By Fred Payne, President and CEO, United Way of Central Indiana
Across Central Indiana, many families are doing exactly what we hope and expect: showing up for work, caring for their children, and doing their best to build a stable life. Yet for too many, even full-time work — and sometimes more than one job — is not enough to keep housing secure; bills current, and family life steady.
That reality is one reason why United Way of Central Indiana tracks a measure we call ALICE: Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed. The most resent ALICE report shows that nearly 260,000 households in our region are either ALICE or living below the poverty line — one in three. This is not only an urban reality. In Hamilton County, 24% of households fall into this category. In Boone and Hendricks Counties, it is 29%. In Marion County, 41%.
Journalist Brian Goldstone spent years documenting this exact phenomenon nationally in his book, There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America, following five families in Atlanta who held full-time jobs and still couldn’t secure stable housing.
The book won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Goldstone will join us this month to share more about what his reporting revealed — and what it means for communities like ours. His work reminds us that poverty is often closer and more familiar than we realize: our neighbors, the people beside us at church, in the grocery line, or working in our own buildings.
That recognition is exactly why United Way of Central Indiana set a goal in 2023: distance 10,000 families from poverty by 2028, a commitment we call the Road to 10K. We are now more than 70% of the way there, having closed gaps for 7,700 families. Alongside that, we’ve helped relieve nearly $240 million in medical debt for 112,000 Hoosiers, while working with partners on housing, food security, and childcare.
These investments strengthen more than individual households. An updated study from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business found that United Way of Central Indiana’s grants generated nearly $80 million in annual economic activity for Central Indiana between 2020 and 2025 — every $1 we invest spurs an additional $1.28 in local economic activity.
Behind those numbers are real people and real turning points: families who, with the right combination of coaching, childcare, food assistance, and financial support, moved from crisis to stability. Some are now helping others do the same. Those stories are the reason this work matters, and they’re the reason we keep pushing toward the next 2,300 families on our path to 10,000.
Progress is possible when a community of partners, employers, and neighbors work together.
That is the spirit behind CONNECT, our inaugural convening on July 20 from 3-6 p.m. at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The event will bring together leaders from business, government, nonprofits, and philanthropy to strengthen relationships and build collective understanding and eventual action plans. Attendees will hear directly from Brian Goldstone and explore Impact Experience Exhibits about basic needs, early learning, economic mobility, and housing.
Central Indiana can be a place where a full-time job reliably leads to a stable life. Getting there takes honesty about how far that promise has slipped — and it takes all of us to work from the same table.
For details and to register, visit our CONNECT website. Use code: Charitable50 for a discount.
