Advocacy for a Universal Basic Income for the United States: My Story

Abstract

At this moment in U.S. society, Universal Basic Income (UBI), an agreed upon amount of income distributed to the members of a society as a matter of right, is once again being given serious attention. The last time Universal Basic Income was part of a robust public discussion was in the 1960s and 1970s, when American politicians, businesspeople, and human rights activists all were talking about adequate income as a solution to poverty, automation, militarism, and racism. A plethora of writing and research exists on UBI and the effects it would have on people in the twenty-first century. While social workers are fundamentally concerned with the life cycle and systems that sustain human well-being, social workers and social work institutions remain largely absent from the fervent UBI discussion and activism that is taking place now in the United States. A social worker myself, I hope to explain here the professional and personal experiences that have driven me to commit myself to Universal Basic Income activism and strategy, and encourage the social work community and other committed people from all walks of life and all places to be part of the movement for UBI.