COMPTON, Calif. — Compton Mayor, Aja Brown, has just announced the largest city-led income initiative in the country. It's called The Compton Pledge and will pay the salary of 800 low-income Compton residents for two years.
Compton is a struggling city, with one in five of its 95,000 residents living in poverty. Those statistics are reflected in the infrastructure and through the eyes of everyday people just trying to get by.
Jo Carol Simon has been living in Compton for 50 years and says the pandemic has made this year harder than any other.
“Because I used to do hair and it stopped, slowed my business down, a lot," she said.
The mother of eight also cares for her mom and has no other source of income besides government assistance. Her clients used to come to her house to get their hair done, but for now, most aren’t comfortable coming back.
“Everyone’s frightened of this pandemic," she said.
Simon is part of a nearly 22 percent increase in unemployment in the City of Compton since Covid-19 hit.
She says she hadn’t heard of the mayor’s new pledge to pay the salaries of 800 low income residents.
“I think that it’s wonderful and I want to be a part of it," she said.
The Compton Pledge says all funds are being raised privately. Staff with the nonprofit plan to choose people who are usually ineligible for these types of programs because they don’t have steady employment, are immigrants, or are formerly incarcerated.
Jose Madrid has been out of prison for two years and still can’t find a steady job in Compton.
The auto technician says programs like this are what will help this city recover as a whole.
“It could be beneficial for everybody because if they get you back on your feet, that would be great!” he said.
Madrid says many employers won’t hire people like him and if they do, they aren’t paying a living wage.
Sixty-eight percent of Compton’s residents are Latino and another 30% are Black.
Jamarah Hayner is the co-director of The Compton Pledge. She says the need is enormous around the country, but especially here. Compton’s poverty rate is double the nationwide average.
“Families across the board are really seeing economic stresses," Hayner said. "So the need is incredibly urgent and that’s why Mayor Aja Brown here in Compton decided that now is the moment to step up and be bold and help out our neighbors.”
Hayner says the applicants will be chosen randomly, receiving several hundred to a $1,000 per month, depending on household size. Staff with the non-profit running this initiative say it's moving quickly. Hayner says by December, the group of residents will be receiving cash transfers.
“This is just really making sure they can comfortably meet their expenses every month," she said.
The Compton Pledge and the mayor say this guaranteed income aims to give people a way to navigate their situation, explore new career paths, or like Jo Carol Simon, even go back to school.
“I plan on applying cause I’m in need of that extra change," she said. "Cause this pandemic have not been nice to me.”
There is no application process for these funds. Hayner said they’ll be reaching out directly to the community members they’ve identified as most in need and even those who are already receiving government assistance are eligible.