Live a month in poverty...in a few hours. 

One of our most powerful educational tools is the Poverty Simulation Workshop. The Poverty Simulation Workshop is a role-playing experience that offers the opportunity to learn more about the realities of living in conditions of poverty. Participants enter the workshop with an assigned identity and family profile. Participants experience one month of poverty compressed into the real time of the simulation (generally three hours total). Afterward in the debriefing, they share insights of extraordinary vividness and intensity.

As a result, ordinary people from all walks of life can share a very special kind of awakening. The Poverty Simulation Workshop can open people’s eyes to the human cost of poverty. The power of this unique learning resource is that it creates, like no other method, an insight into the state of chronic crisis that consumes so many working poor families.

Check out our calendar for upcoming poverty simulations. Listen to a May 5, 2011 Michigan Radio story.Read the related article.

Hosting a poverty simulation is an excellent way to increase empathy in the members of your community towards the issue of poverty. Participants report that they gain a better understanding of the obstacles faced by low-income families while at the same time learning what role they can play in reducing poverty. Download our research results.

2011 Workshop Facilitation Fees (50-101 participants):

• $800 within Kalamazoo County
  
• $1,000 outside Kalamazoo County

These fees cover some of the costs associated with Simulations, which are also supported by Foundations, PRI Membership Dues and Donors.

Email us at povertysimulation@haltpoverty.org if you would be interested in hosting a Poverty Simulation workshop at your organization or in your community.

Research Proves that Poverty Simulations are Effective

When polled after a simulation:

• 93% of participants report they were more likely to view people living in poverty with an open mind to better understand their needs.
• 74% of participants report that they were more likely to work with community resources to assist people living in poverty.

See more research results.

Interested in volunteering?
Email povertysimulations
@haltpoverty.org.

"I personally gained a heightened awareness of the difficulties of life for those living in poverty, a larger desire to help those in poverty, and also a realization that sometimes people in poverty are not in their situtation due to their own fault, but sometimes evens happen that cannot be helped"
- Sara Brown, Hacket High School Senior

"After this eye-opening experience, I have found certain ways I can become actively involved in helping people in poverty."

“I felt the workshop was proactive, eye-opening, and beneficial...I highly recommend the workshop to other local organizations who understand the value of elevating community awareness and understanding.”
- Ann Rohrbaugh, director KPL, 2008 Workshop host