Two years after graduating from the University of the District of Columbia, Rondenise Peake is still continuing along a path to become a lactation consultant. She said she’s able to do so, in part, thanks to a District-funded program that’s better enabling her to balance motherhood and her professional endeavors.
Since entering Strong Families, Strong Futures DC in 2023, Peake has been receiving a monthly stipend that she said allows her to keep her children in a daycare and pay for her lactation consultant coursework.
The other benefits, she said, include a bevy of resources at her disposal and the support from other women who are navigating motherhood.
“A new mom needs the same things as the baby to heal and recover. We need to be held in the same way,” said Peake, a 32-year-old mother of two who lives in Northeast.
She said she was introduced to Strong Families, Strong Futures DC during a particularly “vulnerable” time in her life.
“My experience was lonely and isolated,” Peake told The Informer. “Strong Families, Strong Futures DC helped me with diapers, clothes, and mental health [resources]. They put me in community with other moms.”
Mayor Bowser Includes Strong Families, Strong Futures in Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Proposal
Peake counts among 118 mothers who are currently enrolled in Strong Families, Strong Futures DC, a collaboration between Martha’s Table and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) that’s intended to boost maternal health and economic mobility in Wards 5, 7 and 8.
On April 5, representatives of Martha’s Table joined D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) at DC Health headquarters in Southeast where Bowser announced the second round of direct cash assistance payments for expectant mothers and mothers of children under the age of three.
During the 2024 fiscal year, the program received $1 million. Bowser’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget proposal includes another allocation of $1 million that covers the third and final year of financial assistance to the mothers in the program.
The 118 mothers in the current cohort, more than half of whom live in Ward 8, are in their second year of the Strong Families, Strong Futures DC. Between the spring of 2022 and last summer, the first cohort — 132 strong — received monthly cash payments of $900 or a lump sum of $10,800.
Three of those mothers have since left the District, while six didn’t respond to calls for re-enrollment. Five others are currently navigating a re-enrollment process that involves the collection of various documents.
Tiffany Williams, president and CEO of Martha’s Table, told The Informer that Strong Families, Strong Futures DC moves families from “instability to stability to thriving” by providing community members with a basic income that allows them to support themselves and participate in the local economy.
Within a matter of months, she added, Strong Families, Strong Futures will launch a savings program with United Bank that builds upon workshops and other support provided to mothers
One of the added bonuses of the support, Williams noted, is that the cash disbursements come with no requirements on how to spend it, which she described as part of an effort to treat recipients with respect and dignity.
“No one tells us how to spend our money. We trust people to do what they know is best for their children,” Williams said. “People in our program used the money to pay for food, transportation, healthcare needs, and build up their savings… Some of the parents were in a position to launch their businesses.”
The District Enters a National Conversation about Universal Basic Income
The pandemic inspired the re-emergence of a movement around universal basic income that fizzled in the 2010s. Over the last couple of years, cash assistance pilot programs have been gaining popularity, especially with the formation of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI), of which Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson (D) is a member.
Atlanta, Baltimore, New York City, Oakland, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles count among the U.S. cities with cash assistance pilot programs. At least $125 million total has been spent on programs that, like Strong Families, Strong Futures, come with no stipulations on how to spend disbursements.
In a 2023 blog post, University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics cited studies that highlighted the benefits of such programs for enrollees living in U.S. cities, and even in other countries. However, the report acknowledged what former Stockton, California mayor and MGI founder Michael Tubbs described as the conflict that emerges between the programs and a long-held notion that hard work and self-sufficiency leads to financial success.
This conflict came into light after reports surfaced of a Strong Families, Strong Future DC recipient spending more than half of her $10,800 lump sum on a family trip to Miami. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Joel Griffith of the Heritage Foundation said that one mother’s experience shows how “handouts” trap people in a cycle of poverty.
For Brynae West, however, Strong Families, Strong Futures DC represents more than a hand out. She told The Informer that the cash disbursement, along with workshops and comradery she built with her fellow participants, went a long way in improving her emotional state and quality of life.
West, a 26-year-old mother of one from Southeast, entered Strong Families, Strong Futures amid her battle with postpartum depression and housing insecurity. She told The Informer that, at the time she applied for the program, she almost didn’t believe a resource of this nature existed.
Another concern, West said, centered on whether applying to the program would jeopardize her other safety nets.
As West recounted, those worries subsided over time as she navigated Strong Families, Strong Futures and gathered the wisdom of program administrators and her fellow participants.
“I got a chance to cry and be vulnerable,” West said. “My peers made me feel like I wasn’t going through things alone.”
With Strong Families, Strong Futures DC, West gained a network of support that offered far more than money— hope.
“The support came in tiers with Mr. David and Ms. Dennis checking on us prior to any payments, just learning about our goals and [giving us] any resources to facilitate that,” West told The Informer. “They prayed for me when I had no hope. I was way more comfortable after three or four months.”