WHO IS ALICE?
Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed
ALICE represents individuals and households who earn just above the Federal Poverty Level but less than what it costs to make ends meet. ALICE workers often struggle to keep their own households from financial ruin while keeping our communities running.
ALICE educates our children, keeps us healthy, and makes our quality of life possible. But these low-wage jobs, often in the service sector, do not pay enough for ALICE to live on. These families are forced to make tough choices, such as deciding between quality childcare or paying the rent, which have long-term consequences for ALICE and our communities. The future success of our communities is directly tied to the financial stability of ALICE households.
ALICE IN ACTION
The United For ALICE project provides a comprehensive and unbiased picture of financial hardship in Wisconsin. Our partners use the ALICE measures to highlight the challenges ALICE households face to inspire action and generate innovative solutions that promote financial stability. These programs, practices, and policies improve access to affordable housing, high quality child care and education, healthy food, health care, transportation, workforce training, and more.
The ALICE in Action website provides examples of how United Ways, foundations, academic institutions, businesses, and other partners across sectors are turning data into action to make a difference for ALICE in their communities.
2024 ALICE REPORTS
ALICE in the Crosscurrents: 2024 Update
In 2022, financial hardship in Wisconsin continued to be shaped by the conflicting economic forces of the pandemic, and remained substantially undercounted by official measures. These powerful crosscurrents — COVID-19, inflation, wage growth, and the expansion and expiration of pandemic public assistance — impacted how many Wisconsin households were below the ALICE Threshold of Financial Survival. Between 2021 and 2022, the number of households in poverty in Wisconsin and the number of ALICE households increased, continuing a more than decade-long trend in the growth of this population. In 2022, 35% of Wisconsin Households were below the ALICE Threshold.
VIEW DATA
READ THE UPDATED REPORT
UPDATED COUNTY FACT SHEETS
ALICE ECONOMIC VIABILITY DASHBOARD (2024)
There is no silver bullet for achieving financial stability. Instead, there are three pillars: Workers need jobs with livable wages, near housing they can afford, in communities that offer resources and supports. Now, United For ALICE has developed the ALICE Economic Viability Dashboard — a new mapping tool that shows at state and local levels whether the conditions in these three key areas strengthen or weaken opportunities for ALICE to reach stability. Two years in the making, the Dashboard can help community planners, housing experts, policymakers, and business leaders design jobs and infrastructure that tackle the obstacles keeping ALICE trapped. The Dashboard also zeroes in on promising practices around the country that are showing positive results.
United Way St. Croix and Red Cedar Valleys is proud to support those in Burnett, Dunn, Pepin, Pierce, Polk and St. Croix Counties within the ALICE income threshold. To learn more about the United Way ALICE Report in Wisconsin, click HERE. Donations to your local United Way benefit your neighbors in need, give TODAY!