State and local leaders need to take a long, hard look at a new economic report from Trident United Way and come up with ways to help struggling families, instead of generally ignoring their needs like they’ve done for generations.
According to the newly-released study, more than one-third of households in Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties are struggling to pay for basics. This strife involves some 35,822 households that live in poverty. It’s also rampant among the 93,767 households where breadwinners work, but just don’t have enough money to meet their needs.
This larger group is defined as “asset-limited, income-constrained and employed,” also known as “ALICE” households. Family members in these households may have more than one job but still often struggle to pay for housing, child care, food, transportation and health care…