Welcome, everybody, to Midday Magazine for this October 3rd, 2024.
Have your host, James J. Mailov here.
In part two today, we're going to speak with Kayla Rumbalski, Community Development
Educated with Wood County Extension.
Looking forward to that.
Right now, our great friend, Ben Eberlein, is with us, Community Engagement Director,
with our United Way of Southwood and Animals Counties.
Ben, always good to see you, man.
Thanks for having me, I'm glad to be here.
Was it United Weekend?
Was it last time I saw you with picking up backpacks?
That's right.
Yeah.
Okay.
That's good to see you.
Great to have you in studio.
Appreciate the United Way so very much.
And one of the things that I appreciate about the United Way is not only their transparency
with the United Way, but with the data that they collect and the data that they receive
and cheering that with the community and really giving us an idea of why these services and
these programs that the United Way offer are so vital to our community.
And today is one of the more important times we get together and hang out and everything
is going over the Alice Report.
You had that data for us, Ben, where do you want to start with this?
Well, I think the important part is to start and just tell people what we're talking about,
right?
Right on.
Absolutely.
You know, I know you're obviously an expert.
You're really engaged in your huge supporter of what we're doing and how we are helping
the community.
But for folks that don't know, what does Alice mean?
It means we're talking about households that are, we call, you know, asset limited, income
constrained, employed.
So that's what Alice means.
Basically, it just means households that are earning more than the poverty a little bit,
but they still don't have enough to get by.
Yeah.
You know, these are households where, you know, we're working, often they work more than
one job.
They still can't make ends meet.
It's individuals, it's families, it's seniors, young adults, it's all demographics.
So statistically, you out there listening very well could be this person or this family.
And if you are not, it could be your neighbor.
And statistically in our areas, that is how often it could be where somebody in individual
in this situation.
That's the thing.
And it's a much larger, because I think a lot of us have this preconception of what poverty
looks like.
You know, we think of things like the federal poverty limit and we have these, you know,
things that have been kind of like this status quo or what we've, you know, come to think
of as what we think of as financial hardship, but yet it really is something that affects
a lot more people than we realize.
I mentioned this a lot growing up where I did, I ran into a lot of homeless people, a
lot of homeless individuals growing up.
Not one of them looked like any homeless person I ever saw in a movie.
None of them, not even close, none of them did.
It's very seldom what you think it is or seldom what you see in movies and TV and some
of that and that goes to poverty or any of these other kind of topics, oftentimes.
And we have the new report here, new data from recent data that is.
Yeah, absolutely.
So every couple of years we get up to this data and that helps us really understand what
this looks like in our community.
You know, we're not comparing apples to oranges here.
We're not saying, you know, somebody who's in LA or New York City, you know, can't get
by, we're talking about people here in Wood County.
So I think that's really part of the most powerful, you know, piece of this data that
we can use that to really, you know, take a look at how we can make an impact in our
community.
Yeah.
And was there anything as far as I'm sure we're going to get into a lot of, if not all
of the data here today, but there were some new things about this report from previous
years.
Yeah.
I mean, every year they seem like, you know, we're getting a little bit more refined,
getting a little bit better access to the information and we're always getting a new
look at how, how, you know, the data is being represented.
So it's nice to be able to have that.
And one of those things is they've recently started coming out with, you know, these
more focused versions of the report.
So we get our update to our general report that's going to talk about the whole population.
But we also just received a update to a report that's just focused on what it looks like
for children that are growing up in households that are living in financial hardship.
So I know it's interesting.
I know you want to get into some of these numbers.
Let's go ahead and get right into them.
But yeah, I mean, definitely don't want to get too dry or, you know, technical on numbers
and things like that.
I just want to keep things pretty accessible so that people can really, you know, get
an idea for what this looks like.
But in our community, based on this most recent report, 35% of households in Wood County
were considered Alice or in poverty going into last year.
So I mean, more than a third of our households, when more than a third, just let that sit
in for a second, everybody.
So that's Wood County, right?
Now, United Way, Southwood and Adams counties, we're really just that South, you know,
the corner here in Adams County, when we zero in on our specific zip codes, that number
is actually significantly higher when we're looking at municipalities in Southwood County.
Like, like Wisconsin Rapids, beer and port Edwards.
So yeah, and not to make things sound extremely bleak, but, but you know, it's just the reality
of it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, it's important to understand what that means.
And I'm not saying that.
And obviously, this is the important part is we're making it a, there's a big difference
between what we think of as poverty.
