Baltimore has launched a same-day work pilot using Rellevate digital accounts to deliver daily stipends to former squeegee workers. Mayor Brandon Scott announced the payment arrangement on June 21, 2023, with work opportunities beginning during the week of June 19.

The Mayor's Office of African American Male Engagement coordinates the pilot with partner organizations. Participants aged 14 to 24 in its Connect 2 Success program are eligible for work opportunities lasting four or five hours, followed by payment through a Rellevate Digital Account with a Visa debit card.

The initiative addresses the need for prompt income among young people who had earned cash cleaning car windshields. City officials described daily payment as an important part of offering an alternative, alongside workforce opportunities and support services.

The pilot follows the Squeegee Collaborative convened in July 2022. That group included former squeegee workers, businesses, community members and public-sector and nonprofit representatives. Its 18 recommendations included connecting participants with work and providing incentives, and it had previously piloted same-day employment with the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore.

Rellevate said its account allows recipients to make purchases, pay bills and send money to others. The product disclosure names Sutton Bank as the provider of banking services and issuer of the Rellevate Visa debit card under license from Visa U.S.A.

At the time of the announcement, the city reported supporting nearly 150 young people through the wider initiative and a 70% decline in associated criminal activity. Those figures describe the broader work preceding the payment pilot, rather than results attributable to the newly launched Rellevate arrangement.

Rellevate's wider product range included payroll access, digital accounts, paycards, disbursements and gift and incentive cards. The Baltimore engagement uses its account-based disbursement capability for daily work payments.