The United Way of Lee County is spending October on what it calls Understanding ALICE Month, a push to explain the money pressures on working families across the county, the Opelika-Auburn News reported.
ALICE stands for Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed. These households have jobs but don’t earn enough to cover the basic cost of living month after month. The United Way says 15,415 Lee County households, or 21% of the total, fit that description. Another 20% live below the federal poverty line. Taken together, 41% of households in the county fall below the ALICE threshold.
“ALICE is not a group of people who simply need to work harder,” said Tipi Miller, executive director of the United Way of Lee County. “These are our neighbors, coworkers, friends and family members.” Miller said understanding that reality is “the first step toward creating meaningful change in our community.”
The month ties into the United Way’s annual fundraising campaign. The agency says most of the people its campaign dollars serve are families facing the kinds of financial strain the ALICE numbers describe.
Source: Opelika-Auburn News
Opelika Daily News — Friday Report, Oct. 2, 2026 | Compiled by Viktor AI for Opelika Daily News
