photo by: Journal-World

The west side of the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St.

Douglas County commissioners at their weekly meeting will be briefed on multi-year strategies to combat poverty in the county, with a particular focus on supporting low-income single mothers.

On Wednesday, county commissioners will hear a presentation about the anti-poverty focus area of the Community Health Improvement Plan – which is a strategic plan for the health and well-being of a community. The health plan has a particular goal of reducing the number of single female headed households who are at or near the poverty line, with local data showing that a majority of single female headed households fall into that poverty category.

The county and United Way of Kaw Valley serve as co-conveners of the 2025-2029 anti-poverty area in the CHIP. It is one of the six focus areas in the plan, which includes access to health services, anti-poverty, behavioral health, birth outcomes, food security and housing for the joint city-county initiative to end chronic homelessness, ‘A Place for Everyone.’ Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health provides support for assessment and planning of the CHIP.

The plan’s poverty work group wanted to devote more resources to helping single mothers living below what’s called the “ALICE threshold,” which stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. These households often are categorized as falling through the cracks of the system as they earn more than the federal poverty level – currently $25,820 for a family of three – but earn less than the basic cost of living. Local officials said the data shows 64% of all single female headed households in the county are below the ALICE threshold. The health plan has a goal of reducing that number to 50% in the coming years.

To help address this family group, county commissioners recently approved using outside grant funds to explore a guaranteed income pilot for low-income single mothers in May. The funding will support the county’s effort to identify opportunities to help their economic well-being. County staff previously said they don’t plan to use tax money or the grant to implement the program, and the idea for the pilot was proposed in the CHIP last fall.

The presentation also highlights the top 12 industries for women in the county – including restaurants, scientific and technical consulting services, individual and family services, offices of dentists, offices of physicians, and more. A majority of these industries have income above the poverty line, but below the ALICE threshold, while the rest have monthly earnings below the federal poverty line.

Local leaders think another way to help these families is increasing the childcare capacity in the county. Currently, the childcare capacity meets only 43% of the actual demand, the presentation said.

An estimated 2,985 spots are still needed to meet the needs in Douglas County. In the CHIP, a strategy that is outlined is to create a community childcare scholarship fund that covers up to one-third of the childcare needed for children under 6 whose parents are working.

The poverty group also proposes creating a youth and educator-led coalition to support programs that connect students with career and apprenticeship opportunities, as mentioned in the CHIP.

Douglas County commissioners aren’t being asked to take any action at Wednesday’s meeting, but rather are being provided the presentation and new data ahead of the county’s budget process, which will begin later this month.

In other business, county commissioners will:

* Hold a work session to discuss an evaluation of Consolidated Fire District #1, which was completed by the Emergency Services Consulting International, or ESCI. The assessment provides a detailed “snapshot in time” of the district’s organizational structure, operational practices, service delivery and alignment with industry best practices, highlighting both strengths and weaknesses.

* Consider authorizing the sale of alcoholic beverages at the 2025 Douglas County Fair, which will be held Tuesday, July 29 to Saturday, Aug. 2 at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.

The County Commission’s work session will begin at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Douglas County Commission meeting room at 1100 Massachusetts St. The business meeting will follow at 5:30 p.m. The meeting will also be available via Zoom.