Hampton presents strategy to help working poor, highlights ALICE population and ‘stone soup’ partnership model

Deanna Valentine, Hampton’s director of Economic Empowerment and Family Resiliency, told the City Council on Monday that Hampton’s poverty rate is 13% and that roughly 40% of residents fall at or below the ALICE (asset‑limited, income‑constrained, employed) threshold.

Valentine said those figures, drawn from the city’s 2024 poverty study, place Hampton slightly below some neighboring cities but leave large pockets of need: “When we look at combining both the ALICE threshold and our pockets of poverty, the people that are living in poverty, we’re looking at more than 50% of our population between ALICE and poverty.”

The presentation outlined why standard, short‑term programs often fail to produce lasting outcomes and identified barriers residents face — from eviction records and criminal‑record barriers to transportation, childcare and the “benefits cliff” that can discourage incremental wage gains. “Any sort of a critical illness, vehicle might need repairs, housing repairs could very easily slide these individuals and these families backwards into poverty,” Valentine said.

Why it matters: Council members…