Today, the Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocked 1,900 families from receiving the first payment through our Uplift Harris guaranteed income pilot.
These families are counting on Uplift Harris to give them a chance—that break—to breathe and begin building a better life.
Uplift Harris was carefully vetted and designed to help people experiencing poverty afford basic needs through a monthly $500 cash payment they can directly use to support their household without any strings attached because every family’s experience with poverty is different.
Whether paying the rent, putting food on the table, keeping the lights on, paying for gas, medicine, or whatever else a family needs to make ends meet, a guaranteed income trusts people with the resources they need and deserve to take care of their family.
I am incredibly disappointed in today’s ruling. In a state that already sets the bar very low, Texas is plunging into the depths of its own cruelty by using vulnerable people to score political points. For the people who are trying to take care of their family, put food on the table, and build a better future, this isn’t a game.
The state’s frivolous lawsuit was a broadside attack on Harris County families struggling to make ends meet by state extremists and a hyper-partisan Texas Supreme Court. Instead of receiving a critical hand-up, 1,900 working families are left hanging in the balance.
We will not be deterred. We will continue to fight for those 1,900 families and every one of the 750,000 people living under the crushing weight of poverty in Harris County.
Sincerely,
Rodney Ellis