Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


The Livingston County United Way is boosting funding for local human service programs.

The United Way’s 2024 Community Investments Process was recently completed, with final approval by the Board of Directors. Officials say there’s encouraging news, and the process involved over 50 community volunteers and leaders coming together to review program funding requests and make final recommendations.

An average of a 15% increase in funding to 46 local human service programs was recommended and approved by the Board of Directors. Program funding will take place in the new fiscal year which begins on July 1st.

Community Investments Council (CIC) Chairperson, Kelli Matthew, commented “We are so grateful for the many community volunteers who participated on our panels and gave our CIC their input on the grant awards. We appreciated their time and thoughtful comments. They truly impacted our Committee’s final grant recommendations to the Board.”

The United Way noted that ALICE numbers are on the rise in Livingston County and released updated statistics.

ALICE is families who are “Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained and Employed” - generally speaking many people who work in the local service industry. According to recently-released stats, 5% of Livingston County’s population lives in poverty, with another 23% struggling to meet their most basic needs. This is a 5% increase in ALICE families since last year’s report. With increased pricing on many commodities, such as food, utilities, gasoline and transportation, family budgets are being stretched even further.

Livingston County United Way Executive Director Patricia Sliter said “We just completed our annual Community Investments Process, and then received the new ALICE report. The report shows that the work we do is more important than ever. It will take even greater community support to effect change for these additional struggling families.”

Livingston County families fare better than in many other communities. According to the new report, Michigan’s state average for poverty is 13%, plus an additional 28% ALICE population, equaling 41% of our state’s families are living in or near poverty levels.

More information about Livingston County United Way funded coalitions and programs is available in the provided link.