211 Talks - Poverty Simulation

The poverty simulation experience is designed to help participants begin to understand what it might be like to live in a typical low-income family, trying to survive from month to month. The objective is to sensitize participants to the realities faced by low-income people. Participants will assume the roles of different families facing poverty. The “families” will have access to community resources and services that are usually available to people living in poverty, such as a bank, community action agency, utility company, pawn broker, grocery, DFS office, payday and title loan facility, mortgage company, and a child care facility. The entire experience will last up to three hours, including an introduction and briefing, the actual simulation exercise, and a debriefing period in which participant and volunteer staffers share their feelings and experiences about what they have learned about the lives of people in poverty.