Poverty Simulation Workshops

Come and live a month in poverty...

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 realties of living in conditions of poverty. Participants enter the workshop with a new identify and family profile. Participants experience one month of poverty compressed into the real time of the simulation (generally three hours total). Afterwards 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.

What others have said about the simulations:

"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

"The simulation helped me truly understand what it might be like to live in poverty"
- Caitlin Shorb, Hacket High School Senior

"After this eye-opening experience, I have found certain ways I can become actively involved in helping people in poverty."
- Andres Mendez, Hacket High School Senior

“ 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

“Going through the actions of the simulations taught me a lot more than getting bombarded with facts or information. I now have a greater understanding of everything that has to get done in order to survive in poverty…”
- 2009 participant

Research Proves that Poverty Simulations are Affective:

• 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.
• When polled after a simulation, 74% of participants report that they were more likely to work with community resources to assist people living in poverty

See More of the Research Results