Cash Is Just the Start: MAF at the Guaranteed Income Now Conference

What does it take for a family to truly rest? Not metaphorically, but literally: sleep through the night.

That question was at the heart of what José Quiñonez, CEO of Mission Asset Fund, shared this month at the Guaranteed Income Now Conference, the largest national convening on unconditional cash, held in May 2026 in Austin, Texas.

Using the World Health Organization’s five-question well-being survey, MAF found that clients who received cash paired with financial coaching reported measurably better sleep than those who did not. The insight sounds simple. But as José framed it on stage:

“If you want people to join you in a battle for this or that issue, you need your soldiers rested. If they’re so stressed they can’t sleep, how can they think about everything else?”

Rest, it turns out, is not just personal. It is political.

Why This Conversation Matters

José joined Carmen Pulido of Go! Austin/¡Vamos! Austin and moderator Jesus Gerena of UpTogether for a panel called “Communities in Crisis,” a conversation about immigration, climate disasters, and rising costs, and how direct cash has emerged as a rapid, dignified response tool that communities and organizations are turning to time and again.

The panel came at an urgent moment. Families across the country are navigating what the speakers called a “poly crisis”: deportations, flooding, economic precarity, and a federal government that, in José’s words, is not acting as a friend to the communities MAF serves. Against that backdrop, the case for cash and for the organizations trusted to deploy it has never been clearer or more pressing.

MAF’s history bears this out. In 2017, when the first Trump administration threatened to end DACA within a month, MAF converted its loan servicing platform into an emergency grants system virtually overnight, reaching over 7,000 dreamers and deploying nearly $3.5 million. During COVID, MAF distributed almost $42 million in direct cash assistance. Today, through our ALMA Fund, MAF is providing up to $3,000 in emergency grants to immigrant families impacted by ICE detention and deportation.

Each time, the infrastructure was already there, built on years of listening, relationship, and trust.

What MAF Brings to the Table: More Than a Check

One of the most important things José emphasized in Austin was what cash alone cannot do. In a study comparing MAF clients in Texas and California who received identical levels of COVID relief support, Texas families were four times more likely to face eviction than their California counterparts. The difference wasn’t the cash. It was the consumer protection policies in California that were keeping families housed.

“Cash is important, it’s fundamental to everything,” José said. “But it’s not the be-all and end-all. There’s a lot of other things happening in people’s lives that we have to be aware of.”

That’s why MAF’s model has always treated cash as a starting point. From emergency grants, MAF walks alongside clients toward credit-building tools, financial coaching, immigration loan products, and referrals to a broader network of support. The goal is a relationship that deepens over time, not a one-time transaction.

To make that possible at scale, MAF developed its Financial Equity Framework, a technology-driven approach to identifying which families could benefit most from a one-time grant, looking at structural barriers, income streams, and household financial strain. When MAF’s servers literally crashed under the weight of COVID applications, this framework helped ensure the most vulnerable weren’t edged out by whoever submitted first.

“We were able to support people who otherwise wouldn’t have gotten any support,” José said.

A Call Forward

José made a pointed argument that cash transfers cannot remain solely the domain of nonprofits. The federal government’s COVID stimulus checks, which cut child poverty nearly in half for the period they were active, proved that direct government-to-family support is not only possible but works. The question now is how to make it permanent, equitable, and structurally embedded.

“We need to evolve our conversations,” José said, “so that government has a real role to play, not through layer after layer of intermediaries, but directly, at scale, in a lasting way.”

At the same time, in this current political moment, MAF is clear-eyed about what’s happening now. Communities are under siege. Fear and anxiety are real. And organizations like MAF are showing up, building the relationships and infrastructure that will matter even more when conditions improve.

“Right now it is pretty dark,” José acknowledged from the stage. “But this is not the reality forever. And when things turn, we want to be ready to do more.”

How You Can Support Our Work

The families MAF serves don’t have the luxury of waiting for policy to catch up to their reality. They need support now and a community behind them.

• Learn more about the ALMA Fund, MAF’s emergency grant program for immigrant families navigating the impacts of ICE enforcement.
• Support our work by making a donation that goes directly toward programs like ALMA, Lending Circles, and financial coaching for families on the front lines.
• Share this blog post with someone ready to join the fight for financial dignity — for the tools, systems, and relationships that help families build lasting stability on their own terms.

Because the goal has always been bigger than a single check. It is ensuring that every family has what they need to rest, to rebuild, and to keep going.

Watch the full panel conversation to hear José, Carmen, and Jesus discuss what communities need; and what it will take to get there.