And what we understand is families that are maybe a little paycheck to paycheck or they're
just getting by, but they don't really have the capacity to save for emergencies or, you
know, education or what have you.
So these are, you know, it's households, as households that are earning more than poverty,
but they, they don't really have enough to get by.
They don't qualify for the assistance programs that we all, you know, kind of think of, well,
if, if you're in that situation, just, you can, you can rely on food share or Wisconsin
shares for childcare or things like that.
But, um, problem is those households, they, they get a reduced benefit or they don't qualify
those because they're doing the right thing.
You know, they're working hard.
They're trying to get by, but, you know, there's no room in the budget for tightening the
belt because you don't have enough to cover all your basics and you're not getting all
the support that you need to.
There's, uh, there's an exercise I like to do with this where, for you listening at
home and everything, you know, that, and, and thinking about your own life and the, think
about how things are going for you and then think about if you needed to replace your
roof or the refrigerator went out or your, your card suddenly just out of nowhere, stop
working and you need a new one tomorrow, like what that would do you financially.
And I think a lot more people than they may realize when they come into this conversation
and thinking, well, this isn't me.
And hearing something like that and immediately realizing that is me or that could be me.
And not only hopefully creating some empathy with that and part of why we're here today
and why the United Way exists and everything.
But also understanding, hey, this could be me and, and I need to, uh, be a part of these
things.
I need to be helping in these things or there might be services available for me.
So many other layers, so many layers to this when, when we hear this data, when we, uh,
think about the, take these numbers in.
Yeah, that's, you know, it's in having access to this data is so important because that's
how the United Way, you know, we can, we can understand where we can make the most impact
in this committee.
Uh, you know, we support households by, we have, you know, fund 28 different programs
in Southwood and Adams counties and 10 initiatives, like single care stuff, the bus
that we were talking about, um, the, you know, initiatives and programs that help households
bridge the gap.
Right.
So maybe they're, they're right on the cusp or the, you know, they're living paycheck
to paycheck.
Well, if they can, you know, rely on some of the, the programs in our community that,
if it's a food pantry or, or access to housing resources or childcare, you know, relying
on a program like that, that isn't what we think of as a traditional assistance.
Right.
Um, they can rely on that for a short period of time.
And that can be a bridge to financial stability for them.
They can build up, you know, take, take that, you know, period of support and start building
up assets or saving for emergency.
So it isn't devastating when that bridge does go out of the car breaks down.
One of the credits that I, the community, uh, notice about the United Way is the way
it is able to certainly tackle big topics, but even cover great areas that isn't often
seen by a lot of other people, but this data often brings to light.
So hey, we, you know, our community is really needed diapers, you know, young parents out
there could really use this and that's not maybe common knowledge, but that it comes
across.
When you ask some questions or listen to your community or get data like this from Alice
or certainly all the above, all of that together gives you these answers to where we need
to put our resources and, you know, where we could both make the most impact.
There are certain things that this data also gives when it comes to grants and resources
from the state and federal level as well that are very vital to not only the United Way
but to all our communities.
Exactly.
Every community looks different.
I think you nailed it because that's one of the things that really stands out to me
in this report.
I love, I'm on a date, I'm a data guy, you know, I'm, I am too, I am too 100 percent
of it alone.
Absolutely.
And that's, I love being able to look in that deeper level and, you know, obviously we
all have conversations and oh my gosh, you know, inflation this or, you know, employment
that.
But we can see with this report that we actually have, you know, 50 percent of our,
in Wood County, 30 percent of our senior households.
So households with, they're owned by individuals aged 65 or older, you know, 50 percent
of those are Alice or impoverty.
Wow.
That's over 5,000 households.
And that's just senior.
So we can see that, that, you know, that's a, that's a, a data point, you're not going
to see otherwise.
Right.
So, yeah, understanding how ours, because our community looks versus, you know, whatever
nationwide statistics, I think that's so powerful.
And even on a local level, where us compared to the next zip code or the zip code next
to add or anything and how important it is to be able to know the differences of these
and certainly so that we can make the impact again where we can.
So the United Way is not going to be putting a ton of money into finding what, you know,
what we need here in such a Wisconsin, more packer gear, like, no, we got it.
We're good.
We got a lot of packer gear.
We got that part.
They is covered.
So they're not going to, the data is not, it's not going to show that the data is going
to show, hey, we need to actually be helping in, you know, early literacy or, or our
community really needs a more help when it comes to hunger or something like that.
Is there some other stats, some other data there that, that you saw, a bend that stood
out to you?
Well, yeah, we mentioned the, the children in financial hardship that that was another
report.
