United Ways of Georgia Creates Statewide Advisory Committee in Preparation of Groundbreaking ALICE Report

Staff Report

Tuesday, November 7th, 2023

United Ways of Georgia (UWGA), an association of the 31 United Way organizations operating across Georgia, have collectively invested to become the 29th state organization to participate in United for ALICE.   This effort will provide a series of new, standardized measurements and comprehensive intel that quantify the exact demographics of Georgia’s workforce struggling financially, and why.

ALICE stands for Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed and represents the many households that are working and earning above the Federal Poverty Level but not able to afford the basic necessities of housing, food, child care, health care, transportation and a smartphone. 

Many ALICE households, include childcare workers, teachers, police officers, cashiers, healthcare workers, etc., who work full-time but still struggle to make ends meet.

This groundbreaking United for ALICE Research Report will provide Georgia intel by both county and town-level data on the extent of financial instability among households.

United For ALICE is a national grassroots movement of United Way Worldwide), corporations, nonprofits and foundations in more than half the United States that all use the same methodology for documenting financial need. 

United Ways of Georgia (UWGA), alongside the Georgia Credit Union Affiliates and Truist  are the sponsors of the  Georgia United for ALICE Research Report project which began in late 2022. In 2023, a Research Advisory Committee was created of state-wide experts in data collection and analysis to help review draft reports and provide diverse perspective and feedback. 

Research Advisory Committee members include:

  • Samantha Beasley, M.S.W.

Georgia Health Initiative

  • Mark Bennett, M.S.

Gulfstream

  • Joe Brownlee

Georgia Power Company

  • Cody Cocchi, Ed.D.

Partnership for Inclusive Innovation 

  • Danah Craft, M.B.A.

Feeding Georgia

  • Sharon DuBose, M.S., P.M.P.

CSRA Economic Opportunity Authority, Inc. (CSRA EOA, Inc.)

  • Carl Gabrini, Ph.D., C.P.A.

Dalton State College

  • Rebekah Hazlett-Knudsen, Ph.D., L.M.S.W.

Middle Georgia State University

  • Amy Jacobs

Department of Early Care and Learning

  • Eric Jenkins

SRP Federal Credit Union

  • Tyese Lawyer, M.S.

Our House Georgia 

  • Senator Derek Mallow, M.P.A.

Georgia State Senate and East Savannah United

  • Kristina Patterson, Ph.D.

Georgia Southern University

  • Daniela Perry, M.P.A.

Georgia Chamber Foundation

  • Alvaro Sanchez

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

  • Rupal Shah, M.P.A.

Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta

  • Stephen Sherman, M.S.L.S.

Philanthropy Southeast

  • Savannah Taylor

Georgia Chamber of Commerce

  • Stephani Womack, Ed.D.

Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce

“The United for ALICE Research Report has been used by 28 other states to better understand the difficulties their citizens face, evaluate how well current services are working, and develop innovation programs to best support them,” said UWGA Chair  Michael Smith. “In a couple of months, Georgians will have access to valuable resource data to help understand how many of our essential workers are living above the poverty line but still not able to afford the basic necessities. United Ways of Georgia and its partners will use this groundbreaking information to improve lives and strengthen local communities.”

Following the review and consideration of the input, the Georgia United for ALICE Research Report will be available for public release in early January 2024.