A US-based non-profit is launching a new guaranteed income pilot program that will give thousands of dollars to people to use as they wish.

The Georgia Resilience & Opportunity (GRO) Fund says the Freedom Futures guaranteed income pilot program will provide a no-strings-attached monthly income of $500 for 48 months, or $24,000 for the entire period, to selected participants in the state.

Applicants for the program must be 18 to 25 years of age and must either be enrolled in high school or in a tertiary institution of learning partnering with the nonprofit. The applicant’s household income must be at or below double the federal poverty level.

Participants in the guaranteed income pilot program will also be eligible to receive investment capital on top of the $500 monthly income.

“Freedom Futures provides an investable sum of over $20,000, which can be used towards the following wealth-building purposes: homeownership, entrepreneurship, higher education, or investing in a retirement account.”

To receive the investment capital, participants will have to undertake financial education to enable them to make informed decisions. The investable sum will be handed out starting in the third year of the Freedom Futures guaranteed income pilot program.

Applications must be submitted by the end of the day on August 27th. Applicants will be required to provide various documents, including proof of identity and income. Successful applicants will be notified within weeks of the application deadline passing.

“If you are selected, you can expect to receive your first income supplement payment in September 2025.”

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A guaranteed income pilot program is launching in one US county amid rising cases of homelessness.

The program, known as Stabilize Families, is backed by the nonprofit RISE Together Innovation Institute and the Community Shelter Board in Franklin County, Ohio, reports The Columbus Dispatch.

The Community Shelter Board will give 80 families a one-off cash handout of $1,500, while RISE Together Innovation Institute will offer monthly payments of $500 to 20 families for 11 months.

Data collected by the Community Shelter Board reportedly shows homelessness in Franklin County in 2024 went up six times faster than the population growth. As of January 23rd, according to the report, there were 2,556 homeless people in the Ohio county, up by 7.4% from 2024.

Community Shelter Board’s president and CEO Shannon Isom says the guaranteed income pilot program is “about dignity” and will give the beneficiaries “breathing room to stabilize, plan, and dream again.”

The report cites RISE Together Innovation Institute’s CEO Danielle Sydnor saying,

“Guaranteed income is a viable strategy to promote economic stability and well-being for residents in Franklin County.”

According to the report, Ohio State University will be involved in the guaranteed income pilot program and will conduct research on the project’s impact on beneficiaries and the community.

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A US state is preparing to hand billions of dollars to residents in its first-ever “inflation rebate” program.

New York’s Governor and state lawmakers say they’ve agreed on a budget framework that includes $2 billion for inflation refund checks to over eight million taxpayers.

The plan targets New Yorkers who filed taxes, are not claimed as dependents and earn below $150,000 annually.

Eligible joint filers earning up to $150,000 will receive $400, while those earning between $150,000 and $300,000 will get $300.

Single filers and heads of household earning up to $75,000 will receive $200, and those earning between $75,000 and $150,000 will get $150.

No application is needed and checks will be issued automatically using recent tax filings once the budget is passed and signed into law in about a week from today.

New York’s Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul says the rebates as a response to inflation-driven costs, reports News10 ABC.

“I can’t stop inflation, but everyone across the state paid more because inflation drove up prices.”

But the program has its critics.

Democratic Assemblymember Phil Steck says such programs are gimmicks, arguing for long-term tax relief or other spending priorities.

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Commissioners in the second-most populous US county have green-lit large payments to residents who are struggling to make ends meet.

The Board of Commissioners in Cook County, Illinois has approved a program that will send $1,000 payments to selected households battling elevated property taxes amid a “substantial increase” in tax bills in recent years.

The Cook County Homeowner Relief Fund’s application process is expected to be launched in the summer.

“In order to be eligible, households must have an income at or below 100 percent of the Area Median Income for their respective household size.

Under these guidelines, for example, a four-person household making $119,900 or less would be eligible. Applicants must have also seen their property tax bill increase by at least 50 percent in any year since the 2021 tax year.”

