Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has reportedly donated $3 million to fund Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI) a new coalition of 15 mayors across the country launching a universal basic income pilot program.

Forbes reports that Jack Dorsey, the billionaire CEO of social media site Twitter and payment platform Square, has donated $3 million to fund Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI), a coalition of 15 mayors across the United States who plan to launch a universal basic income pilot program.

The program would see residents of the cities receive a recurring payment each month. The coalition was launched by Michael Tubbs, the mayor of Stockton, California, who has been running a guaranteed income pilot program in his city since 2018. Tubbs told Forbes:

Mayors are the moral leaders of the country. They’re on the frontlines dealing with, responding to and working for constituents each and every day.

Given Covid-19 and the need for regular ongoing cash assistance, and also the protests on not just police violence but structural violence in the city, I knew it was time to leverage what we’ve learned in Stockton and create a network of mayors and advocate with a collective voice for guaranteed cash payments.

The majority of the money donated by Dorsey will help to create pilot programs for UBI in cities including Newark, Atlanta, Seattle, Los Angeles, Compton, Long Beach, Pittsburgh, Oakland, and more. Most of the mayors in MGI are currently left-leaning, but Tubbs believes that will soon change.

“Economic insecurity is something that’s bipartisan,” says Tubbs. “Some of the most red states have the highest rates of economic insecurity and poverty… In the next couple of months, you’ll see some of the more ‘conservative’ mayors (in MGI).”

The donation by Dorsey was made from #StartSmall, his philanthropic limited liability company that was launched on April 7 by transferring $1 billion worth of Square shares to the LLC. Dorsey said the company would focus mainly on Wuhan coronavirus relief efforts but would also fund efforts to improve girl’s health and education and UBI experiments.

Dorsey has also donated $11.2 million to GiveDirectly, a nonprofit that has become popular in Silicon Valley due to its promising work with UBI in Kenya and Uganda.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com