As signers of this petition, we all agree that what the people of Maui need to fully recover is a monthly income they can count on. We all have basic needs, and we each know what we each need at any moment in time better than anyone else who may think they know what we need. This petition is also a recognition of the fact that there are more people in Maui in need of some real economic security in their lives, especially right now, than just those who lost their homes.

Beyond those truths, there’s also the additional truth that the best way to address issues of poverty and economic insecurity is to prevent poverty and economic insecurity by making sure people always have a basic income floor underneath them, that’s always there, no matter what happens in life. As we press for that floor to exist in Maui, and as we encourage the government to provide that floor in response, is there anything else we can do?

I believe there is.

What if everyone in Maui already had an income floor, however small, even if just $50 a week, to help afford food, before the fires happened? And what if it were then that much easier to boost that existing floor after such a disaster, temporarily? And what if we all always had a floor like that underneath us, without waiting for the government to get around to providing that floor?

There’s a project I’m excited about in development called Comingle that looks to provide that permanent floor. The idea is that everyone in the community would donate the same percentage of their income each week, and everyone in the community would receive the same size basic income floor each week in return. In this way, the community would ensure that no member of the community would go a week without income.

One of the reasons I’m excited about this project is because of what it could mean for everyone, every day of their lives, but also what it could mean in places like Maui after a disaster, and in places like New Orleans before and after a hurricane, and in places everywhere before and after intense flooding, or earthquakes, or anything else we can expect more of in the years ahead. Imagine how useful it would be to get people additional money based on zip codes if most people in those areas were already connected to a system like Comingle?

If you’d like to learn more about this project, you can find a list of videos, podcasts, and articles here, and help support its development here.