What It Means to Grow Up "ALICE" in Northern Michigan

Families feel the winter pinch; United Way of Northwest Michigan aims to help

By Kierstin Gunsberg | Feb. 1, 2025

Winter Up North can be a magical time for kids—sledding adventures, snowball fights, and crossing their fingers for a snow day.

For their parents, on the other hand, it’s a season of juggling heating bills, replacing outgrown boots and coats, and stocking up on cold medicine for all the sniffles. And for ALICE families, where every dollar is already stretched thin, those extra costs aren’t just a hassle, they’re a real struggle.

ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, which means that these families include working adults who are earning above the federal poverty level (or FPL, which is currently $31,200 for a family of four) but still struggle to make enough to pay for the basics like rent, food, and childcare.

Nationally, over 40 percent of households fall into this category, and in northern Michigan, ALICE families make up 38 percent of the population.

A Tightrope with No Safety Net

“They’re one flat tire away from an emergency,” says Seth Johnson, CEO and President of United Way of Northwest Michigan, describing the precarious financial situation faced by ALICE families.

ALICE households aren’t measured against a specific income level. Instead, they include any household that can’t adequately cover the basics, like rent, food, and childcare, with what they earn. In northern Michigan, this gap between wages and the cost of living has been growing in recent years, with inflated housing, food, and utility costs making it harder for families to get by.

But what does it mean to get by? In Grand Traverse County, a family of four needs two adults working full-time and earning at least $17.05 an hour (or about $70,000 total annually) just to afford the basics. In Leelanau County, that number jumps by 50 percent to $26.02 an hour.

As the rising cost of living pushes these bare-bones wage requirements up, more families are likely to slip into ALICE status, explains Johnson. And while ALICE families aren’t considered to be living in poverty, their kids are still at risk for the academic and emotional repercussions of experiencing chronic housing and food insecurity.

Shifting Geographies

Despite the rising cost of living, the number of ALICE households in northern Michigan has actually held steady over the past couple of years, notes Johnson. But where they’re located is shifting.

As housing costs skyrocket in places like Traverse City—where the average monthly rent for a 2-bedroom is upwards of $1,700—many ALICE families are moving to outlying areas like Benzie, Wexford, and Charlevoix counties, on the hunt for more affordable housing.

“We’ve seen this ALICE population move out of Grand Traverse County into other outlying areas,” says Johnson. But these moves come with challenges. Longer commutes and higher transportation costs are just a few of the trade-offs while fewer job opportunities in these areas limit their ability to gain upward mobility.

A Broken Measure

If the problem seems obvious, then the solution should be too. More resources means better outcomes for kids in ALICE households. But, according to Johnson, it’s not that simple.

Closing the gap between what families earn and what they need to survive is tough since access to resources is limited to those households at or near the FPL and, as Johnson puts it, “The FPL is severely outdated. It was established in 1969, and we haven’t really done much to change that.”

As the FPL lags behind, many in the ALICE population are turning to regional community resources and food pantries like Project Feed The Kids and 5Loaves2Fish, which offer assistance regardless of income.

Meanwhile, some government programs, like Medicaid, have raised their income limits to cover health and dental care for more Michigan families. But, if the looming talk of Medicaid cuts from the White House comes to fruition in the near future, it could leave NoMi’s ALICE population struggling with private insurance costs, adding to the quandary of earning too much for help but too little to do more than scrape by.

Bridging the Gap

While organizations like United Way NWMI advocate for legislation that would increase resources to those whose income is over the FPL but under a livable wage, they’re also actively stepping in to bridge the gap for ALICE families through programs like Tri-Share, a partnership with the state of Michigan that helps reduce childcare costs for working parents.

“The point of this program is to focus on ALICE households and support them,” says Johnson. “We’ve saved families around $400,000 in childcare costs, which puts more money in their pockets.”

