UT Family and Consumer Sciences professionals work to serve a critical demographic in our communities
Marianne and her husband are retired, and they both have chronic health issues—for Marianne, it’s arthritis. Her husband has diabetes.
So, when Marianne learned that UT-TSU Extension in her community was offering a workshop on living well with chronic diseases, she quickly signed up. “I’ve also taken a course about taking charge of your diabetes and another on improving your balance. I have to manage both our health conditions, and the class gave me understanding and knowledge that’s helping me to do so.”
Marianne said the training also makes her feel like she’s better empowered to be an advocate for herself and her husband on health matters.
Extension offers the classes because agents know that elderly people living with chronic diseases are at risk of increased health care expenses, including emergency hospital visits, and those are costs that UT Extension agents are increasingly connecting to an acronym coined by United Way and in growing use in communities across the United States. The acronym ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.
The acronym captures a segment of residents present in most communities who are often unseen and underserved by social service agencies. That’s because their incomes are above the federal poverty line, making them ineligible for many forms of government assistance, yet their constrained incomes fall short of the local minimum costs of living, leaving them to struggle to make ends meet. Seniors can be ALICE, too, and so are some college students who are trying to make it on their own.
A common dilemma for those in the ALICE demographic is that, when needs occur, they often must make choices among food, medicine, and paying bills. Emergency expenses, like the car breaking down or an urgent health issue, can devastate their finances and solvency.
People who are ALICE can include teachers, law-enforcement agents, emergency medical technicians, certified nursing assistants, along with many who work in service industries.
Extension’s Mission to Serve Everyone
“Extension’s mission is to serve everyone, and we do,” says Extension assistant dean Janet Fox. “A portion of our programming is focused on assisting people who fall below the federal poverty level through education about Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, on cooking with limited resources, fundamentals of financial literacy, and workforce development.”
She adds that much of this education also has high relevance to ALICE individuals and households. The challenge for Extension agents is in how to reach these individuals because many work more than one job as they try to make ends meet.
As UT-TSU Extension Blount County agent Mary Beth Lima knows, one way to reach people in the ALICE demographic is through flexible programming that offers classes on days and times and at locations where she knows ALICE individuals can be available. “It’s also important to remember that Extension has incredible resources online that are available 24/7,” she says. Find them at tiny.utk.edu/utia-resources.
Lima also gives thought to special considerations affecting those in the ALICE demographic. “Often residents whom ALICE describes are silent about their struggles. They may feel stigma about why they can’t make ends when they are working full time or believe they shouldn’t use resources like food pantries because they have jobs.”
As a family and consumer sciences agent, Lima partners with local United Way of Blount County representative Sarah Jurinsky on several county advisory groups, where the two raise awareness of ALICE.
Serving ALICE in Tennessee
Kevin Treadway learned about ALICE from a United Way representative during Treadway’s time as an Extension family and consumer sciences agent in Bradley County. “We were doing a lot of first-time homebuyer classes and dealing with issues of affordable housing and the rising costs of living, and the United Way representative told us about the United Way’s ALICE initiative, which includes data dashboards that drill down to data from individual counties in many states, including Tennessee. “ALICE gave a name and a title to what we were already seeing in the city and county,” Treadway says. “It gave us a framework to work through.”
Treadway educated his peers in Extension and in May 2024 led a team of leaders with the Elevate internal staff development program in presenting a session about ALICE at the Tennessee Extension-wide Galaxy Conference. The presentation included a customized tool that Extension county agents could use to focus on data specific to their county.
“ALICE represents the many people within our community that we depend on daily,” says Elevate co-leader Egla-Irina Delvo-Lopez. “They’re the teachers, EMTs, and caregivers who work hard yet still struggle to make ends meet. They shouldn’t have to choose between paying bills or buying medicine.”
“It’s crucial that we not only recognize their struggles but also find flexible, judgment-free solutions to support them.”
-Egla-Irina Delvo-Lopez
Who is ALICE?
ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) may be a relative or friend. You may be ALICE. As cashiers, waiters, child care providers, and other members of our essential workforce, ALICE earns just above the federal poverty level but less than what it costs to make ends meet. These struggling households are forced to make impossible choices each day. While such hardship is pervasive, households of color are disproportionately ALICE.
ALICE also represents the data reshaping the dialogue on financial hardship and a grassroots movement that is picking up steam across half of US states—and counting.
The ALICE movement is underway in the following the states indicated in dark blue on the map.
Meet ALICE
Of Tennessee’s 2,805,838 households in 2022:
- Thirteen percent earned below the federal poverty level
- Thirty percent were ALICE, in households that earned above the federal poverty level but not enough to afford the basics in the communities where they live
- Together, 44 percent of households in Tennessee were below the ALICE threshold (poverty combined with ALICE and divided by total households)
The ALICE Household Survival Budget
The household survival budget reflects the minimum cost to live and work in the current economy. This budget is the basis for determining whether households are above or below the ALICE threshold by county. Learn more about ALICE at unitedforalice.org.
Watch a video about how UT-TSU Extension Montgomery County is assisting community members
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