IN OUR REGION, NEARLY 40% OF HOUSEHOLDS STRUGGLE TO MEET THEIR BASIC NEEDS.
The 2023 ALICE Report shows us that in Michigan, nearly 40 percent of all households — more than one out of every three families — cannot afford basic needs like food, housing and health care. While households below the ALICE Threshold exist across all demographic groups and in every city in our region, the pandemic exposed and widened gaps in rates of hardship by race/ethnicity, age, and household composition.
If people can’t meet their basic needs, they’ll never be able to create stable households. That’s why United Way works to ensure families in our region have access to programs and services that help them meet the basic needs of housing, food, child care, transportation, technology, health care, and that promote economic stability. With our partners, we help families get out of crisis — and stay out.
Our 2-1-1 helpline is the gateway to resources to help families meet their immediate needs like access to food and shelter, connections to financial coaching and job training, and help to avoid utility shutoff or eviction. It’s also the connection to programs that help families address the factors causing instability, like a lack of stable income or affordable quality child care.
Food
We lead efforts in Southeastern Michigan to fight food insecurity and increase access to food that is nutritious and affordable.
We support Meet Up and Eat Up summer meal sites with grant funding, volunteer support and technical assistance to increase the number of children receiving free meals and the quality of those meals. We work with school districts to introduce new school breakfast models and increase the number of students eating free breakfast through our Better With Breakfast initiative.
Housing
We fund efforts to help families access programs that keep their homes safe, lower housing expenses and protect them from eviction and foreclosure.
Through the Michigan Energy Assistance Program, we also provide utility assistance to individuals and families who are struggling to afford their utility bills or facing shutoff.
Health care
We fund and partner with agencies that work to increase access to health care, including mental health, case management and direct medical care.
We work directly with local health departments and other government agencies to track the health needs of people in our region and align our work and funding with those needs.
Financial Empowerment
We empower families to become financially stable through our Learn It, Earn It, Keep it, Grow It strategy. We help individuals gain the skills necessary to get and maintain living-wage jobs and improve their ability to make the most of the money they have, while building their savings and wealth. We also support programs that provide free tax preparation assistance to families, helping them keep more of what they earn.
Our Greater Detroit Centers for Working Families and TrustPlus in Washtenaw County provide one-on-one coaching and support to help people grow their income and prepare for the future.