Some families have even used those savings toward major milestones, like buying their first home. “We have incredible stories of how the program has made a difference,” he says, adding that one of United Way NWMI’s most recent initiatives is United We Smile. With the help of volunteer dentists, the program provides dental care to ALICE kids throughout the region. “In our first year, we treated over 1,400 patients and donated $1.1 million in services to families,” Johnson explains.

Impact of the Federal Aid Freeze

On Jan. 27, the Trump administration announced a federal funding freeze on a variety of public aid, loans, and grants, which CBS News reports “could affect everything from aid to nonprofits, universities, small business loans and state and local government grants.”

A federal judge temporarily blocked the effort, and the White House has since walked back the original memo ordering the freeze. But as of press time, the administration has not provided clarity on which organizations might still be affected by the Office of Management and Budget's changes, and Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt posted on X "This is NOT a recession of the federal funding freeze."

For United Way, there could be short- and long-term effects from the freeze.

“We have a handful of things that we are in the process of doing, predominantly with our United We Smile clinic,” that could feel the pinch, according to Johnson. He says United Way was planning to use a USDA office of Rural Development, Community, and Facilities loan program to buy the United We Smile building “to reduce our overhead costs, and then be able to really say we are invested for a long haul in this program.”

As of this past week, that effort is on hold, along with “a handful of other federal grants that we’re looking at for all of our programs, whether that supports what we do with early childhood or whether that’s the support we run with the ALICE population … [they] all are kind of up in the air right now as we determine what’s going on,” Johnson says.

He adds that United Way has weathered such federal freezes before. “We know that this is a common occurrence to do freezes like this as new administrations come in … but at the same time, this sends a lot of uncertainty rippling throughout the area.”

For now, Johnson remains cautiously optimistic that organizations like United Way will have funding opportunities restored, but notes that there might be programming impacts along the way. He says the longer the freeze goes on, the more challenges northern Michigan nonprofits and services will face.

“I think the best thing that we need to do is we need to reach out to our local elected officials, right? We need to be telling Representative Bergman, we need to be telling Senator Peters and Senator Slotkin the importance of having these types of programs and what they mean for our community,” Johnson concludes.

Volunteers Needed

It’s not just dentists and nonprofits making a difference. Community volunteers have played a big role in supporting ALICE families. But, Johnson points out, as we approach five years since the pandemic’s upheaval, the resulting slowdown in volunteerism has left many organizations in need of extra help.

“I know that for a lot of us, everything changed,” he says. “But we’re trying to encourage more people to get back to volunteering.”

For those ready back out there (or jump in for the first time), here are three ALICE-focused organizations looking to fill their volunteer calendars this year:

Generations Ahead
Who: Generations Ahead, supporting young families in the Traverse City area by providing career internships, baby clothing, and more.
Looking for: Volunteer baby pantry organizers.
The details: “If you have a passion for baby clothes, all things baby-related, and enjoy keeping things tidy and organized, this role is perfect for you,” says program director Sarah Payette. “The support we offer directly impacts not only these young parents but also their children and their entire family unit.”
Contact: generationsahead.org

5Loaves2Fish
Who: 5Loaves2Fish, addressing food insecurity by distributing no-questions-asked meals at various churches and food pantries throughout northern Michigan.
Looking for: Volunteer food preparers (Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10am-1pm with lunch provided) in Leland.
The details: Food preparers will help in the “processing, preparation and cleaning of vegetables and other ingredients for the meals we serve and distribute throughout the week,” says director of development, Corrie Jo Piersma.
Contact: 5loaves2fishnmi.org

PoWeR! Book Bags
Who: PoWeR! Book Bags, promoting childhood literacy across northern Michigan through the distribution of fully-stocked book bags.
Looking for: Volunteer delivery drivers to pick up book bags from the office in Suttons Bay and distribute them to PoWeR! partners including schools and health departments.
The details: “We serve 26 counties in Northern Michigan,” notes volunteer manager Maria Sophiea, explaining that the organization distributes books and other literacy materials to under-resourced children and families. “The sites are so excited to receive our materials!”
Contact: powerbookbags.org