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 desirable place to live and work for all.

Focus on communities with documented need

There are 254,744 households in Lake County; 30% (or 77,583) of which live under the ALICE* survival threshold. In our targeted service areas of Antioch, Fox Lake, North Chicago, Round Lake, Waukegan and Zion, 48% of those households 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 improve the lives of local children and families.

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’ most challenging problems.

*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.