According to the new research, 41% of Connecticut families below the ALICE Threshold reported in the fall of 2021 that their children “sometimes or often” didn’t have enough to eat, in contrast with 17% of higher income families.  United Way of Western Connecticut defines ALICE as Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. 

Because ALICE households often earn too much to qualify for public assistance, the report finds that 192,000 at-risk children didn’t access the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP.  While 13% of all children in the state were deemed in poverty in 2019, the report shows that 29% – more than twice as many – lived in families defined as ALICE households earning more than the Federal Poverty Level, but less than what it costs to live and work in the modern economy. 

The report finds traditional measures of poverty have severely undercounted the number of children of all races ages 18 and younger in Connecticut who are growing up in financially insecure households.