The United Way Presents The Economic Benefits of Child Care June 10th

We're going to begin a discussion on Positively Muskegon.
Christine Robere of the United Way of the Lakeshore gave me a call a while back and asked me if I knew anything about A.L.I.C.E.  True to form, the immediate response was "Is she cute?"  Well, I ventured down to the United Way and learned that A.L.I.C.E stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.  It's becoming more and more of an issue, and you might now even be aware of it.

Click Here for the Economic Benefits of Childcare

ALICE in a nutshell, means that there are people out there who are kind of having a hard time making ends meet due to no fault of their own.  People work, sometimes more than one job to juggle all of life's responsibilities.  The jobs they work pay, but sometimes not enough and they are caught in the middle of having to decide whether to pay for a dentist trip or the rent.  They might have to decide between a car repair or a prescription.  Working people today have not had the time or ability to develop that "nest egg" that can cushion the blow when unforeseen  problems arise.  They work to get by, check to check and that's the best they can do.  It' leaves a lot of questions, say for instance day care.  Are you not working because it costs you more in daycare than you make?  It's a tough spot!

June 10th at the Holiday Inn Muskegon from 7:30-9a there will be an event called "Raising Up Our Communities: The Economic Benefits of Childcare.  Senator Goeff Hansen will be on hand as well as Susan Broman who's the Deputy Superintendent & Director in the office of Great Start, Michigan Department of Education.  The discussion will be "Who will watch my children?"  If there is affordable, reliable and trustworthy child care available, it sure frees up some time and money for families to work on building that cushion they need.  Local business leaders will be on hand as well to hear more about this.

I had a chance to sit down with KP Pelleran of the United Way of the Lakeshore.  She's been working on this for a while and she shares her thoughts.  Please, take a listen to the interview below.

A big part of Positively Muskegon is looking for ways to make life better in Muskegon.  If we can help foster the discussion about making sure our people are able to make a better living for themselves and a better way for business to understand that happy workers, who can focus on the job as opposed to worrying about when they will crash and burn due to bills, emergencies, or even having to pick between working and child care!  The bottom line improves when employees can focus on the task at hand and return to their family with a little more security at the end of the day.

Stay tuned to learn more about ALICE right here on Positively Muskegon.  You can click on the ALICE logo below to learn more from the United Way about this powerful program