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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Rochester AmeriCorps Members Participate in Poverty Simulation


Eighteen members of Rochester AmeriCorps participated in an interactive poverty simulation workshop coordinated by Coordinated Care Services (CCSI) under the direction of the Rochester-Monroe Anti- Poverty Initiative. With support from the Rochester Area Community Foundation and Wegmans, CCSI facilitated the event at the Thomas P. Ryan R-Center on the evening of Wednesday February 3. The event brought together one hundred community members and more than 20 volunteers to take part in the shared experience.

Upon arrival registrants were placed into families for the two-hour simulation. Prior to the start of the exercise participants were provided with an introduction to the challenges of poverty and the realities many families in our community are facing. Citing statistics from ACT Rochester’s 2015 report Benchmarking Rochester’s Poverty, organizers explained that Rochester currently has the highest rate of extreme poverty (living at or below 50% of the poverty level) of cities of comparable size, as well as the highest rate of childhood poverty of cities of comparable size (50% of our city’s children live in poverty). These data points set the stage for the simulation as families were given a folder outlining their specific situation and family history. Each participant was asked to embody the persona and circumstances provided and were given a set of goals to accomplish over the next two hours, with four fifteen minute “weeks” and breaks between each “week” to strategize and make arrangements for family necessities. The community volunteers acted as the employees at the service providers which included schools and colleges, the Department of Human Services, grocery stores, health care providers, as well as police and the justice department.

Some attendees were part of large families with multiple children and generations living in the same home, others played the role of single mother with children. School aged children were expected to attend school and some had to help support the family with part time work. Adults had to take on tasks like reporting to work, or applying for jobs, coordinating transportation, dealing with medical emergencies, applying for public assistance, and attending AA meetings. Each family had to pay bills, buy food, and work to keep the family safe and healthy. The challenges faced by each family were immediately apparent as the simulation progressed. Service providers were free to make their own judgement calls on each individual situation. They were free to decide things like who would get a job and who wouldn’t, who had to attend treatment for drugs and alcohol, and who was too sick to work. We saw parents were arrested for neglect if their family had no food, school age children skipping school and selling drugs, and individuals robbed of all their cash when held up at gun point.

The simulation ended with a with participants reflecting on their experience and sharing thoughts about how poverty is impacting our community. People expressed emotions like frustration, anger, exhaustion, sadness, and hopelessness. Many shared their stories of trauma and the failures of the systems they had to interface with. Others spoke to their feeling that no matter how hard they tried to stay ahead of the rigors of modern life they were unable to keep their family together.

Members found the experience very worthwhile and some signed up to play the part of a service provider for upcoming simulations. If you are interested in learning more or would like to attend a simulation please visit this link: https://www.ccsi.org/PovertySimulation.aspx.

Garth Freeman
Rochester AmeriCorps
02/10/2016