Like I said, the, the Allison focus report that came out on just children looking at the
statewide.
Unfortunately, we don't have hyperlocal data for that report.
Looking at the state, 41% of children in Wisconsin are growing up in a household that is in
financial hardship.
So again, like you said, we can, we can look and say, okay, we really need to focus on,
you know, maybe supporting families and how can we make sure that these children aren't
at a huge disadvantage.
And we're looking at, you know, the future then and how we can make sure that those children
aren't, you know, growing up to, you know, into a cycle of poverty that we can focus on
Alice families who are households, like I said, because it's individuals and seniors.
It's not just families.
We can focus on helping, you know, but investing in the community and ways that help Alice
households.
So they can reach financial stability because they, they're right there, right?
Yeah.
It's one of those situations, like we talked about that it's just out of reach, no matter
what you're doing.
If you don't have enough to get by, you just, you're never going to get there.
And I mean, how many times has something happened where, yeah, your car breaks out or your
phone guy or whatever it is.
It could be something small, but that small thing doesn't matter how small it is when
you already don't have enough to get by.
And especially they add up, you know, it's, it's, it's very seldom is it just one thing
and that's it.
Usually that one thing happens and then a day or two later something else and then something
else.
And it feels like it's just, you know, it keeps coming.
That stuff adds up on people.
And just to take a second here, when you mentioned 50% of our senior households, 40% of our
households with young children, that's already just taking those two groups is a gigantic portion
of our society of our community here and everything that are affected by this, that are in
this report that are in need of the services that we're talking about here, especially I'm
going to keep bringing this home to anytime I am talking with you or Terry or anybody for
the United Way, we're in go season here, we're in campaign season.
And whether it's dollars and cents or volunteering, all hands on deck, now more than ever, we
need our communities to step up and be a part of these things.
And so much of the community we're talking to, not only do they step up, but they are
in this report, like they are a part of this report.
And that is just both beautiful and something that I don't know about other people, but really
incentivizes me and really makes me want to get out there and do some good work here.
And I can't think I'm alone on that.
No, and that's the thing is whether or not it might be true right now, but I think we've
all been in a position where, you know, we probably identify with something in this report.
Like maybe it's not true, current, but we've all been in a situation where we've had
a struggle.
And so if you can't relate to that, then tell me what your secret is.
Yeah, absolutely.
I want to know the magic you grew up in and another thing that stands out when you're
talking about that bend to me and all the services that are offered with the United
Way and the things that the programs that exist with the United Way intertwined in that
is people getting a help hand up.
None of these services are about like kind of keeping, helping somebody stay where they
are necessarily.
Everything is about, hey, here's help.
Here is a hand.
I want to help you up.
I want to help you get on your feet.
I want to help you be able to do this on your own, which as somebody who comes from that
background, I never met one poor person that wanted a handout.
I've met, I've never met a poor person that didn't want a hand up, that didn't want
a chance to get on their own feet.
Very seldom are you going to meet somebody in those situations that are happy being in
those situations.
You want to get off your feet, but we've also all grown up knowing that you want to really
grow.
You got to learn to fish.
You can't just be fed a fish.
You got to learn to fish.
And oftentimes, the United Way is helping people learn to fish, helping people get on their
feet, like you talked about there.
So I think that's an integral part of what we're talking about here is not only getting
this data and the people that need this data and the services that can help them with that,
but what happens after that and how they get on their feet and maybe they can help out
somebody or they certainly become great paying taxpayers or working at a job in the community
or something.
It all is a domino effect that adds up to a better community, a better society.
Exactly.
And just again, to not make things sound like, you know, exaggerate or over, you know,
two-plink and we're not saying that everybody that is considered Alice is living on the
street when that's obviously not true, but the thing is to your point that nobody wants
to be in a position where they're worried about how they're going to pay their bills
at the end of the month or end of the week.
Nobody wants to be in a position where they're thinking, I should probably skip a meal
today, so my kids can eat or I can fill the carb gas.
So that's, and especially now when we're looking at more, you know, if we're talking data
here.
You know, we're looking at some of the inflation rates and things that, you know, we've
seen double the inflation 21 to 2021 to 2023 than is typical for, you know, the last
couple decades.
And you know, that kind of just exasperates these kind of problems and situations, but
yeah, if we can help support and invest in our programs in our community and in these
initiatives that can then help these households bridge that gap and get to a place where they
are stable and they aren't dependent on even, you know, the small assistance programs
that, like I said, nobody wants to be worried about how they're going to be paying those
bills or putting food on the table.
