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Twitter boss Jack Dorsey donates $15m for income support

Getty Images Twitter CEO and Co Founder, Jack Dorsey addresses students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)Getty Images
Jack Dorsey has said the idea is "one tool" to address inequality of income, race and gender

Twitter boss Jack Dorsey has donated $15m (£11.2m) to fund universal basic income programmes in the US.

The donation, his second in support of the initiative, will help cities send cheques to more than 1,500 families.

It comes as poverty rates in the US rise amid the economic collapse sparked by Covid-19.

More than 12 million Americans are at risk of losing access to unemployment benefits at the end of the month, as the government's virus aid expires.

Negotiations over an extension have dragged on for months.

"Philanthropy and charity is not justice but in the absence of leadership and action... our constituents need cash relief," said Michael Tubbs, the outgoing mayor of Stockton, in California, who founded the Mayors for a Guaranteed Income Network in June.

The donation will provide the 30 cities in the network up to $500,000 each for their universal basic income programmes, many of which have been announced in recent months as the crisis has unfolded.

They offer varying degrees of support. For example, Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania said it plans to give 200 residents $500 a month for two years, while in Compton, in California, help will go to 800 families, with support varying depending on factors like number of children.

On Twitter, Mr Dorsey thanked the mayors for their efforts and wrote that he hoped the experiments would "inform federal policy in the future".

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What is universal basic income?

The premise of universal basic income (UBI) is that every individual in a country will receive a cash payment at regular intervals, without any requirement to work or qualify for it.

The idea has gained traction in recent years as a response to the loss of jobs expected as automation and artificial intelligence take on more kinds of work.

Former US presidential candidate Andrew Yang championed the idea during his campaign, which attracted more supporters in the early days of the US presidential race than many had expected.

Covid has provided new momentum for supporters. In the UK, Leeds councillors backed the idea in September.

Mr Dorsey - whose wealth Forbes estimates at more than $11bn - donated $3m to the mayors' network this summer. It was part of his broader pledge to give $1bn to support Covid relief efforts.