Poverty Simulation Seeks to Promote Understanding

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be impoverished? Well, Workforce Solutions for the Concho Valley and Region 15 Education Service Center are pairing up to provide insight into the lives of those who struggle with a Poverty Simulation on Dec. 12.

The workshop, which runs in two sessions from 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., will feature four 15-minute segments of role play intended to simulate four weeks of life, and will have participants experience a number of day to day situations. Lectures from Region 15 trainers will also be given.

“Individuals that are participating will be put in groups as families,” explains Teri Sosa, Contract Manager for the Workforce Development Board. Each of these individuals will then take on a role and execute tasks as that person, taking into account certain social, physical and mental constraints.

Some scenarios may include visiting a banker or an insurance office, and a person may be given the role of someone who has a mental handicap or other influencing factors that make daily life more difficult than those who do not live under those circumstances.

The simulation will utilize actual people from the community, i.e, a real banker would be playing the role he does on a daily basis. Businesspeople and social workers may take on these roles. This, Sosa says, enables the organizers to simulate for both populations—those that serve the public from a social standpoint and those that are more business oriented.

“Sometimes I think we see people as non-compliant,” Sosa says, speaking of those in roles who have regular appointments with a challenged community. [It will all them to see] what does this person walk through today, instead of ‘Well, my deadline was to enter that data was five minutes ago.”

Sosa hopes the workshop will help people better understand these challenges and change some of the attitudes toward those who may be labeled non-compliant.

“What we’re hoping is that for the people that are participants, that they get a flavor of ‘wow, this is real life,’” Sosa said. “This may remind us how intense people’s lives are.”

Region 15 and Workforce solutions are hoping to reach 80 participants in each session, and have about 60 total so far. Participation is $10 and open to the public, and interested parties may sign up online at cvworkforce.org.

The simulation will take place at the Education Service Center Region 15, 612 S Irene.