Baltimore Young Families Success Fund Guaranteed Income Evaluation
City of Baltimore Mayor’s Office and CASH Campaign of Maryland: 2025
What happens when you trust young parents with cash, no strings attached? This rigorous mixed-methods evaluation answer that question. Incevia’s Hannah Thomas led a research team evaluating Baltimore’s guaranteed income pilot, which provided $1,000 per month for two years to 130 young adult parents—ages 18-24—living in historically disinvested neighborhoods.
Using a randomized design with surveys across four time points and in-depth interviews with 27 participants, the evaluation found that unconditional cash improved financial stability, reduced food insecurity, lowered stress, increased childcare access, and strengthened participants’ sense of mattering and agency. Notably, several impacts—including food security and reduced psychological distress—persisted six months after payments ended.
The findings also surface critical gaps in the existing safety net: rigid childcare subsidies, lack of housing support for young renters, and a concerning disconnect between young parents and available services—challenges the report argues must be addressed alongside any future guaranteed income investments.
“Central to the idea of guaranteed income is the notion that participants themselves are better positioned than anyone else to know how to improve their own lives.”
Hannah Thomas led this evaluation as principal investigator prior to founding Incevia Policy Partners.