A Policy Review of the SEED (Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration) Project: Is the Devil in the Details?

This review examines the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED) project, a guaranteed income (GI) project that was undertaken in Stockton, California from 2019- 2021. SEED is a collaborative initiative by the Mayor’s Office of Stockton, the Reinvent Stockton Foundation (RSF), and the Economic Security Project (ESF). The purpose of the SEED project was to ascertain the effects of guaranteed income on the well-being of the project recipients, with a focus on the effects of a UBI on participants’ financial and psychological health. This review will study the potential benefits and challenges involved in implementing such a project, from political, social and economic perspectives. The review will also examine a UBI project’s long- and short-term viability, and its impact on a city, and the project’s beneficiaries. The review will aim to provide a balanced understanding of guaranteed income projects, and the means by which they affect recipients as well as other stakeholders, and the possibilities of implementing guaranteed income on a larger scale.