Mixed Methods Evaluation of the Pomona Household Universal Grant (HUG) Program

City of Pomona's Guaranteed Income Program for Parents With Children Under the Age of Give

The City of Pomona is launching the Pomona Household Universal Grant (HUG) program in the Summer of 2024. Pomona HUG is a pilot project that will provide 250 parents/caregivers with children under 5 years old $500 a month for 18 months. Pomona's guaranteed income (GI) initiative provides relief for the most economically vulnerable households. The study will investigate the impacts of GI on financial security, material hardship, health and well-being, food security, social support, parenting, and childhood development. The intervention group will be compared to a control group of 350 parents/caregivers receiving only a nominal ($20) amount per month during the 18 month period.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Parental Stress; Mental Health; Early Child Well-being; Family Economic Security; Parental/Caregiver Health
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Guaranteed Income ($500/monthly); Behavioral: Active Comparison ($20/monthly)

Detailed Description

GI programs are commonly depicted as catalysts for reshaping social welfare paradigms. Such programs not only address immediate material hardship through consistent and unconditional financial support but also have the potential to confer broader societal benefits. For instance, GI programs can reduce income inequality, enhance socio-economic conditions, and improve health outcomes and overall well being.

The early years of a child's life hold profound significance, as approximately 90% of brain development occurs before age five. This period lays the crucial foundation for lasting effects, presenting a valuable opportunity to implement an innovative, two-generation GI initiative in Pomona, California. By adopting a comprehensive two-generation approach, Pomona can pave the way for transformative change in equipping parents/caregivers with the means to secure basic necessities such as food, clothing, and shelter for themselves and their children. By alleviating the stress of financial instability, parents/caregivers are empowered to focus on their education, skill development, career prospects, and responsive parenting. Consequently, the ripple effects hold promise to disrupt the cycle of poverty, offering a brighter future for both children and their families.

The investigators guiding research questions are to examine how GI impacts child, parent/caregiver, and family outcomes. The evaluation utilizes a mixed methods approach, employing a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design which includes parent surveys, home-based observations, and semi-structured qualitative interviews.The study includes a total of N=600 dyads (parent/caregiver and child), with n=250 receiving $500 GI monthly for 18 months and a control group of n=350 receiving $20 per month for the same duration. Baseline, and follow-up surveys at year 1 and year 2 will be administered to all participants. Home observations will be conducted with all 600 participants to better understand the impact of GI on parent-child relationships. Lastly, qualitative interviews will be conducted with a subset of parents receiving GI (n=30) and those who do not (n=30) to gain a deeper understanding of the intervention's impact.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 600
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90095
      • University of California, Los Angeles

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Must live in the City of Pomona;

Must be 18 years old upon application submission;

Must be the parent or legal guardian of a child aged prenatal to under 4 years old at the time of application;

Must meet at least one of the following qualifiers (#1-4):

Experienced negative impact due to the Covid-19 pandemic including:

• The participant or anyone in the participant's household experienced unemployment during the pandemic.
• The participant or anyone in the participant's household experienced increased food or housing insecurity during or as a result of the pandemic.

Home address is located within a qualified census tract (QCT).

Participant currently receiving any of the below benefits:

• Federal Pell Grants
• Free-and Reduced-Priced Lunch (NSLP) and/or School Breakfast (SBP) programs
• Head Start and/or Early Head Start
• Low Income Housing Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
• Section 8 Vouchers : Public Housing & Housing Choice Vouchers
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI) - Social Security
• CalFresh or SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
• Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
• Medicaid or MediCal
• Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
• Childcare Subsidies through Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) Program
• Household income is at or below 65% AMI (Area Median Income)

In order to be approved for the program, the participant agrees to Informed Research Consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

