B6 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, MARCH 7 , 2022
who argue that people who are
poor will make bad decisions
with their money if given cash
directly rather than through food
stamps or housing vouchers.
“You have to look at the evi-
dence on these things,” Bogle
said. “The conclusion of these
studies isn’t, ‘Oh, people with low
income who you give benefits to
never spend that money on temp-
tation goods.’ The conclusion of
these studies is that they don’t
spend it [on those goods] any
more than you or I or anybody
else would.”
A study released last year of a
$500 monthly guaranteed in-
come program in Stockton, Calif.,
showed recipients were more
likely to find full-time jobs, be
happy and stay healthy. Accord-
ing to the study, most of the
money distributed was spent on
food or other essentials. Tobacco
or alcohol made up less than
1 percent of tracked purchases.
Bogle and Kratz also said that
local, state and federal govern-
ments should rethink how fund-
ing is currently distributed
through allocations that subject
applicants to extensive bureau-
cracy and ever-changing require-
ments.
The current way that billions
of dollars are distributed to the
most needy “have so many
strings attached to it and you
have to jump through so many
hoops,” Kratz said. “There is
something that is just sort of
clean, elegant and respectful of
providing cash directly to fami-
lies.”city and reach children long be-
fore school.
The city of Richmond
launched a smaller guaranteed
pilot program last year that pro-
vided 18 recipients with $500 a
month for a year. It has since
announced plans to expand by 37
recipients after reporting “very
positive outcomes for the individ-
uals who participated.”
Bogle and Kratz dismiss criticsmunities to consider similar cash
disbursement programs to ad-
dress the needs of low-income
families, even in non-emergency
situations.
Last month, D.C. Mayor Muriel
E. Bowser announced a $1.5 mil-
lion pilot program that will pro-
vide $900 in monthly cash assis-
tance to new and pregnant moth-
ers in need as part of an effort to
support child-care efforts in thebased on need.
The program “demonstrated
that unconditional cash is an
extremely effective form of sup-
port during an emergency,” Kratz
said.
Before receiving the cash pay-
ments, 34 percent of the partici-
pants said they sometimes or
often did not have enough to eat,
the study reported. After the
payments were received, that
number dropped to 19 percent.
Sixty percent of recipients said
they used personal savings to
meet household needs before re-
ceiving the payments. After the
payments were disbursed, 50 per-
cent said they resorted to person-
al savings.
Housing was a big concern for
most of the participants. Fifty-
four percent of recipients said
they spent “all or almost all” or “a
lot” of their $5,500 paying rents
and mortgages.
Mary Bogle, principal research
associate at the Urban Institute, a
Washington think tank that con-
ducts economic and social policy
research, said the numbers on
food and mental health are par-
ticularly compelling.
“Here is a more marginalized
and distressed population doing
better on mental health than
anybody else in the country in a
like-type income group,” she said.
“And on food insecurity, the
THRIVE participants come close
to what people without low in-
come are reporting.”
Kratz and Bogle said they hope
the findings from the study will
encourage other cities and com-unreliable transportation. She
also had an unexpected medical
bill for herself that she had to put
on a credit card.
“It helped tremendously,” said
Preble, 26. “I’m very grateful. It’s
just amazing when you think
about how much they’re giving.”
Preble said she opted to take
the $5,500 spread out over six
months. She used it to pay for
transportation, food and clothes
for her children. And she paid
down her debt. She also managed
to save some of the money for an
emergency fund after the payouts
ended.
“It made everything a lot easier
for me,” she said. “The money
definitely gave us a head start.”
The THRIVE East of the River
program is a partnership of or-
ganizations that have long ad-
dressed the needs of low-income
District residents: Martha’s Ta-
ble, Bread for the City, the Far
Southeast Family Strengthening
Collaborative and 11th Street
Bridge Park (a project of Building
Bridges Across the River). The
program raised more than
$4 million in private and founda-
tion funding to pay for the cash
relief effort.
Administrators say the results
were a success by almost every
measure. According to the report,
a key goal of THRIVE — to
stabilize participants hit hard by
crisis — was mostly achieved.
Participants in the program ap-
plied to the nonprofits that ad-
ministered it and were selected
STUDY FROM B1
Direct cash pilot program a success by every measure, administrators say
TONI L. SANDYS/THE WASHINGTON POST
Clients pick up bags of fresh produce and canned goods at Martha’s Table in D.C. on April 23, 2020.
The nonprofit is one of four administering the THRIVE East of the River cash-payment program.“It made everything alot easier for me. Themoney definitely gaveus a head start.”
Rahgeena Preble, a single mother
of two in Southeast WashingtonPHOTOS BY SARAH SILBIGER/REUTERSBY EMILY LANGERSharon J. Wohlmuth, a pho-
tographer whose poignant im-
ages of female bonds landed on
coffee tables across the United
States with the release in 1994 of
the best-selling photo-and-essay
book “Sisters” and the subse-
quent volumes “Mothers &
Daughters” and “Best Friends,”
died Feb. 12 at her home in
Philadelphia. She was 75.
Her family confirmed her
death. The cause was not im-
mediately available.
Ms. Wohlmuth spent two dec-
ades as a photojournalist for the
Philadelphia Inquirer, covering
events including the collapse of
the Soviet Union, famine and
war in Africa, and the AIDS
crisis. According to an obituary
published in the Inquirer, she
contributed to coverage of the
nuclear accident at Three Mile
Island in 1979 that won that
newspaper a Pulitzer Prize.
She became best known, how-
ever, for the photographs that
appeared in three glossy books,
created with the writer Carol
Saline, that epitomized their
heart-tugging genre.
Saline, who had been a senior
editor at Philadelphia Maga-
zine, said in an interview that
she and Ms. Wohlmuth had
known each other socially and
were at a brunch when they had
the “aha moment” that led to
“Sisters,” their first collabora-
tion.
Each woman had one sister.
Ms. Wohlmuth, who said that
even from afar she could identi-
fy the sisters among women she
saw on the street, felt drawn to
exploring the relationship
through her photography. Saline
similarly wished to explore it in
her writing.
The photographer and writer
thus set out to make a book
together, with images by Ms.
Wohlmuth and text by Saline.
According to Saline, they were
turned away by every major
publisher in the country before
Running Press — a small pub-
lisher co-owned at the time by
Ms. Wohlmuth’s husband, Law-
rence “Larry” Teacher, and his
brother Stuart “Buz” Teacher —
agreed to print the book.
Ms. Wohlmuth and Saline re-
ceived what the New York Times
described as a “modest five-fig-
ure advance,” which they used to
finance their travels across the
country interviewing and pho-
tographing the three dozen sets
of sisters who ultimately ap-
peared in their book.
Some were famous, such as
SEE WOHLMUTH ON B7SHARON J. WOHLMUTH, 75Her photosshowcasedfemalekinshipobituariesS pirit and sorrow
Demonstrators, above, protest Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine outside the White House on Sunday.
Some carried signs criticizing Russian President
Vladimir Putin, while others draped themselves in
Ukraine’s national colors. At left, a nearby
memorial p ays tribute to children killed in the
conflict.