Baby's First Years
Last Revised: December 10, 2025
- Issue Areas
- Financial security
- Outcomes
- Stable and healthy families
Program overview
Reducing childhood poverty: Baby’s First Years studies the impact of unconditional cash transfers to low-income mothers as a method to decrease childhood poverty. By increasing families’ monthly income, the initiative aims to stabilize children’s early environment and provide greater opportunities for early childhood brain development.
Providing monthly cash transfers: As part of the Baby’s First Years model, low-income new mothers receive a monthly cash transfer of $333, which represents (on average) a 20 percent increase to their income at the time of program enrollment. These cash transfers are funded by private foundations and are distributed by the research team via a debit card.
Supporting a child’s first six years: To stabilize low-income mothers’ budgets and children’s home environments, cash transfers are provided unconditionally on a monthly basis. Cash transfers continue until the baby turns 6, since the first four years of a baby’s life represent a time of rapid brain growth and high adaptability.
- Strategies
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Wealth buildingGuaranteed income
- Location
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New Orleans, LA; Omaha, NE; Minneapolis, MN; and New York, NY
A single study with a rigorous design provides some evidence for cash transfers as a strategy for improving economic outcomes for mothers with young children. However, there is limited evidence that cash transfers have significant impacts on health or educational outcomes.
- A 2025 randomized controlled trial found that, over a three year period after the child’s birth, households receiving cash transfers saw statistically significant increases in household income and reductions in poverty. However, no impacts on subjective economic hardship or measures of maternal well-being.
Recruit mothers proactively: Baby’s First Years mothers were recruited in postpartum wards. While recruiting, program staff should detail the timeline of the cash transfers and explain that the cash transfers are unconditional. Program staff should also explain that the cash transfers will not impact the mothers’ existing public benefits. Enrolling mothers on-site ensures greater program up-take. For more on the approach taken by Baby’s First Years, see their recruitment methodology.
Consider the method of payment: An overview of cash transfer programs found that offering flexible payment options can make benefits more accessible to families (in particular those who do not have access to a bank account). The most popular option was a no-fee debit card, which was more secure than cash and did not require a bank account to use.
Provide sustainable but impactful cash transfers: An evaluation found that children of mothers who received the larger cash transfer saw greater change in brain activity than children of mothers who received the smaller transfer. Facing limited funds, local leaders considering implementing a similar program should prioritize a smaller, but more generous program over a larger but less impactful one.
Evaluate to secure long-term political feasibility: Providing unconditional cash transfers can be politically controversial. To secure public and stakeholder buy-in, local leaders should consider starting with a pilot program, and/or conducting a rigorous evaluation to demonstrate the impact of cash transfers on the wellbeing of their residents.