Individuals that do not meet one or more of the inclusion criteria listed above.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Treated Group ($500 GI for 18 months); Treated Group will receive $500 per month for 18 months (anticipated n=250)	Behavioral: Guaranteed Income ($500/monthly); Participants receive $500 monthly for up to 18 months.
Active Comparator: Comparison Group ($20 GI for 18 months); Comparison Group will receive $20 per month for 18 months (anticipated n=350)	Behavioral: Active Comparison ($20/monthly); Participants receive $20 monthly for up to 18 months.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Financial Security	Investigators use the Financial Well-being Scale developed and tested by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Raw totals are derived from the participant responses which is then converted to a financial well-being score. Scores for the self-administered abbreviated version of the scale range from 19-90. Higher scores represent a higher level of reported financial well-being.	Measured at baseline, 1-year after the start of the intervention, and at follow-up (6 months post-intervention period)
Early Childhood Well-being	Investigators use the developmental milestones subdomain from the Survey of Well-being of Young Children (SWYC) to measure early childhood well-being. The SWYC milestones subdomain assesses the cognitive, language, and motor development of children. Respondents are asked a set of 10 questions based on their child's age. Responses are scored and total scores range from 0 - 20. A cut off is provided for each age group and when the score is above this cutoff, it indicates that a child appears to be meeting age expectations for development.	Measured at baseline, 1-year after the start of the intervention, and at follow-up (6 months post-intervention period) (Update Feb2026: this measure was mistakenly left off 1-year survey, so it is available just at baseline and 6mos post-interverention)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Parent-child interactions	Investigators measure this using the Healthy Families Parenting Inventory (HPFI) - Subdomain: Parent/Child Interaction, comprised of 10 questions. Reverse scoring is implemented for a set of questions. Total scores range from 10-50.	Measured at baseline, 1-year after the start of the intervention, and at follow-up (6 months post-intervention period)
Food security	Investigators use the six-item short form of the United States Department of Agriculture Food Security Survey Module. Total scores range from 0-6 with higher scores indicating increased levels of food insecurity.	Measured at baseline, 1-year after the start of the intervention, and at follow-up (6 months post-intervention period)
Parent/caregiver stress	Investigators use the Parental Stress Scale to measure parent/caregiver stress. Scores from the Parents Stress Scale range from 18-90. Before summing participant scores, reverse scoring is implemented for several items. Higher scores represent higher levels of parental stress.	Measured at baseline, 1-year after the start of the intervention, and at follow-up (6 months post-intervention period)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of California, Los Angeles
• Collaborators: Conrad N. Hilton Foundation; City of Pomona; FORWARD Platform
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Judith L Perrigo, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles; Principal Investigator: Daniel Eisenberg, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Krysik J, Lecroy CW. Development and initial validation of an outcome measure for home visitation: The healthy families parenting inventory. Infant Ment Health J. 2012 Sep;33(5):496-505. doi: 10.1002/imhj.21343. Epub 2012 Jun 15.
• Berry, J. O., & Jones, W. H. (1995). The parental stress scale: Initial psychometric evidence. Journal of social and personal relationships, 12(3), 463-472.
• Perrin, E. C., Sheldrick, R. C., Visco, Z., & Mattern, K. (2016). The survey of well-being of young children (SWYC) user's manual. Boston, MA: Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center.
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Measuring financial well-being: A guide to using the CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale. 2015.
• Call CC, Boness CL, Cargas S, Coakley KE. Measuring food security in university students: A comparison of the USDA 10-item and six-item food security survey modules. J Hunger Environ Nutr. 2024;19(6):1325-1342. doi: 10.1080/19320248.2024.2310485. Epub 2024 Jan 30.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 17, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 11, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 11, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): July 17, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 11, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 6, 2026
• Last Verified: August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: poverty; parent-child relationship; early child development; unconditional cash transfer; guaranteed Income; financial security
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior; Personal Satisfaction; Psychological Well-Being
• Other Study ID Numbers: 23-001551

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Deidentified participant survey data and home observation data will be available upon request and completion of a data access agreement. The deidentified data will be available to investigators with a proposal approved by an Institutional Review Board (or other independent review committee).
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Proposals may be submitted for PI review 6 months following publication of the study's primary results (which is estimated to be 1-2 years following project completion). The PI will review such requests for up to 5 years after such publication.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Proposals should be directed to Dr. Judith Perrigo at jperrigo@luskin.ucla.edu.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No