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Douglas County partners present 94 lived-experience stories, propose coordinated resource navigation and local policy steps
Summary
At a Douglas County work session, partners behind the "Douglas County Thrives" project summarized 94 collected household stories showing widespread income strain and basic-needs gaps and urged coordinated community resource navigation, simplified benefit access and local policy actions to reduce 'benefit cliffs.'
Lawrence — Community partners and county staff on Tuesday presented findings from "Douglas County Thrives," a community sense‑making project that collected 94 personal stories from households at or near the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) threshold and recommended steps to reduce barriers to services.
Jenny Welch Fuller, research project manager at the University of Kansas Center for Public Partnerships and Research, said the project aimed to "place community members, their stories at the heart of meaningful dialogue and action planning." She told the Douglas County Board during a work session that partners gathered 94 stories and that about 40% of respondents were single parents and 72% identified as female. "All of the participants said that they made under about $75,000 a year," she said, and noted that more than one‑third of respondents reported household incomes below $10,000.
Why it matters: Brett Martin of United Way of the Kaw Valley said the project gives…
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