NCT05609188

Black Economic Equity Movement

Increasing Financial and Health Equity Among Low Income Black Youth and Young Adults

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 300 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of California, San Francisco · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 24 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The primary goal is to understand the potential impacts of Guaranteed Income (GI) on Black youth and young adults' financial, emotional, and physical well-being. The main question it aims to answer is: What are the impacts of GI on Black young adults' investments in their future, mental health and unmet mental and sexual/reproductive health service needs? Participants will receive guaranteed income for 12 months and will be offered enrollment in financial capability programs.

Detailed description

The BEEM project is a randomized controlled crossover trial in which 300 low-income Black Emerging Adults (BEA) (aged 18-24) are allocated to receive a $500/month Guaranteed Income (GI) either during the first twelve months of follow-up (phase I) or to receive GI in the second 12 months of a total of 24 months follow-up (phase II). All participants will be offered enrollment in financial capability programs (including peer learning circles and individual financial coaching) to bolster GI effectiveness and will also receive a periodic cell phone-based text messages to ensure that BEA with unmet health service needs receive referrals. The investigators hypothesize that this intervention will increase BEA's investment in their future (education, employment training), improve mental health (depression, anxiety), and reduce unmet mental health and sexual/reproductive health service needs.

Conditions

• Mental Health Wellness 1
• Health Care Utilization
• Financial Hardship
• Education, Professional

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Guaranteed Income	Monthly cash transfer of $500 per month for 12 months.
BEHAVIORAL	Peer learning circles	Participants can opt-in to attend peer learning circles (also called My Money Hour), which are discussion groups of 10-12 participants about financial topics co-led by a peer (Black youth) with experience in financial programming and an adult financial coach. My Money Hour sessions will be offered on-line multiple times throughout every month of the project, with rotating themes, to ensure that the 50-minute sessions are available different days of the week and times of the day.
BEHAVIORAL	Financial coaching	Participants can opt-in to receive financial coaching sessions with a trained financial mentor. Meetings will occur monthly and typically include six one hour sessions. The mentor will be responsive to individual needs, but will touch on the following priority areas: building credit (credit repair, improving credit scores, credit products); savings (emergency savings plans, savings habits and strategies, understanding savings accounts); money management (creating budgets, understanding income vs expense, assessing spending, making better financial decisions); financial products (credit building products, auto loans, credit cards); and long-term goals (home ownership, investments).

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-11-01
• Primary completion: 2025-09-22
• Completion: 2025-09-22
• First posted: 2022-11-08
• Last updated: 2026-02-10

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States