Diane R. Pagen has been a social worker for New York City and a social policy analyst and writer for 18 years. Diane was born in Queens, New York and has lived in Paris, New York, San Juan, and Seville. She was privileged to be mentored by and work with welfare expert and activist Theresa Funiciello from 2000 to 2008, and co-wrote The Adventures of Carrie Giver: The Cost of Caring with Theresa in 2007. Diane co-founded Basic Income NYC back in 2015, a bi-monthly social and education group for Universal Basic Income. Diane has written many opinion pieces about U.S. social welfare policy and given presentations about the diversion of welfare block grants away from low-income people, and has met with people who are interested in stopping the systematic dismantling of the U.S. safety net. She has a BA in Languages from the Universidad de Puerto Rico and a Master of Social Work from Fordham University. Diane co-founded the Basic Income March with her friend James Felton Keith in 2019, and she has advised multiple aspiring electeds on the problems with means-tested social welfare programs and the need to have less bureaucracy and more direct cash transfers for Americans. Her areas of knowledge are U.S. and Latin American anti-poverty programs. She has presented at the Democrats for Life conference, at the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network conference, and at various social work conferences over her career. She also taught social welfare policy at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She is an independent voter. Diane was unlawfully forced out of her NYC social work career in 2021 when she invoked her right to not take a Covid shot, and this experience has further advanced her thinking about Universal Basic Income as the power to say “no.” She is devoted to her family and friends and people she meets who are doing helpful cool things and want a better world.