Guaranteed Income and Human Potential Analyzed

“Towards a Just Economy: Guaranteed Income and Human Potential” is the title of The University of Scranton’s Slattery Center for Ignatian Humanities Lecture by Amy Beth Castro, Ph.D., associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice and co-founder and director of its Center for Guaranteed Income Research (CGIR). The talk, presented free of charge and open to the public, begins at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23, in PNC Auditorium of the Loyola Science Center.

Dr. Castro’s research explores economic mobility, guaranteed income and innovation. She is the co-principal investigator of 30 applied cash-transfer studies housed at CGIR, where she currently advises more than 20 mayoral teams, state and county legislators on unconditional cash research. She is co-principal investigator of the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED), the nation’s first mayor-led guaranteed income demonstration.

Launched in February 2019 by former Mayor of Stockton, California, Michael D. Tubbs, SEED gave 125 randomly selected residents $500 per month for 24 months. The cash was completely unconditional, with no strings attached and no work requirements. Preliminary outcomes indicate the guaranteed income recipients were enabled to find full-time employment and were healthier, showing less depression and anxiety, among other findings, according to the study’s website.

Dr. Castro’s research has been published by the Social Service Review, The Gerontologist, Social Science and Medicine, Social Work, The American Journal of Public Health and the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (JPAM). Her research has been featured in newspapers and national publications that include The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The New Yorker and The Economist, as well as broadcast media outlets such as CNN, NBC, PBS and National Public Radio.

Dr. Castro is also known for her work on women and risky lending during the 2008 foreclosure crisis. She was awarded the Society for Social Work and Research Outstanding Dissertation Award, the GADE research award and the Nina Fortin Award for her work on the gender and racial profiles of predatory lending.

At Penn, she is an affiliated faculty member of the Alice Paul Center and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, and is a member of the LGBTQ faculty working group. Prior to her tenure at Penn, she spent more than a decade working with non-profits and community-based agencies in Philadelphia and New York City.

Dr. Castro received her Ph.D. in social welfare and her master’s degree from the City University of New York, her Master of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania and her bachelor’s degree from Cairn University.

For additional information about the lecture, visit upcoming events on the Slattery Center for Ignatian Humanities webpage.