Bootstraps

Twenty Americans from all walks of life have just been guaranteed an unconditional paycheck every week that's big enough to cover basic living expenses. What will they do with this opportunity? What if this weren't a lucky break for a few, but a government policy for all? What would you do with it?

If you had the freedom to be independent of and unbeholden to any other person or employer for a source of life-sustaining income - the freedom from fear of homelessness and hunger - what would you dare to pursue?

BOOTSTRAPS investigates the concept of universal basic income and the realities and impacts it would have on everyday America.

Definition: 

 A basic income is a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement. 
                                                                                    – from Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN)

Director’s Statement

Over the past six years, our team has developed the BOOTSTRAPS project to bring together a wide audience around an intimate study of human nature. Namely, the realities of daily life in the American economy, through the unique lens of the transformational – and largely misunderstood – policy idea that is universal basic income (UBI). We don’t approach this project looking to sell the idea of UBI, but rather to present its human side honestly, compellingly, and ethically. BOOTSTRAPS explores a “what-if” glimpse of what UBI could mean for Americans from all walks of life, and shares the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful.

I don’t come to the topic of financial insecurity as an outsider. Having grown up modestly and having personal experience navigating several forms of the existing inadequate safety net, I know what it’s like to feel hamstrung by scarcity. So exploring a policy that has the potential to alleviate much of that stress is especially appealing to me. In order to pull off this project, our team spent several years concurrently designing, fundraising, and managing the unprecedented sociological experiment that is the basis for the concept, and producing the docuseries that tracks the resulting stories. The results were incredible, and lives changed dramatically.

The topic of UBI is rapidly pushing its way further into the national discourse, exacerbated by nationwide economic turmoil and political hopefuls beginning to court the idea in earnest. The COVID-19 pandemic has drawn an acute awareness to the need for broader social aid, creating a hunger for real-world examples. I cannot wait to share these stories and the results of the Bootstraps experiment.