Eighty-one participants from Grundy, Caldwell, Daviess and Livingston counties experienced the realities of poverty in a unique simulation conducted June 22 and June 29 by the Green Hills Community Action Agency and the Upward Bound program at North Central Missouri College.
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Eighty-one participants from Grundy, Caldwell, Daviess and Livingston counties experienced the realities of poverty in a unique simulation conducted June 22 and June 29 by the Green Hills Community Action Agency and the Upward Bound program at North Central Missouri College.
The exercise was designed to help people better understand the realities of poverty. Participants included Upward Bound students and staff, NCMC staff, local educators, small business owners and members of the community at large.
?This program helps people understand the complexities and frustrations of persons facing economic barriers on a day-to-day basis,? said Scott Long, executive director at the Community Action Agency. ?With a greater awareness of its impact, we can more effectively address the poverty issues in our communities.?
Using a simulation kit, participants role-played the lives of low-income families. Some were Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients, some were disabled, and others were senior citizens on Social Security. They had the stressful task of providing for basic necessities and shelter on a limited budget during the course of four 15-minute ?weeks.? They interacted with human service agencies, grocers, pawnbrokers, bill collectors, job interviewers, police officers and others.
More than 637,000 Missourians are living at or below federal poverty level (11.7 percent of population), according to the 2000 census. In the nine Green Hills counties served by GHCAA, 11,198 individuals (14.4 percent of the area population) are at or below poverty guidelines and struggling to meet their basic needs. In the Green Hills region, a single parent raising two children needs to earn $11.49 per hour in order to live and work without public assistance.
?This is the everyday reality of thousands of Missourians. Understanding the reality will help us change it,? Long said.
Poverty simulations enable participants to look at poverty from a variety of angles and then to recognize and discuss the potential for change within their local communities, Long said. The simulation was designed to sensitize those who frequently deal with low-income families as well as to create a broader awareness of poverty among policymakers, community leaders, and community members.