Poverty is a reality for many individuals and families. But unless you’ve experienced poverty, it’s hard to understand the toll it takes on peoples’ lives. What would you do if you didn’t have enough money to pay for needed healthcare and food? Would you skip getting asthma medication? Skip several meals?
UCAN staff and our United Communities AmeriCorps (UCA) members, like those at other social service agencies, spend much of their time working with folks who struggle to meet their basic needs. While some of our staff and members have experienced times of financial difficulty, their experiences may not reflect those of the clients they serve. Living below or near the poverty line presents many unique challenges, and understanding the different ways in which our clients face those challenges better equips our agency in supporting them.
To better understand and serve our clients, our UCA staff reached out to Southern Oregon Goodwill (Goodwill). Goodwill is certified to offer poverty simulation trainings using curriculum developed by the Missouri Community Action Network. Each participant receives a role and a budget at the training. For example, you might role-play being a disabled veteran. Facilitators, made up of Goodwill staff and volunteers with experience navigating social service systems, each represent different agencies. As a participant, your job is to decide how to best address your needs given your role and budget.
Of course, your decisions are constrained by your resources and your circumstances. All budgets show a deficit. You might not have a car, and need to rely on a limited number of “bus vouchers” to get anywhere. What if you run out of vouchers? If you are a working parent, you might learn that most agencies are only open when you are working. Do you risk losing your job if your child’s school calls to let you know that your daughter is sick and needs to be picked up?
Many people participated in the simulation in addition to UCAN staff and UCA members, including staff from Worksource Rogue Valley, UCAN, WAFD Bank, and the Oregon Employment Department. Participants found navigating systems to be very challenging. Some folks ran out of transportation vouchers. Some arrived at agencies either too early or too late to get help. Others learned they needed to go to a different agency first before another agency could help. Some lacked items, like a social security card, they needed to apply for services.
Participants learned that one poor decision often snowballs into increasingly difficult situations. They learned that even if they had experienced poverty at some time, their own experience was typically not sufficient in understanding others’ experiences. The training greatly increased empathy for those living in poverty. Participants left with a better understanding of the stressful situations our clients find themselves in and came away with ideas of how to help them better navigate the programs we provide. We really appreciate Goodwill’s presentation, and hope to have them organize a simulation in Douglas County in the future.
