Stephanie, how did the United Way of Northern New Jersey come to develop the Alice Framework, and why is it so necessary to have a new name and new measurement?

Great to be with you, and this is exactly where Alice started.

So it's fun to think back to those early days, and now that the program is such a success, it is important to remember that it started small and it has grown over time and it wasn't always easy, but the impetus for it has been the same since the very beginning is the federal poverty level does not give us a good understanding of what's happening on the ground in our communities.

And so I actually got into this through foundations and grants and I was on the board of my local United Way, was on the grants committee and being a researcher, professor, I looked up the federal poverty rate before I went, and at the time, it was about 4% or 5% in Morris County.

And so when I got to the grants meeting and started reading these really compelling applications something just wasn't matching.

Like there was a lot of need, there were a lot of applications and I'm like, I thought we were going to eradicate poverty.

And instead the problem just got bigger.

You all are serving a real purpose in the business community as well.

Thanks for being here today.

Oh, thanks Matt.

It's great to be partnering with Aspen, and we've been rowing in the same direction for quite a while, so, um, it's, it's really exciting to be here together.

Um, wanna thank you for posting some of our, uh, links on your resource page on your website, and I think that we're both thrilled that our partner, Shira Bennett, um, is one of your, uh, fellows and is here today.

So a lot of overlap and looking forward to the conversation.

So let's dig into the data that sets the groundwork for this, and then we're gonna be talking about some of the action that's happening to make a difference for ALICE workers.

So Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed are workers and families struggling to afford household basics.

Were you gonna jump in real quick?