Boosting the local economy

Everywhere we go, our commitment to the youngest and most vulnerable people in Lake County will ease hardships, launch careers, boost the local economy, and make Lake County, IL, a truly enviable place to live and work for all.

Focus on communities with documented need

When a school in Waukegan spends $6,000 less in educating its pupils than a Libertyville school just 11 miles away, we know, without the help of organizations like United Way and civic leaders, like you, that geographic and socioeconomic “distance” could change the trajectory of a child’s life irreversibly. *

We also know that there are 247,720 households in Lake County; 31% (or 77,297) of which are living under the ALICE** survival threshold. In our targeted service areas of Waukegan, North Chicago, Round Lake area, and Zion, 53% of those households (34,294) are living under the ALICE survival threshold.

United Way of Lake County’s educational programming and 211 helpline work to bridge those gaps, connect people to the resources they need, and change the lives of local children and families for the better.

Name recognition of United Way partnership

For more than 125 years, United Way has evolved to meet the needs of the times. There are nearly 1,800 communities across more than 40 countries and territories, bringing people and resources together to solve the communities’ toughest problems.

*See Public-Schools.StartClass.com for eye-opening statistics about disparities in district expenditures across Lake County.

**ALICE, an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, is a new way of defining and understanding the struggles of households that earn above the Federal Poverty Level, but not enough to afford a bare-bones household budget.