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United Way presents ALICE data showing nearly three in 10 Beltrami County households struggle to meet a basic household survival budget
Summary
United Way staff presented ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) county-level data showing 14% of households in poverty and 27% classified as ALICE in Beltrami County, and described local pilot grants and tools to help employers and funders target assistance.
Annie Butler Ricks of United Way and Danae Almano (present in the meeting but unable to speak) briefed commissioners on ALICE, a dataset and online toolkit United Way uses to measure households above the federal poverty line that nonetheless cannot meet a local household survival budget.
United Way staff said the ALICE dataset lets local planners and funders break statewide data down to county, city, ZIP code, legislative district and reservation levels. For Beltrami County the presenters cited 2023 data showing 14% of households in poverty and 27% of households classified as ALICE—households that earn above poverty but below a calculated local survival threshold.
The presenters showed ALICE household survival budgets used to calculate need. For example, United Way's screenshots show a single adult survival budget of $28,296 per year, and a two-adult household with two children in childcare requires more than $79,000 by the methodology used on the ALICE site. The presenters also demonstrated a local example family tool on the site that produced a calculated minimum of about $85,968 for a two-adult household with a preschooler and two school-age children in Beltrami County for 2023 under ALICE methodology.
Annie Butler Ricks described United Way's new ALICE fund pilot for employers to apply on behalf of employees experiencing short-term financial crises (for example furnace failures or immediate subsistence needs). The fund is designed to partner with other local resources and reduce dependence on deeper poverty programs. Ricks said four families have been helped so far through the pilot.
United Way staff emphasized ALICE's uses for grant applications, community planning, workforce development and advocacy; they highlighted guidance pages showing how other communities have used ALICE data to tackle childcare access and other problems.
Commissioners had no formal action; one commissioner commended the effort and noted the data could inform workforce and community support planning.
"ALICE is a dataset that tells us about households that live above the poverty line but are unable to make that household survival budget," Butler Ricks said. "It's information we've not had a lot of data on before in the level of detail the site provides."
