Rise Up Cambridge Evaluation Points to Meaningful Short Term Financial Relief for Low-Income Families

The final evaluation of Rise Up Cambridge by the independent research organization MDRC revealed cash assistance worked to create economic stability for participating Cambridge families, especially those living in deep poverty, and reduced family stress through meaningful, short-term financial relief. The report, Insight from Rise Up Cambridge: Promoting Economic Stability Through Cash Assistance, was presented at the City Council Human Services and Veterans Committee hearing on April 8.

Launched in June 2023 and funded by federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars, Rise Up Cambridge provided $500 a month for 18 months to nearly 2,000 families with children earning at or below 250 percent of the federal poverty level. Based on MDRC's data, CCF estimates that the program served over 6,000 individual residents. CCF's Cash Empowers report projected that half of these individuals were children.

The mixed-methods evaluation was based on a robust set of data, including surveys, in-depth interviews, and application data collected at enrollment. The research team included community researchers, some of whom were Rise Up recipients themselves.

Ninety-three percent of survey respondents used their payments for food or groceries. Seventy-five percent of respondents used them to cover emergency expenses or unexpected bills. Ninety-six percent reported feeling less stress or anxiety while receiving payments, and eighty-two percent said they were able to spend more time with their families.

"Our study of Rise Up Cambridge included focus groups and frequent in-depth interviews with recipients of the monthly payments, which offer rich, nuanced insights from the participants' lives that complement what we learned from the quantitative findings," said Mina Addo, research associate at MDRC and lead author of the report.

"Rise Up Cambridge was life-changing," said Harmony, a Rise Up participant, teacher, and Cambridge resident. "It gave me breathing room: the ability to say yes to my daughter without fear or guilt. I could buy groceries without worrying if there'd be enough for the next day. The program helped me move out of survival mode and into a space where I could think about our future."

Rise Up Cambridge was the first non-lottery, citywide cash assistance program of its kind in the United States. It also provided benefit waivers allowing participants to maintain their other benefits and extensive outreach that allowed nearly every eligible family to take part in the program. A high-level goal of Rise Up was to stabilize residents-particularly some of Cambridge's most vulnerable families-and empower them to decide on how to best meet their basic needs and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This report deserves more than celebration-it deserves honesty about what it describes: families skipping meals, unable to absorb unexpected expenses, living in one of the most expensive cities in the country on less than $30,000 a year. Cambridge made a deliberate and bold choice to trust families directly with cash, and this report confirms it was the right one," said Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui. "Poverty doesn't get solved in 18 months. If anything, as the cost of living rises and federal support for social safety nets fray, the stakes are growing higher. That is exactly why our responsibility now is to build something that lasts-not just relief, but a durable commitment to economic security for Cambridge families."

"The study highlights that cash assistance can be a meaningful and effective tool for reducing material hardship and financial stress in the short term," said Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang. "At the same time, the findings underscore that a one-size-fits-all approach may be less effective in promoting long-term economic mobility than more targeted interventions. With deep insight into the nuances of families' financial lives and how cash support is used, we now have a strong foundation for future policy discussions about how the City might most effectively design and pair income supports with other strategies to advance economic stability and opportunity."

The needs that the program addressed are persistent. For a decade, close to 1,000 families with children under 18 in Cambridge have lived below the federal poverty line, in a city where the cost of living is 73 percent higher than the national average and the median income for single-mother-headed households is less than $30,000 a year.

The MDRC report illustrates how entrenched the challenge of poverty is for some families. For nearly half of participants, the $500 monthly payment combined with their household income still did not reach the federal poverty line of $2,072 per month for a three-person household.

Rise Up Cambridge did not promise to end poverty. It showed that cash works to stabilize families, that families can be trusted with it, and that a city can reach every qualifying household without a lottery or a waitlist. Keeping families from falling further behind is in itself a profound and worthy goal. It also showed that stability doesn't sustain itself without continued support.

"This report clearly shows that flexible cash works to stabilize families living in poverty, allowing them to navigate financial pressures on their own terms. It also shows us how much more there is to do," said CCF President Geeta Pradhan. "Nearly 2,000 Cambridge families were able to catch their breath, cover gaps, and absorb crises because of Rise Up. But poverty is structural and entrenched, and the path from stability to mobility is a long one. At CCF, we're focused on that full journey: housing, fighting hunger, economic security, and education equity for the next generation. None of that work can be successful without sustained commitment from our city, our community, and our partners."

The Human Services and Veterans Committee hearing, co-chaired by Councillors Marc McGovern and Ayah Al-Zubi, was the City Council's first formal opportunity to examine the report's findings and consider what they mean for Cambridge's approach to family economic security going forward.

"Being able to have a discussion about the impacts and stories from Rise Up is very helpful in recognizing that we play a critical role in shaping how people navigate their lives," said Co-Chairs McGovern and Al-Zubi.

With ARPA funding now exhausted, Cambridge is reflecting on what Rise Up demonstrated and what sustained investment in economic mobility could look like. Cambridge now has the research, the relationships, and the track record to build on.

The full report, Insight from Rise Up Cambridge: Promoting Economic Stability Through Cash Assistance, is available at https://www.mdrc.org/sites/default/files/Rise_Up_Cambridge_0.pdf.