Lancaster Thrives Together

ALICE is an acronym that stands for “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.” According to the United Way of Pennsylvania, it represents the 27% of Lancaster County residents who work but still struggle to survive. ALICE folks earn more than the Federal Poverty Level, but not enough to comfortably afford basic essentials.

In 2021, many local funding and social service agencies sponsored the National Equity Atlas, a partnership between PolicyLink and USC Dornsife Equity Research Institute, to complete an equity profile of Lancaster County – the very first county-wide racial equity profile in Pennsylvania. The report contains a wealth of information about our demographics, and how segregation and unequal opportunities persist.

Please read the Lancaster County Equity Profile and consider how your organization might address some of the problems that have been identified in the report.

Recognizing that some of our neighbors have historically not been included and represented in many past projects, we are doing our part to ensure future projects create meaningful opportunities for all residents, particularly those who bear the brunt of disproportionate economic prosperity.

Our preference is to fund brand new ideas that will bring systems change for Lancaster County. We will accept concepts that have been tried in other regions and are being brought to Lancaster County for the first time. We will also accept applications for existing projects, if it can be demonstrated that the organization is adapting the project for long-term success in a meaningful way.

By default, grants will have one year duration, beginning September 18. If your organization would need more time to complete the project, please contact us and we will be happy to work with you on a timeline that better suits your project.

This initiative has a budget of $500,000. It’s likely that we will be able to make 15-20 grants.

Funding is a one-time award and not renewable.

No. Rather, we encourage you to describe partnerships in the application itself.

Yes. We don’t require that any of the organizations (applicant or partners) be physically headquartered in Lancaster County. However, the proposed project activities must primarily benefit Lancaster County’s residents.