Kellie has tons of houseplants because she loves to care for them and watch them grow.

For the past two years, she has grown alongside her plants as a recipient of the city of Boulder’s guaranteed income pilot program, Elevate Boulder. The cushion of having $500 come in every month helped Kellie, a woman to whom the Daily Camera granted partial anonymity for privacy reasons, pay off a burdensome car loan and begin saving for retirement, she said.

Kellie moved to Boulder from Pueblo in 2019 and enrolled at Naropa University to study contemplative psychology. She expected to struggle early on, but kept reminding herself that it would all be worth it.

She lived in the city initially, but she didn’t feel safe in her first house after discovering that her roommates were using meth.

“I would

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