New York, NY —

Thousands of struggling families in the city will soon receive cash payments for sending their children to school or getting them regular medical care. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

REPORTER: The so-called conditional cash transfer programs have been tried and tested in several Latin American countries, including Mexico. City officials recently went to observe how it works there. Here, close to 14,000 children and adults will be randomly selected to receive the cash incentives. Those living in neighborhoods such as East Harlem in Manhattan, Brownsville in Brooklyn and East Tremont in the Bronx will be targeted.

REPORTER: Families will be given up to $50 a month if their child has nearly perfect school attendance. They will also receive an extra $25 for attending a parent teacher conference. Elementary and middle school students may also receive small amounts of cash for showing improvement on assessment tests and a high school student could earn $600 for passing individual regents exams.

REPORTER: The teacher's union says incentives should not be linked to test scores because students may get frustrated and give up. For WNYC, I'm Cindy Rodriguez.