skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

More CT Families Struggling to Get By

play audio
Play

Monday, October 10, 2016   

HARTFORD, Conn. – More than a quarter of Connecticut households have jobs but still have trouble making ends meet, according to an updated report from United Way.

Meet ALICE, a term that applies to more than 350,000 households in Connecticut.

It stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. And according to Richard Porth, CEO of United Way of Connecticut, those numbers have grown since the first ALICE report two years ago.

"There's been a slight increase in the percentage of ALICE households in Connecticut,” he states. “It went from 25 percent of all households to about 27 percent."

Combined with the 11 percent of households living below the federal poverty level, that's more than a third of the state struggling to afford necessities such as housing, child care and food.

Urban areas tend to have higher concentrations of ALICE households, but Porth points out that two-thirds of Connecticut cities and towns have at least 1-in-5 families earning too little to be financially secure.

"ALICE can be our neighbor, our friend, our coworker or a family member,” he says. “Everyone knows ALICE and everyone depends on ALICE to make a good community and to have a strong economy."

Although Connecticut has one of the highest median hourly wages in the country, almost half of all jobs in the state pay less than $20 an hour, or $40,000 a year.

Porth says in Connecticut the basic survival budget for a family of four with an infant and a toddler is slightly more than $70,000 a year. And the ALICE report shows how that money is spent.

"For example, child care represents 28 percent of the household survival budget each year, and housing represents 20 to 21 percent," he explains.

The report includes a number of recommendations for short and long-term strategies to help ALICE households by reducing expenses, raising income and increasing opportunities.






get more stories like this via email

more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

The Amesbury School Committee will hear from educators and parents tonight as they rally to prevent more than $2 million in proposed cuts to their sch…

Out-of-state money is pouring into Texas as the contentious issue of "school choice" looms large ahead of November's election. (Dzmitry/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

By Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboratio…

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

Social Issues

play sound

Women are treated much differently than men by the criminal justice system, according to a new report detailing how and why mass incarceration is …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021