The program, known as the Cook County Homeowner Relief Fund, has a total budget of $15 million. The homeowner relief fund, however, would reportedly cost $1.4 million to run, leaving $13.6 million to be distributed.

Public hearings were held with property owners beginning in September of 2024, before the approval of the Cook County Homeowner Relief Fund. According to Commissioner Bridget Gainer, the problem of ballooning property taxes in the Illinois county is severe.

“Property taxes are rising faster than homeowners’ ability to pay, forcing people to leave neighborhoods they love and undermining the best ability to build wealth – home ownership.”

The president of the Cook County Board, Toni Preckwinkle, says offering one-time payments to help in paying property taxes is, however, a stopgap measure while the leadership pursues a long-term solution.

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Today was the last day of 3rd Rock Grid, one of the oldest grids in OpenSim.

The grid announced that it was closing back in March, and, since then, many of the former residents have found their way to other grids, with ZetaWorlds being a popular destination.

Start at Sirocco, which is slated to by the administrative hub of the new 3rd Rock Grid expat community once its done. There is already land available for rent, starting at $2.50 a month for a 10,000-prim Second Life-sized region.

Check out the 3rd Wind Community website for more information, including land prices, an events calendar, and a membership form.

The community rented a dedicated servers from ZetaWorlds and, as a non-profit, can offer very low land prices, said Alia Soulstar, a founder of the 3rd Wind Community.

There are also arts and education areas and other public lands, she told Hypergrid Business, with a total land area of more than 800 standard region equivalents.

“We had a month-long series of community meetings where we invited the owners of a handful of grids to come and talk,” Soulstar said. “Then we had a long discussion and choose this grid. A lot of the choice was based around the flexibility of having a dedicated server to design our own community around. The general feeling was that we wanted to stay together as a family, so we made the collective decision to move here.”

She recommends that people start on the Sirocco region of ZetaWorlds, where they can find out about land ownership and get other administrative information.

Teleport to hg.zetaworlds.com:80:Sirocco.

“We are still under construction so haven’t made a landmark map yet, but will have that up in a few days,” she said.

People also gather on the beach on the Peapod region and Risa on the Anubis region.

Teleport to hg.zetaworlds.com:80:Peapod.

But the most popular location is Infinity region’s Starfleet Infinity area, home to bars, dance places, space stations, and starships.

Teleport to hg.zetaworlds.com:80:Infinity.

Teleport to hg.zetaworlds.com:80:Anubis and hg.zetaworlds.com:80:Infinity.

There are also music venues on the Khamsin region, she said, with live performances four to five times per week.

Teleport to hg.zetaworlds.com:80:Khamsin.

For those who haven’t yet transfered their regions or avatar inventories, there is still time, said Soulstar. ” 3rd Rock Grid created OARs of all the regions there and will hold them in cloud storage for a year so they can be reclaimed, and a number of IARs for active users, too. And we are able to load OARs and IARs for recovery, so all is not lost if you find yourself locked out.”

ZetaWorlds will upload the OAR region export files and IAR inventory files for users, she said, and the 3rd Wind Community will help with the process.

The OARs will be “kept for the foreseable future,” 3rd Rock Grid board member Tara Dockery, also known as Thoria Millgrove in-world, said yesterday. “We will provide those OARs to the registered owners upon request.”

Her own region, Peapod, is already on ZetaWorlds, along with its events, Dockery told Hypergrid Business.

You can read more about the transition to ZetaWorlds at Thirza Ember’s Hypergrid Safari blog.

Hypergrid Business editor and publisher Maria Korolov is a science fiction novelist. During the day, Maria Korolov is an award-winning freelance technology journalist who covers artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and enterprise virtual reality. See her Amazon author page here and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, and check out her latest videos on the Maria Korolov YouTube channel. Email her at maria@hypergridbusiness.com. Her first virtual world novella, Krim Times, made the Amazon best-seller list in its category. Her second novella, The Lost King of Krim, is out now. She is also the publisher of MetaStellar, a new online magazine of speculative fiction.

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