But yeah, by investing in these programs and making sure that we are in the right lane
by, you know, referencing these, these local data points that we can see where exactly
to make an impact to help the most people get to that civility.
That's what else did you see in there that you want to make sure that we touched on before
we wrap up this segment or the time together, Ben?
Yeah, absolutely.
I think the important thing.
I just also just want to come back to obviously we have all this data, but, and which is great.
But, you know, if anybody's still awake out there, hopefully we haven't put everybody
asleep.
You know, what do we do about it?
You know, it's great to have the info, but why are we talking about it, you know?
And so, again, coming back to the actual question, you just asked me.
You know, the thing that stands out, I think, and this isn't necessarily a new data.
You know, this is something that we've seen consistently with each update to this Alice
report, is that for every household in poverty, because the poverty rate's been pretty steady.
And, you know, for the last, you know, several-
It's been holding water.
Yeah.
I mean, it's anywhere between 10 and 12 percent, but we see in this Alice report is that
for every household in poverty, there's two more that are earning more than poverty,
but they still aren't getting by.
So that's a huge chunk of our population.
That's a huge portion of, you know, the households that we're talking about, that we can
help, that don't have access to all the assistance that we typically think of, that if they
had a little bit of help, they would be stable that we can, you know, the rising
tide, right, that lifts all boats that we can shift to, you know, they can be contributors
and, you know, help us set the next generation and their children, everybody off on the
right foot.
It's really eye-opening.
So much of what we've talked about today is really eye-opening, and there's a lot
more data, a lot more for people to take in and research, look at.
Is there ways for people out there listening to look at this data to see the Alice report?
I'm glad you asked.
Folks, you can head out to our website, UWSWAAC.org.
And there's links to the local data reports, or Alice reports.
There's a lot of really interactive, interesting interactive dashboards, and like I said, they're
always coming out with new tools and new views.
So it's really fun if you like data at all.
You can play with that stuff.
And if you don't care about the, you know, the actual data, you can, you can just go look
at, you know, the high points, because all of the stuff that I've mentioned today is
really easily summarized at the top of the page.
So head out to our website, UWSWAAC.org, and click the link to the Alice report.
And thank you again, Ben, for going through that with us.
I really do appreciate it.
And encourage everybody out there listening to dive into that data, take it in, and really,
when you're reading these numbers, give it a moment.
Just read right consecutively here, take a beat, let that data sit in, 50% of our senior
population, 40% of our children, so much of this stuff, I think needs to have a moment
to sit in, as well as reading it and researching it.
Ben, in the last minute or so we had, I did want to take a moment to mention, again,
day of caring is right around the corner to everybody.
We're still collecting lawns, and we're also still looking for teams and people to join
us for day of caring, which is of course coming up Saturday, October 26th.
The gang will all be meeting from 8 to 9, over at the Grand Rapids Lions Club.
And of course, the raking will be going from about 9 to 1.
It's really something that you can wrap up in your morning.
And I just want to remind everybody that we are not only collecting lawns, but looking
for people to do this.
Yeah, exactly.
We just mentioned how a significant portion of our senior population needs a little help,
and that's what we love about day of caring.
It's such a fun and really incredible to see how many volunteers come out on one morning
and just had out like a small army with rakes.
Yeah.
I think it was last year, I was with Seth and Beth and the boys as a team, and we were over
past the viadoc, and I have never been that far outside on the east side of town before
doing it.
And on the way driving over there saw nothing but just purple shirts, or I think it was
purple shirts, but just different, all these different colored shirts, or the day of caring
shirts.
It was so cool to see and throughout the whole city you see it, and I love that.
It's one of my favorite days of the year.
They're red shirts.
You'll be seeing out there this year.
Not only are you going to be able to know that you are not alone in this and working
with your community on this, but it's strangers helping strangers.
And we don't have enough opportunities for that in our society.
It's a really cool opportunity to do.
I mentioned a little bit getting closer to the date, but I've gotten to do this a couple
of times.
And it's some of the best people I've met in town are doing.
It's been through this, through day of caring.
It's a great time.
Sign up whether you are signing up along, or you yourself would like to sign up.
You can do that at uwac.org, and again, the ALS report, all that data as Ben was telling
you is right there for you at uwac.org.
Be sure to follow the United Way on social media, keep up to date on all the good things
they're doing over there, and share the things on your social media.
Just never know who might see it that wouldn't otherwise.
Ben always good hanging out with you, man.
Thanks for the time.
Thanks for having me.
We'll be back with more Midday Magazine coming up right here at 97-5 FM 1320 AMWFHR.
