Economy Basic Needs
December 21, 2025

Income & Stability

Ensuring people can earn enough to live with dignity and security in modern economies.

Core Question

How do we ensure people can earn enough to live?

To consider:
  • Wages?
  • Costs?
  • Benefits?
  • What levers actually move the needle?

💡 Suggested Prototypes

AI Generated

Possible prototypes to build.

  • Prototype 1: Wage & Benefit Explorer (Live Data Dashboard)
  • Step 1: Vision and target users — a community-curated dashboard showing living-wage adequacy by location, plus the levers that move it (wages, hours, benefits, taxes/subsidies).
  • Step 2: Core features — interactive map of locales, living-wage calculator, scenario builder to adjust minimum wage, hours, and benefits, data provenance panel.
  • Step 3: Data sources and integrity — crowd-sourced wage data submissions, official cost-of-living indexes, policy parameters; add a lightweight review/verification workflow.
  • Step 4: Community roles and contribution model — data scouts, validators, front-end engineers, data viz specialists, policy researchers, UX testers; governance via open decisions.
  • Step 5: MVP plan and live-coding roadmap — sprint to build a minimal map + calculator with 2-3 locales; later add more data streams and richer scenarios; open-source repo with issues tagged for beginners.

  • Step 6: Launch plan and success metrics — 2-week kickoff live coding session; pilot in 1-2 communities; metrics: user sessions, data submissions, scenario usage, accuracy comparisons, local policy discussions generated.

  • Prototype 2: Local Living Stipend Marketplace (Mutual-Aid / Employer-Martner)

  • Step 1: Vision and target users — connect community organizations and local employers with micro-stipends to stabilize income for essential tasks (care, prep, transit, education).
  • Step 2: Core features — stipend postings, eligibility checks, lightweight payroll/payout ledger, transparency log, and basic reputation scoring.
  • Step 3: Data flows and privacy — opt-in stipends, anonymized analytics for transparency, compliant handling of earnings; clear consent and data-minimization.
  • Step 4: Community roles and contribution model — local businesses, nonprofits, volunteers, developers, finance/admins; rotating stewardship for payroll logic.
  • Step 5: MVP plan and live-coding roadmap — scaffold a simple postings board + mock payout ledger; integrate sandboxed payments later; open API for partner orgs.

  • Step 6: Launch plan and success metrics — pilot in a neighborhood or campus; metrics: number of stipends created, completion rate, participant satisfaction, payout accuracy, reduced spite-of-income volatility indicators.

  • Prototype 3: Job Quality Lab (Open Ratings & Benchmarking)

  • Step 1: Vision and target users — a public platform to rate and benchmark job quality (wages, hours, benefits, stability) to inform workers and employers.
  • Step 2: Core features — user-submitted job ratings, qualitative feedback, a job-quality index/score, sector filters, employer response channel.
  • Step 3: Data governance — open data structure, safeguards against bias, moderation for misinformation, and opt-in data sharing settings.
  • Step 4: Community roles and contribution model — testers, data curators, workers’ advocates, researchers, designers; crowd-review of scores for reliability.
  • Step 5: MVP plan and live-coding roadmap — start with 10-20 sample job postings, 1-2 rating metrics, basic scoring algorithm; incremental importer for jobs from local partners.

  • Step 6: Launch plan and success metrics — community sprint to publish first 50 ratings; metrics: coverage by industry, correlation between score and wage growth, policy-maker engagement, user trust/retention.

  • Prototype 4: Benefits Navigator & Planner (Personalized Benefits Assistant)

  • Step 1: Vision and target users — help individuals identify eligible programs and guide them through applications to improve stability.
  • Step 2: Core features — intake wizard, location-based eligibility checks, personalized benefits plan, document checklists, application tracking dashboard.
  • Step 3: Data handling and privacy — local/state program data locality, user-controlled sharing for applications, explicit consent flows, secure storage for documents.
  • Step 4: Community roles and contribution model — bilingual translators, legal aid volunteers, case-management volunteers, UX/docs authors, data integrators.
  • Step 5: MVP plan and live-coding roadmap — implement 2-3 programs per location, a simple eligibility engine, and a printable/shareable plan; integrate with official portals via bookmarks, not full automation yet.

  • Step 6: Launch plan and success metrics — host in-community info sessions; metrics: number of users, programs found, successful applications, time-to-apply reductions, user satisfaction.

  • Cross-cutting notes for all prototypes

  • Community-driven, open-source ethos — publish code, data schemas, and governance docs; invite local schools, libraries, and civic groups to participate.
  • Phased development pathway — start with live-coded MVP sprints when possible; otherwise plan clearly for later phases and IRL collaboration sessions.
  • Accessibility and inclusivity — multilingual support, accessible UI, and onboarding materials to ensure broad participation.
  • Metrics and learning — define lightweight success metrics early; maintain a shared learning log to inform future iterations and policy discussions.

Community Contributions