By Dr. Deborah Bailey
AFRO Contributing Editor
This Fall, Digital Pioneers Academy Charter School in S.E. Washington will initiate the city’s first no strings attached, school-based direct financial support program for students, paying high school seniors 50 dollars cash per week.
The public charter middle and high school opened in Southeast in Fall 2023 to support underserved students in the District who want to shine in computer and science-based professions. While the District is still wrestling with lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the school is standing strong on its principles of innovation and education without barriers.
“The $50 Study” is a testing of the vision of CEO and founder Mashea Ashton and her staff.
“At Digital Pioneers Academy, we believe in removing barriers that stand in the way of student success. That’s why we’re proud to partner with the Rooted Schools Foundation on ‘The $50 Study,’ a research-based initiative that has already shown results in New Orleans and Indianapolis,” said Ashton. The pilot research study will include 40 of her students and begins in just a few weeks.
From New Orleans’ Rooted Schools to D.C.’s Digital Pioneer Academy
Direct cash support programs gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, when millions of low wealth families suffered disproportionate death and sickness rates, as well as higher rates of unemployment, according to a 2022 report by the National Poor People’s Campaign. Many were operated by local governments and non-profits that were eager to support their most limited income residents at a time when entire cities were shuttered.
“The $50 Study” being piloted at Digital Academy began in 2022 with The Rooted Schools Foundation. The organization operates schools in New Orleans and several other cities across America, and piloted the program at their New Orleans campus.
Talia Livneh, Rooted Schools Foundation’s senior director of programs led the first study.
“We started ‘The $50 Study,’ direct cash transfer program In New Orleans with a small group of students who shared with us they were facing financial struggles, mostly due to the pandemic, that negatively influenced their ability to come to school consistently,” said Livneh.
“When we asked our students, they shared a number of complex and nuanced reasons for missing school. They offered substantive responses such as providing childcare [and] picking up extra shifts of work,” Livneh said. The city of New Orleans adopted the concept in 2024, awarding the Rooted Schools Foundation one million dollars to continue the program.
Cash transfer concept backed by research
A randomized controlled trial was implemented by the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Guaranteed Income, to assess two years of “The $50 Study” conducted in New Orleans.
According to the Cash Transfer Study Report of 2022, researchers found (1) the group receiving cash transfers provided significant support in managing major household expenses that can impact daily living, I/e/ rent and mortgage, gas, oil and electricity bills; (2) the cash transfer increased participating students’ financial literacy, (3) the treatment group was financially better off than students who did not receive the cash payment and (4) the cash payments helped students reframe the value of work.
The prep for cash payouts
Ahead of launching the program, Ashton and staff at the Digital Pioneers Academy issued an open call to high school seniors to gauge interest in the initiative. Forty students will be randomly selected to begin the cash transfer payments of 50 dollars for 40 weeks to a designated bank account through the summer. The initial trial is supported by Education Forward, a support organization for D.C. students. Parents and guardians of the 40 students will be involved in the program, as well.
Ashton is excited about the chance to use the $50 Study as a tool for all her students. “We are going to double down on financial literacy so every scholar, not just those in the study, learns how to manage money and plan for the future,” she said.