What happens when having a job is no longer enough to afford a home? Journalist and anthropologist Brian Goldstone will bring that question to North Charleston on Tuesday, Oct. 13, as keynote speaker for Trident United Way’s 2026 State of Our Families.
Goldstone’s nonfiction debut, “There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America,” follows five Atlanta families who work but live without stable housing. It won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction, was named one of the New York Times’ 10 Best Books of 2025 and is a finalist for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.
Goldstone’s subjects aren’t unemployed: they are bus drivers, home health aides, warehouse workers, whose stories mirror families right here in our community. Across Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties, 37% of households are ALICE® (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed). They earn too much to qualify for many forms of assistance yet too little to keep up with the actual cost of rent, childcare, transportation and food. For a Tri-County family of four, covering those basics now takes $91,344 a year, proof that the “working homeless” Goldstone documents are not a distant phenomenon, but a reality too many local families are already living.
State of Our Families convenes business leaders, elected officials, educators, nonprofit partners, philanthropists and community advocates for an honest, forward-looking conversation about what families are experiencing and what it will take to build a stronger future. Through storytelling, local data and dialogue, the event turns those insights into practical, collaborative solutions, building on work already underway and moving the region closer to Trident United Way’s bold community goal of uplifting 15,000 families out of poverty by 2035.
A panel of local leaders will follow Goldstone’s keynote and examine what these pressures mean for our region. Panelists include:
- James Chatfield, senior vice president at Truist
- Amy Stasiukaitis, Low Country Case & Millwork
- Dr. Vicky Wood, president of Trident Technical College
- Herbert Drayton, founder and managing partner at HI MARK Capital
- Patty Scarafile, retired CEO and president of Carolina One Real Estate and board chair of the Tri-County Housing Futures Fund
- Mike Tecosky of Pinnacle Financial Partners will facilitate the discussion.
The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at The College Center at Trident Technical College, 7000 Rivers Ave., North Charleston, SC 29406.
Individual tickets are $125, and nonprofit community partner tickets are $55; both include lunch. Reserved tables and sponsorships are also available. For more information, visit www.TUW.org/2026-state-our-families.