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Tidewater Leaders Learn about Poverty

A series of poverty simulations in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and Chesapeake has taught hundreds of Tidewater residents what it means to live below the poverty line and inspired some of them to make a difference in their local communities.

“Our poverty simulations allow volunteers in the faith-based community, college students in fields relating to social justice, college and university faculty members, public health and social service officials, and others to learn about the barriers associated with poverty,” says Karen Munden, family and consumer sciences Extension agent in Virginia Beach. “The simulations are not targeted to those who are currently living in poverty, but those who work with or want to work with people who are.”

According to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 36.5 million people living in the United States, or 12.3 percent of the population, are in poverty. This includes more than 600,000 Virginians, or about 9.1 percent of the state’s population. These households must deal with a variety of issues represented in the program by a simulated school, childcare provider, grocery store, bank, and “quick cash” or payday loan company.

“With each simulation, you may be in a family where the father is recently unemployed and the mother’s low income has to support the husband and children, or where two singles are in a household, or where the household has an elderly individual on Medicaid,” Munden says. “Some have a college education, and others are high school dropouts.”

Most are able to complete the simulated four weeks of poverty with just enough food and resources for their household by the end of the “month,” which is only a few hours in actual time. But others are overcome by the challenges of the simulation and give up by the end, an outcome that Munden uses as an opportunity to talk about the mental, physical, and monetary barriers of poverty.

After the program, some participants have organized services at their local churches to feed low-income families throughout the year, not just during the holidays. Others have written to the legislature about health care for Virginians below the poverty line. “Overall, this program has made the community more aware of the everyday challenges that poverty causes,” Munden says.