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Harris County, TX, February 13, 2024, More than 82,500 people applied for Uplift Harris, Harris County’s guaranteed income pilot program. 88 percent of applicants identified as Black or Hispanic. 

“The huge amount of interest in this program shows how great the need is in Harris County for a program like Uplift Harris, especially among vulnerable communities. Reducing poverty and helping families who are struggling to meet basic needs should not be a political debate. Our community is experiencing poverty at rates higher than other communities in Texas and around the nation, and we as county leaders have a duty to do everything we can to address it. We’ll be looking into how we can fund this program long-term and hopefully help even more families in the future,” said Judge Lina Hidalgo. 

Uplift Harris will provide $500 monthly cash payments to 1,928 eligible families for 18 months. The program is funded by the American Rescue Plan. Recipients will be randomly selected from the 10 most impoverished zip codes throughout the county, which make a median annual income of $35,000, or based on their participation in Harris County Public Health’s social service program called ACCESS Harris. Harris County will partner with a third-party researcher to evaluate the impacts and success of the program.

Harris County Public Health engaged in significant outreach to eligible communities to help encourage all those who were eligible to apply, including hosting 23 outreach events in eligible zip codes, canvassing eligible households and conducting a targeted phone outreach campaign.

Applications for Uplift Harris are now closed. Applicants selected to participate will be notified by February 26. The first cash payments will be distributed on April 3 and continue for 18 months. 

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