Soon, Los Angeles County will commence the acceptance of applications for its monthly payment program, an extension of the guaranteed income initiative. This program, known as Breathe, aims to provide monetary support to 200 individuals who were previously in foster care, spanning a duration of two years. The application window for stimulus check will open on Tuesday morning and conclude on July 3 at 11:59 p.m. Successful applicants will receive a recurring monthly payment of $1,000 as part of the program.
The program, which previously granted $1,000 per month for three years to a chosen group of 1,000 individuals, is now expanding to include an additional 200 participants. Similar to the initial selection process, the new recipients for this stimulus check will be randomly chosen from a pool of eligible applicants, and they will also receive $1,000 per month for a period of two years.
California Opens Applications Monthly $1,000 Stimulus Check
To be eligible for the program expansion, applicants must fulfill certain criteria. They must be at least 21 years old and should not reach the age of 24 before September 1. Additionally, they need to be former foster youth of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, having been in their care from their 18th birthday onwards.
There are other requirements that applicants must meet. Their household income should be equal to or below 100% of the area median income for a single-person household, or 120% of the area median income for a household with two or more individuals. Furthermore, applicants must have experienced adverse effects due to the coronavirus pandemic and must not currently be enrolled in another guaranteed income program.
A randomized control study will be conducted by the University of Pennsylvania and other research partners to evaluate the program’s outcomes. It is important to note that participation in the study is not mandatory to receive the monthly payments. However, individuals who choose to participate will be requested to provide periodic information regarding various aspects of their overall health and well-being. As an incentive, they will receive a $30 gift card for each survey completed.
In addition, an additional 2,000 applicants have been selected at random to form the control group for the study. While the control group will not receive the monthly $1,000 payments, they will be asked to complete the periodic surveys and interviews. As compensation for their participation, they will receive a $30 gift card for each survey they undertake.
When will the official COLA increase for 2024 be announced?
The purpose of a COLA (Cost-of-Living Adjustment) increase is to counteract the effects of inflation and ensure that the purchasing power of Social Security and other benefits is not eroded over time. COLAs are typically determined based on the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for a specific period, such as the CPI-W for urban wage earners and clerical workers. The COLA increase is calculated by applying the percentage increase in the CPI-W from the third quarter of one year to the third quarter of the following year. This increase in benefits helps individuals maintain their standard of living as the cost of goods and services rises. For example, if someone received $10,000 in Social Security benefits in 2022 and the COLA for 2023 is 8.7%, their annual benefit for 2023 would be $10,870.
To calculate the COLA increase for a specific year, you can multiply the monthly payment by the COLA percentage. For example, if the monthly payment is $1,500 and the COLA increase is 5.9%, the increase would be $88.50. Adding this to the previous year’s amount would give the new benefit amount for the current year. It’s important to note that not everyone receives a COLA increase, as it depends on the CPI-W increase. If there is no CPI-W increase, there will be no COLA increase