Community Corner
Nearly 30 Percent of Clinton Residents are Low Income
Wednesday Night Program Describes Clinton Demographics and Housing Needs
Among the 10 towns on the Connecticut shoreline, which one is second poorest?
CLINTON. Only Westbrook has more low income families.
But Clinton doesn’t have affordable housing options for the nearly 30 percent of the community who fall into this limited income grouping known as ALICE.
Find out what's happening in Clintonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
ALICE is an acronym used by the United Way, meaning residents who are “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.” Despite working hard, ALICE qualified residents struggle, living below the federal poverty program’s cost of living level. Contrary to commonly held beliefs, this population is NOT made up of minimum wage or unemployed workers, but rather employed individuals, couples and families.
Clinton residents can learn the town’s current economic demographics at 7 p.m. Wednesday June 27, in the Clinton Town Hall Green Room. The free program is presented by the Shoreline Basic Needs Affordable Housing Team.
Find out what's happening in Clintonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Data was collected last year by sociology students of Central Connecticut State University Professor Beth Merenstein. These advanced students from the New Britain campus interviewed Clinton leaders in town government, business and education.
“Ideally, once the people of Clinton hear this data, they will decide to create an effort focused on either affordable housing or homelessness,” said Dawn Parker, project manager at the Connection, which heads up the Shoreline Basic Needs Task Force. Parker noted years ago, Guilford and Old Saybrook went through the same exercise, and ultimately developed an extraordinary range of housing option in their communities.
As in all the Shoreline towns the task force has worked with, in Clinton, “interviewing leaders was the first step of the process,” Parker explained. Wednesday night, aided by a power point presentation, she will lead the second step of the process: an overview of Middlesex County statistics, then focus specifically on Clinton. “We invite Clinton residents to come to the program with an open mind, and learn more,” she said.