On a recent North Country Matters show, Bob Gorman, executive director of the United Way of Northern NY, discusses how the North Country non-profit service world works with NCM host Donna Seymour.

The United Way covers three counties -- Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence -- and one way to increase the services they can provide is to improve the collaboration between agencies.

The United Way’s ALICE report is another way to look at families in distress that looks beyond the federal poverty rate, which is based on income.

The ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) Project was initiated by United Way of Northern New Jersey several years ago to bring focus to the families and individuals who work but whose salaries do not provide sufficient resources to meet basic needs. They are the “working poor.”

The ALICE Project developed a methodology using publicly available census, employment, wage, cost of living and other data to help to understand the extent of ALICE in our communities, those who are above the federal poverty level, but below a sustainable wage.

The five ALICE basic household necessities are housing, child care, food, transportation, and health care.

The ALICE Project is now implemented in 15 states, with New York joining in 2016. It shows the number of ALICE families and children, and single individuals, in each county.

It provides a model budget to meet basic needs in each county, along with information about key job categories and other issues that affect the ALICE group. The Report also discusses the challenges that ALICE families and individuals face, and issues that significantly affect them.

The show is available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9HlYuGNdvI.

It is important to look beyond the stereotypes that surround poverty and understand the real challenges ALICE families are struggling with. ALICE households survive paycheck to paycheck, being sometimes under-employed or working part-time, and working in common and heavily relied upon jobs — from cashier to secretary. They are part of a growing population of people who are working but struggle to afford basic necessities, let alone accrue any savings.

Online poverty simulation was developed for an organization in North Carolina: http://playspent.org/html/ to help people who are better off understand these challenges better. Some of the scenarios are driven by the local market, but it gives you a pretty good sense of the choices we make when live in poverty. See if you can get through an entire month on the wages offered by these jobs.

North Country Matters is a local public affairs video magazine now in its 13th year. The NCM civic partners working to educate North Country residents about critical public policy issues facing our region include AAUW-St. Lawrence County, the League of Women Voters of St. Lawrence County, and The Potsdam Public Library. The shows are filmed in the Fred W.Cleveland Computer Center at the Potsdam Library.

Be sure to checkout the NCM Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NorthCountryMatters/ for additional news and information about the show.

The shows are always available on YouTube. Check the websites for AAUW-St. Lawrence County (http://stlawrence.aauw-nys.org/) and the League of Women Voters of St. Lawrence County (http://slc-leaguewv.org/) for specific program links as they become available. And be sure to “like” the NCM Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NorthCountryMatters/ for up-to-date news on new shows.

income taxes, the city receives back only about $61 billion from the federal government,” the letter says.