Poverty Simulation Workshop

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 week to week. It is a simulation, not a game. The object is to sensitize participants to the realities faced by low-income people.

In the simulation, 50 to 75 participants assume the roles of up to 26 different families facing poverty. Some are newly unemployed, some are recently deserted by the “breadwinner”, and others are recipients of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, formerly AFDC), either with or without additional earned income. Others are disabled or are senior citizens receiving Social Security. The task of the “families” is to provide for basic necessities and shelter during the course of four 15-minute “weeks”.

The experience lasts two and a half hours. It includes an introduction and briefing, the actual simulation exercise, and a debriefing period in which participants and volunteer staffers share their reactions and experiences.

Upcoming Poverty Simulation Dates:

  • May 29 from 6:30-9:00pm at Tabernacle Community Church
  • July 15 from 6:30-9:00pm at GRCC’s Applied Tech Center
  • September 24 from 6:30-9:00pm at South Grandville CRC
  • October 3 from 6:30-9:00pm at Thornapple Covenant Church
  • October 5 from 9:00am-11:30am at City Life Church
  • October 22 from 6:30-9:00pm at the Catholic Diocese

Click here to register. For more information about poverty simulations or these dates, please contact Cheryl at cheryl@accessofwestmichigan.org

Access first hosted the Poverty Simulation in September 1996. Since then, several thousand people have participated in the workshop and have found this to be a powerful and often enlightening experience.

 

Who Should Attend?

  • Staff and Volunteers of congregations
  • Food Pantry workers
  • Community leaders
  • Students, teachers, counselors
  • Businesses
  • Social Service staff
  • Anyone who desires a greater understanding of situations faced by low-income people

Why Attend?

  • To be educated on the realities that low-income persons face
  • To combat myths about people living in poverty
  • To increase awareness and empathy

The Simulation Staff:

A team of volunteers runs the simulation. Community staffers who have faced or are facing poverty work side by side with Access and other agency staff of diverse backgrounds to present the most effective simulation possible.

What people say about the simulation experience:

  • “After having personally gone through the exercise, I decided that it was an experience that all my staff needed. It is excellent training for anyone wishing to try to understand what it means to be poor!” –Andrew Zylstra, Former Director, Kent County DHS
  • “No wonder my mom doesn’t always get me what I want” — Members of The Other Way Community Center Youth Group