Bucks County Commissioners Unanimously Proclaim March ALICE Awareness Month As Too Many Locally Live Paycheck to Paycheck

For some 67,000 people – or roughly 27% of households in Bucks County – one unexpected bill or medical care expense could lead to financial crisis or catastrophe. Nationwide an estimated 37 million households earn above the poverty level yet cannot afford the basic cost of living, according to a United Way of Bucks County report.

In partnership with Fairless Hills-based United Way, area community-based banks including Penn Community Bank, Peoples Security Bank & Trust Co., QNB Bank and Univest Bank and Trust Co. presented current statistics for ALICE households living in Bucks County at Wednesday’s Bucks County Commissioners meeting.

The financial experts weighed in with personal stories from clients and services offered to support those who are working and make too much money for various government support programs but still fall short of meeting basic everyday living needs.

“These families live paycheck to paycheck, earning too much for public assistance but not enough to stay financially secure,” said PJ O’Brien, United Way impact director, financial stability. “When essential workers and families like these can’t stay afloat it impacts not just their future, but the strength and stability of our communities.” 

According to Randall Beaman, vice president and relationship manager at Univest Bank & Trust Co. in Doylestown, the federal poverty level “has long been the standard for defining poverty in the U.S.” While the annual poverty level income for a family of four is currently $32,150, it does not take into account the current true cost of living, regional differences in housing, utilities, or other necessary costs and expenses.

“The federal poverty level has become an outdated measure of financial hardship,” Beaman added during the ALICE presentation.

According to Wednesday’s United Way presentation, the “survival” budget in Bucks County for a family of four is more than $86,000 per year; if two children in the household require daycare services that amount jumps to more than $105,000 per year, Beaman said.

A “bare bones” household budget includes minimal housing costs, child care and food, transportation, health care, smart phone, internet access taxes and a small “contingency” safety fund, according to the presentation.

O’Brien said ALICE households are found throughout the country and different groups are disproportionately affected.

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Nationwide, while 1 in 3 ALICE households or 36% are white, about 75% of ALICE households are led by single-parent women. ALICE households which are Black, Indigenous or People of Color make up about 54%.

For many home health care aides, bus drivers, retail workers, food service employees and administrative assistants “despite working full time often live paycheck to paycheck,” O’Brien said.

Jeane Vidoni, president and CEO of Penn Community, said while serving on the Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board in Philadelphia she and others from across the nation were able raise awareness of the financial uncertainty and burden ALICE families regularly face.

Community bank CEOs met with the Reserve Board of Governors and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

“We were able twice a year to be in front of Jerome Powell, along with 12 community bank CEOs across the country … in the fourth quarter of 2023, our peers thought that the ALICE population was an important topic to bring up in that meeting,” Vidoni said.

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She said awareness and advocacy in addition to community banks providing products, services and financial education “because this particular segment of our community is easily lost” was creating a higher level of understanding.  

Nikki Farrior, United Way impact services manager, said a focus on long-term financial stability for ALICE families covering employment maintenance, building savings and managing expenses included follow up services up to a year after initial services were provided.

“This allows us to access outcomes … and to make sure we are creating a lasting change in the Alice household,” Farrior said.