By the time DOGE quietly disbanded in late November, Elon Musk had returned his attention to his companies. President Donald Trump was focused on his immigration crackdown.
For Alex Zhu, though, the impact of those months of frenzied job cuts lingered.
Zhu’s friends and neighbors were among the more than 260,000 federal employees dispatched by the Department of Government Efficiency.
“I had a bunch of friends who worked in public and global health in the federal government,” Zhu, 29, told Business Insider. “They all got laid off and were facing uncertainty.”
That uncertainty took many forms: rising grocery costs, pricey healthcare, fluctuating childcare expenses. The list went on.
So Zhu decided to start a local income-sharing program he called the Baltimore Community Guaranteed Income Club. The club launched in April 2025, mostly to support his friends and other community members who were unemployed or close to it.
To participate in the club, residents pledge 7% of their monthly post-tax income. Zhu calculates the average income among them and, with a few dozen lines of code, determines which residents are above the monthly average and which are below. Those making above the average send money directly to those below it via Venmo or Zelle.
In its first year, Zhu said the club redistributed some $20,000.
Members find out how much to give and who to give it to through Airtable. The specific monetary amount is determined by the number of members and their monthly average income. There is no pooling of money, and Zhu said the process is decentralized.
“The program that we run is functionally unemployment insurance,” Zhu said. “It serves two purposes: Helping friends who need it and also warming people up to the idea that this is a thing we can do that will make us all better off.”
During its first year, Zhu said the club had 20 people who collectively earned an average monthly income of about $3,400. As of May, the club has 50 members and continues to grow.
The basic income movement
Like many Americans, Zhu became familiar with the idea of a basic income through Andrew Yang’s 2020 presidential campaign.
Yang, a tech entrepreneur, raised eyebrows when he proclaimed that, if elected, his administration would provide a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every adult to spend however they want, a policy he called “The Freedom Dividend.” Yang said it was necessary to support American workers threatened by automation and inequality.
These days, the idea of a universal basic income, or some version of it, has gained momentum as AI threatens to remake the workforce. Musk, the man behind DOGE, supports what he calls a “universal high income.”
“Universal high income via checks issued by the federal government is the best way to deal with unemployment caused by AI,” the billionaire CEO wrote on X in April.
While a universal basic income provides monthly payments to an entire population, a guaranteed basic income typically provides unconditional, recurring cash payments to those who meet income thresholds or who belong to vulnerable social groups.
Many cities and counties, and even some states, have experimented with these kinds of programs. In Baltimore, for example, a basic income program gave 200 struggling young parents $1,000 a month, no strings attached, between 2022 and 2024.
These programs have largely stayed small, however, as the political will to introduce statewide or even federal basic income programs remains low.
So, without a government behind them, the members of Zhu’s club just rely on each other.
‘Giving is a muscle’
Zhu said the program’s first year was largely successful. For one, he said some people who were initially unemployed and then found jobs stayed in the club to help others.
And, he said, there were club members who no longer had to worry about how they would buy groceries or medicine.
“Because they knew that they had this community that was supporting them, they could go out and have more joy,” Zhu said. “Giving is a muscle, right? The more that you do it, the better you get at it.”
Part of building that muscle comes from maintaining community, something Zhu said can take time. He’s begun hosting monthly social meetups for residents and has made an effort to welcome anyone interested in joining.
“The hardest part of this is the relational aspect,” Zhu said. “The way that we get people to join is mostly from trusted relationships. Hopefully, we can get to that point where we’re bringing people in from completely different circles, but the trust is a big part, and the community aspect is important.”
Neighbors helping neighbors
There were also some obstacles Zhu faced during the first year, including miscommunication about where to send money, missed payments, and a hesitance among some participants to ask for money.
“The other thing that I think like a lot of groups like this would face is that there will be an imbalance with the number of people who want to give and the number of people who need help,” Zhu said.
Still, Zhu said it’s important for people to step up and help their neighbors, especially when there’s no government support.
“I would love for it to be a thing that exists in the state or federal government, but until then, we’re going to do it this way,” Zhu said.
He’s aiming to grow the Baltimore Community Guaranteed Income Club from 50 members to 150 members and expand its digital footprint with an official website.
“For those who say that it isn’t going to work, they’re wrong because it is working,” Zhu said. “It’s just neighbors helping out neighbors.”
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