The University of Chicago Inclusive Economy Lab's (IEL) evaluation of the Chicago Resilient Communities Pilot presents an opportunity to contribute to broader discussions about guaranteed income and financial security. The scale of the program creates an unprecedented chance to learn not only about the impact of guaranteed income, but also to speak with precision about who benefits from such support and in what ways.
As part of our mixed methods approach, the Inclusive Economy Lab incorporated PhotoVoice, a participatory research method that centers participants as photographers, interpreters, and creative analysts. For ten months, we provided various themes like worry, joy, fear, and stability and collected coinciding images and captions in order to gain a deeper insight into the program.
The goals of the PhotoVoice component are threefold: to question existing narratives on the people guaranteed income is designed to assist, to challenge notions surrounding the real and perceived benefits of guaranteed income, and to amplify the voices of participants on their terms.
While standard academic research typically relies on charts or written deliverables, art reaches beyond the numbers and serves as a powerful tool for social and systemic critique.
Join us to celebrate the opening of our exhibit and be one of the first Chicagoan to view this new and important art instillation.
