'We know we aren't alone:' United Way looks to help workers achieve financial stability

BARBOURSVILLE — Amber Curry Roy knows there are others in situations similar to her own, working every day just to make ends meet.

“We know we aren’t alone. We know that there are so many people like us out there,” Roy confidently stated.

Roy, 42, of St. Albans, West Virginia, makes a two-hour round trip to Barboursville for work as a direct care staff employee of an all-deaf behavioral home.

As a wife, mother of four — two teenagers at home — and balancing an average of 62-hour work weeks while continuing her education, Roy often lives paycheck to paycheck.

Finding a place within Amy Jo Hutchison’s “Rattle the Windows” grassroots movement for economic justice, Roy has met others who experience the same situation.

In fact, nearly 50% of households in local West Virginia and Ohio counties are struggling financially, according to the 2019 American Community Survey.

ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) data show results from Cabell, Lincoln, Mason and Wayne counties in West Virginia and Lawrence County, Ohio — a total of 95,946 households surveyed from the five counties.

The federal poverty level of the area is at 20% and ALICE — income above the poverty level but below household survival budget — is at 28%, giving a total of 48% of households in the five counties at an ALICE household budget or lower.

Carol Bailey, executive director of United Way of the River Cities, said that since those categorized as ALICE are employed, they are often making too much money to be considered living in poverty, but they are not making enough for financial stability.

Hutchison, of West Virginia, testified to members of the House of Representatives Committee of Oversight and Reform in February 2020 about the struggles of the working poor in America.

“Today I’m here for you to better understand poverty because poverty is my lived experience. And I’m also here to acknowledge the biased belief that poor people are lazy and poverty is their fault,” the single mother of two testified. “I wanted to tell you about a single mom I met who worked at a gas station. She was promoted to manager and within 30 days she had to report her new income to DHHR, (and) within 60 days her rent bumped from $475 to $950 a month. She lost her SNAP benefits, and her family’s health insurance, so she did what poor people are forced to do all the time. She resigned her promotion and she went back to working part-time, just so she and her family could survive.”

The “Rattle the Windows” movement began shortly after she testified, as Hutchison was contacted by hundreds of people across the nation to share their stories of struggle and resilience.

“Poverty rolls off the backs of parents and right on the shoulders of our children despite how hard we try,” Hutchison testified. “I can tell you about my own food insecurity — the nights I went to bed hungry so my kids could have seconds, and I was employed as a Head Start teacher. I can tell you about being above the poverty guideline, nursing my gallbladder with essential oils and prayer, chewing on cloves, eating ibuprofen like Tic Tacs because I don’t have health insurance and I can’t afford a dentist. I have two jobs and a bachelor’s degree and I struggle to make ends meet.”

In 2019, the federal poverty level was $12,490 for a single adult and $25,750 for a family of four. Those categorized as ALICE can be considered an individual, a family or a household, but they are employed and make more than the poverty level.

United Way of the River Cities received the 2019 data in February in hopes of implementing a new program and resources for those considered to be ALICE in the area. United Way should receive 2021 data in April 2023.

“(ALICE) are struggling to make ends meet and often living from paycheck to paycheck. They are having a lot of difficulty meeting all of their bills, and often are put in a position of having to make very difficult and risky choices because of their financial instability,” Bailey said. “Despite the fact that they are employed, so often ALICE is in a situation where, if an unexpected expense comes up — and we all know that those happen all the time — maybe it’s an unexpected car repair bill or an unexpected medical issue.”

Bailey said those categorized as ALICE sometimes must choose to fix the car, pay rent or pay a medical bill.

While Roy has a vehicle to drive to work on her lengthy commute, it is not her car. Her van is in need of a transmission — repairs with a rough estimate of $3,000 — so Roy uses her mom’s car.

The car has helped to avoid the bill, but there have been inevitable expenses for new tires and varied gas prices for the borrowed car.

“I don’t have $3,000 to pay for a new transmission. Coincidentally, driving my mom’s car, putting all those miles on it going back and forth, I had to drop over $400 on the car. … Not that I could afford it, but I didn’t have a choice,” Roy said.

The day she had to pay for two new tires and an alignment was on the worst possible day for Roy — one day before a paycheck.

“I actually used my debit card and overdrawn my bank account by 400 and some dollars. I’m just praying that there wasn’t any glitches and my check would hit to cover it before it actually processed through,” Roy said. “Thankfully it did, but that was half of my check.”

Bailey also said unexpected needs can lead to missing time at work causing additional loss of income as those categorized as ALICE are often hourly wage workers who do not have benefits like paid time off or sick leave.

Roy’s job offers health insurance, but if all of her family members were added to the insurance, that would be a majority of her paycheck.

Bailey said the data shows those considered ALICE are critical to the success of the community and are non-frontline essential workers like teacher aides, cashiers, fast food workers, health care aides, custodial staff and clerks.

While Roy is a caretaker for deaf patients, she has dreamed of being an interpreter since she was 8 years old when she met her deaf cousin at a family reunion.

“My great grandmother had 17 kids. There’s like 300 people at this family reunion and it made me sad and angry all at the same time that there were only three people there that could communicate with her. I decided that I would never meet her again and not be able to communicate with her,” Roy said.

As soon as Roy got home, she begged her mother to began American Sign Language courses.

Along with long hours at the behavioral center, Roy has side hustles to help pay for her ASL classes to become a certified interpreter. The journey of following her dream has not been the easiest to follow.

Right before her son was diagnosed with leukemia at 5 years old, Roy received a health information technology degree at Mountwest Community and Technical College in May 2011. When he was diagnosed in July of that year, she stayed home with him for six and a half years until he was cancer-free.

“In the IT field, six and a half years is, you know, a century. So everything that I knew was outdated and wasn’t gonna help me find a job. I had been unemployed for six and a half years, too. So I was like, what am I going to do?” Roy said.

She sat with her husband as she discussed what her next step was in life, and she decided to chase her dreams.

Mountwest added an ASL program within the six years after Roy graduated so she applied, was accepted and graduated in December 2019. However, Roy only just received her physical degree this year because she was finally able to pay her fees.

“I’ve paid you guys thousands upon thousands of dollars for tuition and now you want me to pay you $50 to send me the freakin’ diploma?” Roy laughed.

Roy’s children are teenagers. They are involved in sports and school that require additional commutes when Roy is not working during the day.

Bailey said the ALICE data allows United Way to question why such community members are in this position, why they can’t get a job that pays more, if they need child care, better transportation, or access to education or training opportunities.

“It (ALICE threshold) looks beyond just the face value of what’s happening for these folks, and looks to those root causes. And that’s where United Way and other organizations can can come in once we can identify the root causes, then perhaps we can look at ways to expand opportunities that will support ALICE as they try to become more financially stable,” Bailey said.

United Way hopes to implement programs specifically for those considered ALICE by the end of the year.