attached.

RAISING THE FLOOR is the moving narrative of a majority Latinx community coming together to feed neighbors and strangers during an unprecedented public health crisis. It is the inspiring story of a group of local leaders whose sense of helplessness and concern led to bold policy innovation. The research findings from the Chelsea pilot offer lessons that resonate beyond one Massachusetts city and make a compelling case for reconsidering public policies around poverty and inequality in post-pandemic America.

 

The City of Evanston has recently announced the beginning of a Guaranteed Income Program, so come learn how similar initiatives have worked elsewhere.

 

Additionally, we will have a sneak preview of the film "Nixon's Reversal," the bizarre story of Richard Nixon's brief flirtation with guaranteed income.

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