Local residents wanting to learn more about how poverty affects Indianapolis families got to experience some of those trials in the Cost of Poverty Experience (COPE) simulation Feb. 18 at Decatur Township School for Excellence.
The simulation, hosted by the Marion County Commission on Youth (MCCOY), was meant to be as close to the real thing as possible. Most participants were part of families, and many had children or were expecting. Circling the room were stations such as a pawn shop, gas station and homeless shelter. Some families had a car, for which they then had to buy gas, while others had to buy a bus pass or walk. While walking was the most practical thing to do in this single room, there were passes that made people wait longer to represent the time it actually takes to walk somewhere. There were also some people and families designated as minorities, and a few people had disabilities such as addiction and PTSD.
Participants had some instruction before starting, but they were also told they shouldn’t expect to always know what to do and where to go, since that is the lived experience of those in poverty. To that end, volunteers at the various stations reported after the simulation they had unused resources such as free food people didn’t know about.
Most participants were fairly lighthearted in the first of four 15-minute “weeks” during the simulation, but they quickly learned they couldn’t take their time going one place to the next, and money decisions got more difficult throughout the simulation. One family, for example, decided to bail family members out of jail rather than pay for food.
Becky Reich, training director at MCCOY, said these trainings are good for anyone trying to better understand how poverty affects people, but it’s especially useful for social service professionals, who made up a bulk of the participants.
“We know that poverty is a barrier to so many of our families,” Reich said. “If we can help those working with those people understand those barriers, they can hopefully do a better job with that.”
Some of the volunteers embraced their roles and played the part tough. Amie Kiefer, a school psychologist for Decatur Township Schools, worked the pawn shop and frequently had participants come to her trying to sell their belongings for cash to pay bills. She told one pleading couple to “take that crap and move out of the way. I’ve got other people coming.” Kiefer said it was difficult to act with that tone, but she had to maintain her profitability as a business since so few people had enough money to buy from her shop.
Another volunteer, Doug Weinberg, who used to work for the Indiana Department of Child Services, went through the simulation as a participant once before and decided it was worth coming back to help others go through it.
“Whether it’s getting bounced around from one agency to another, being placed on hold for 20 minutes, having to wait in line, having people cut in, it can be a really trying experience,” Weinberg said of people experiencing poverty. “Unfortunately, you really have to live it to appreciate it, but I think this experience at least brings it closer to the masses.”
The issue of poverty is especially poignant in Indianapolis. About 20 percent of residents live below the poverty level, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Many social service workers already have some understanding of poverty, but there’s still a lot to learn from these simulations.
“The reality of families being in survival mode, that was the biggest piece for me,” said Chris Mundy, director of training for the volunteer program at Child Advocates, who went through the simulation. “We’ve heard about it, but … we didn’t think a lot about the stuff that we could’ve gotten help with. We didn’t realize it because we were thinking about how we were gonna get through the stuff that’s hitting us right now.”
Braa Elkhidir, teen director for the Boys and Girls Club of Indianapolis, went through the simulation and said she could see where the experience could help her work with teenagers.
“They can be under a lot of stress,” Elkhidir said. “They can be … overwhelmed with what’s happening with their families. Before I make any consequences, I can understand there’s a story behind that, and there’s reasons why they behave the way they behave.”
Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.
Chris Mundy, director of training for the volunteer program at Child Advocates, went through the Cost of Poverty Experience simulation Feb. 19 at Decatur Township School for Excellence and said his biggest takeaway was families being in “survival mode.” (Photo/Tyler Fenwick)
