On Friday, January 27, Community Relations Specialist April Faulkner (Department of Equity and Engagement) volunteered with the School of Social Work to participate in a poverty simulation for their students. The goal of the simulation was to promote poverty awareness, increase understanding, and inspire local change by sensitizing participants to the realities of poverty.
Volunteers served as “community vendors” in the roleplay where students learned how one might experience poverty in real life. Students were given individual backgrounds and had to navigate the barriers that might exist for a family in different degrees of poverty. During the debrief, students voiced that the simulation seemed very real when they were faced with bills they were unable to pay or housing they were unable to find. The consensus was that students did not feel that they knew what resources were available to them or how to access them.
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- School of Social Work students participate in simulation.
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- Simulation supplies for the “Community Action” vendor.