Do you know ALICE?
She could be your next door neighbor. She could be the shop clerk you always see at the department store. She is living paycheck to paycheck. She is just getting by and sometimes not.
Who is ALICE?
She is Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. She precariously walks on the edge of poverty. She has a job, but her bank account doesn’t reflect employment income. ALICE could be a cashier, a healthcare worker, a waitress, a neighbor. She may skip paying a power bill to buy food, or skip buying a prescription medicine to make a mortgage payment.
ALICE could be reading this story.
Take Dawn Carter for example. She’s an English major at Pensacola State College part time and works 40 hours a week between the PSC library, Stonebrook Golf Course, and Flounders. The 22-year-old also took custody of her brother and later her sister due to her parents’ substance abuse. This happened over the course of the last 2 years, but recently, her aunt and four children also needed to escape a bad situation. Carter said she didn’t really have the means to also take them in but did so anyway.
Carter said she saw how her mom took advantage of the system and so didn’t want her siblings following the same path. However, with hers being the only income she knew she needed help. “It was hard to take assistance. You can try to be strong but you can only do what you can do.”
United Way’s Cram The Van brought Carter to meet the now Major Gifts Manager Kyle Holley who not only helped her get school supplies for her siblings but also helped get her car fixed through Scored Auto & Small Engine Repair and helped the children see a better Christmas than Carter could have provided.
The ALICE acronym initiated in 2009 at United Way of Northern New Jersey, to describe “individuals and families who are working, but are unable to afford the basic necessities of housing, food, child care, health care, and transportation.” According to the 2012 ALICE report for Santa RosaCounty, the ALICE threshold is $45,000 a year for a household for those under 65, and $25,000 for those over 65. The household survival budget is $46,753. The same report said 9 percent of county households were at the poverty level, but those at the ALICE level made up nearly a quarter, 23 percent, of households.
So what does this mean?
The report said, “This bare-minimum budget does not allow for any savings, leaving a household vulnerable to unexpected expenses,” almost a quarter of the county. What happens when a car breaks down, the bread winner gets hurt, or a child develops special medical needs?
Where does ALICE go for help?
Debra Baez, United Way of Santa RosaCounty’s new operations and campaign director, said, “United Way Santa Rosa looks at our role differently than the role of another United Way. If you go to another United Way and you're homeless, they're going to ask what you're doing (there).”
While a neighboring United Way believes literacy is the key to success, and it focuses on literacy programs, Baez said UWSRC focuses on the homeless so they’re looking into various shelters.
So what are steps ALICE can take if she’s in trouble?
– Go to United Way Santa Rosa’s office. They’re located at 6479-A Caroline St next to the McDonald’s parking lot. They can be reached through the website at www.unitedwaysrc.org or by phone at 623-4507.
– UWSRC also has its own hotline called First Call For Help at 983-7200. “This one-stop information and referral service helps connect callers with local resources for help with disaster relief, housing, food, utilities, financial assistance, employment and more,” according to the website. While it only runs during business hours, Baez said a 24-hour service wouldn’t help since the service providers to which the program directs wouldn’t be open after hours anyway.
– UWSRC also shares the EscaRosa Coalition on the Homeless Survival Guide brochure. This guide contains phone numbers to numerous resources providing free or discounted items and services including blind services, child care and support, clothing, clothing, dental care, employment, education, and food. There are also many contact numbers for support services for AIDS, substance abuse, elderly assistance, the crisis hotline and much more.
–Interfaith Ministries is often the first agency to which UWSRC directs people for help. Based out of Gulf Breeze but with an office at UWSRC, Interfaith Ministries offers emergency rent payment and help with water and power bills. Their programs are supported by the adjacent thrift store in Gulf Breeze. Contact Interfaith at 934-1688.
–Family Resource Program also has financial assistance for utility bills as well as clothing, food, diapers. The nonprofit operating out of 6607 Elva Street is open Tuesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For anyone who wants to see the complete ALICE report, the Santa Rosa Press Gazette will include the SRC page. It’s also available through United Way of Florida at www.uwof.org/alice.
The United Way and partner agencies are nowhere near serving this underserved population, according to Holley. A shift in focus is needed, he said. While some services don’t have eligibility requirements, some do. He said there needs to be a community-based consensus on eligibility for assistance programs to shift away from entitlement to the working people, the ALICEs.
“What I’d like to see is United Way and policy makers make a grassroots effort to shift services to these people who are struggling.” The ALICE population gets left behind, according to Holley, while spending resources on the entitled doesn’t see them improve their state, so more help needs to go to ALICE while more work needs to come from those who habitually ask for help as far as showing improved budgeting or active job seeking.
Holley stressed the need for the community, leaders, and service agencies to hash out this issue. He said the services in Santa RosaCounty are sufficient to help the ALICEs out there, only the eligibility needs to change.
As for Carter and her family, the future looks promising. She said her aunt is looking to move out after her tax return arrives. As for her sister, she said she’s focused on just getting her through high school, but her brother sees a definite future as a U.S. Marshal. Carter herself wants to become a professional librarian after getting her master’s degree in library science.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: United Way offers help to ALICE and those like her