by Ken Toll
This wraps up our blog series on the ALICE population. To read others in the series, go to our Meet ALICE page.
There’s this puzzling perspective that people have about United Way. I’ve heard it throughout my career. It usually goes something like this: “I know about United Way. I know you do good things in our community. I’m just not sure what.”
One of the oldest, most trusted charities in America. One of the most active here in Jackson County. And folks aren’t entirely clear on what we do.
As I said, puzzling—but at the same time, not a huge surprise. For a long time, United Way was mostly a workplace fundraiser, or a volunteer coordinator. But that’s not how we roll anymore.
The sea change came five years ago, when we realized the common thread through all of the social issues we tackle is financial instability—poverty and those just one unexpected bill away from poverty. That’s when we got to meet ALICE—Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.
Over the past three months, I hope you, too, got to meet ALICE through our awareness campaign—videos, advertisements, news coverage, social media posts and much more. ALICE is your restaurant server, your grocery store cashier, your barista, your childcare worker, your online delivery person. ALICE is 42% of the people living in our community—meaning ALICE is one of your neighbors.
Depending on ALICE
Our community depends on ALICE, yet ALICE is the most likely to struggle during tough economic times. ALICE is most likely to be stuck in a low-paying job, unable to generate the dollars needed to study or do workplace training to earn better pay. ALICE is most likely to fall into poverty when a car breaks, or a child gets sick, or a water heater fails.
ALICE works hard, and ALICE deserves better. ALICE deserves a more equitable shot at the American dream. Because when ALICE succeeds, our whole community succeeds.
Where do we go from here?
We—meaning all of us—double down to drive the partnerships, programs and initiatives that give ALICE those opportunities.
We reject the voices that say it isn’t possible, or that it isn’t that bad…that people just need to work hard and they will be rewarded. We push back on notions that this is about handouts. The work of United Way is about equipping people to succeed, giving them the tools and opportunities to build their own, unique pathways to financial stability.
Here’s an example: We’re talking to the leaders of a revolutionary program in Oregon that designed a new approach to homelessness. It was designed on Trauma-Informed principles and focuses on the proven concept of “housing first,” but also incorporates new technology that supports an individualized plan for every single person in the program…helping these clients address all the challenges that will get in the way of maintaining a stable living situation. That creates much better service (and therefore better outcomes), and it also collects and generates specific data that will support the ongoing operations and growth of this approach.
We’ve already begun looking at a location to make this possible. It will require a broad partnership and lots of resources, but I’m convinced it will work right here in our community. And we all know that ending the cycle of poverty and homelessness for many families will save our community millions of dollars in later costs – starting with an immediate reduction in emergency room and uncompensated health care costs, compounding dramatically as these households move off of public benefits and become self-sufficient contributors to our community.
Imagine a Jackson County where every person has that opportunity! I’m convinced we can make that happen if we work together. If we LIVE UNITED.
That’s what we do. I hope you’ll join us—for the sake of ALICE, for the sake of our community, for the sake of our shared future. Make your annual pledge, or pitch in what you can.