As an agency that serves northeast Louisiana, Catholic Charities is accustomed to providing vital assistance to some of most vulnerable individuals in the state. Region 8 of North Louisiana consists of parishes that fall within the Eastern Deanery of the Diocese of Shreveport, which consists of 25% (37,134) households in poverty according to Asset Limited. Income Constrained. Employed. (ALICE) data from United Way of Northeast Louisiana. With another 30% (44,044) being considered ALICE households, these household consist of working adults, but they are still unable to meet the basic financial needs of their family. You may ask, “What does an ALICE household look like?” It could be a husband and wife that both work below livable wage jobs and are reliant on SNAP benefits to feed the family. Or a single mother that can only work part-time in the evenings when a family member can watch her children because of the absorbent cost of child-care. Or a single father that has custody of his son that must work full-time hours to provide, but due the increasing cost of rent coupled with economic inflation, there is not much left to pay for utilities after rent is paid and he buys groceries for the household; his income is too high to qualify for SNAP, but there is not enough income left over to afford a full month of food.
These are common scenarios faced by ALICE applicants, also known as “the working poor,” who attend Money School seeking assistance with rent or a utility bill. As in the name, their income is constrained with no wiggle room for an unexpected emergency. Moreover, these individuals have no real assets to leverage in the time of an emergency (no rental properties that produce residual income or a home that they can take a second mortgage on or draw equity from) as the renter rate in Ouachita Parish alone is nearly 40% (national average is 34.3% according to 2025 data from ipropertymanagement.com). Monthly, many Money School applicants are faced with tough decisions like, “Do I pay my light bill or put gas in my car to get to work?” Both are essential needs and the decision between the two is critical either way.
Nonetheless, Catholic Charities of North Louisiana remains committed to providing much needed services to the poor, impoverished, and distressed by providing free credit counseling, personal budgeting/money management education, and first-time homebuyer guidance in conjunction with our community partners. We understand that our community is only as great as our weakest link. We teach men and women how to fish for themselves to achieve sustainability and improved financial independence.
