BronxWorks is thrilled to return to hosting Poverty Simulations and recently welcomed a team from Health First, New York’s largest not-for-profit health insurance provider. During the simulation, participants take on different identities of individuals experiencing poverty and work within an assigned family unit. Throughout the simulated month, which takes place during a half-day workshop, participants try to maintain their housing, employment, and family responsibilities while navigating life with very limited resources. The goal of the simulation is for those participating to better understand how poverty is systemic and structural, not a personal failure.
A family unit sits together to review their situation and discuss how to manage their responsibilities.
The Poverty Simulation was originally developed in the 1970s by Reform Organization of Welfare (ROWEL) to demonstrate the difficulty of living on a welfare-based budget. In the 2000s, the Missouri Community Action Network (Missouri CAN) updated the simulation to better reflect their clients at the time and they now train professionals to conduct the simulation themselves. BronxWorks Department Director of Training & Professional Development Amy Greenbaum-Strauss and Director of Training & Learning Management Systems Alex Soto have been trained by Missouri CAN, and they lead the poverty simulations at BronxWorks. Our leadership staff and board members previously participated as the families in the simulation, led by members of the BronxWorks Training Department.
Participants interact with service providers stationed at tables around the room.
With Health First staff fulfilling the roles of the families at this simulation, BronxWorks staff and community members joined as service providers the families must interact with to maintain their livelihood. Services available during the simulation include employers, grocers, school, mortgage and realty, utility company, quick cash, social services, community health care, bank, homeless shelter, inter faith services, and childcare, among others.
The Poverty Simulation provides an opportunity for organizations, community groups, and other nonprofits to better understand their clients and their experiences when interacting with service providers. Oftentimes, most participants struggle to make ends meet under the circumstances and become frustrated with the process to obtain services. Many organizations who have participated in the simulation have been inspired to make changes within their client-facing procedures to make their services more accessible to those facing systemic challenges.
Participants come together at the end of the simulation to share their thoughts.
Health First staff were asked to share how they felt during the simulation. Here are some of their responses:
“The frustration, the exhaustion I felt, I was angry. This is the state of what so many disenfranchised folks are going through and they are constantly forced to be challenged and set up for failure.”
“I felt drained. We were affected because they didn’t have the proper information at the bank. We were evicted because they didn’t have the right information. Thinking about that I’m getting emotional because I had this issue as a child. I think we need to think more about how we work with our families. They may not have the tools or the right information and they need some grace. My [simulated] family and I still sat down and we congratulated each other, my sibling got an award at school. We held it together so that even in the midst of all this we were able to celebrate what we accomplished, and I thank you for this experience.”
“My role was as a child in a family and I had to be in school. The whole time I was in school I was thinking about how much more helpful I could be if I was working.”
“I’ve never spent any time thinking about our patients’ relationships with other people in their families, I never thought it was important. But our [simulated] family would have been evicted and starving without two healthy breadwinners in the house. We need to look at the tools we have and how we can work to address the family as a whole to better support the whole family.”
BronxWorks offers Poverty Simulations as a contracted service. If you’re interested in bringing the Poverty Simulation to your organization or your team, please contact us at info@bronxworks.org.
BronxWorks is thrilled to return to hosting Poverty Simulations and recently welcomed a team from Health First, New York’s largest not-for-profit health insurance provider. During the simulation, participants take on different identities of individuals experiencing poverty and work within an assigned family unit. Throughout the simulated month, which takes place during a half-day workshop, participants try to maintain their housing, employment, and family responsibilities while navigating life with very limited resources. The goal of the simulation is for those participating to better understand how poverty is systemic and structural, not a personal failure.
A family unit sits together to review their situation and discuss how to manage their responsibilities.
The Poverty Simulation was originally developed in the 1970s by Reform Organization of Welfare (ROWEL) to demonstrate the difficulty of living on a welfare-based budget. In the 2000s, the Missouri Community Action Network (Missouri CAN) updated the simulation to better reflect their clients at the time and they now train professionals to conduct the simulation themselves. BronxWorks Department Director of Training & Professional Development Amy Greenbaum-Strauss and Director of Training & Learning Management Systems Alex Soto have been trained by Missouri CAN, and they lead the poverty simulations at BronxWorks. Our leadership staff and board members previously participated as the families in the simulation, led by members of the BronxWorks Training Department.
Participants interact with service providers stationed at tables around the room.
With Health First staff fulfilling the roles of the families at this simulation, BronxWorks staff and community members joined as service providers the families must interact with to maintain their livelihood. Services available during the simulation include employers, grocers, school, mortgage and realty, utility company, quick cash, social services, community health care, bank, homeless shelter, inter faith services, and childcare, among others.
The Poverty Simulation provides an opportunity for organizations, community groups, and other nonprofits to better understand their clients and their experiences when interacting with service providers. Oftentimes, most participants struggle to make ends meet under the circumstances and become frustrated with the process to obtain services. Many organizations who have participated in the simulation have been inspired to make changes within their client-facing procedures to make their services more accessible to those facing systemic challenges.
Participants come together at the end of the simulation to share their thoughts.
Health First staff were asked to share how they felt during the simulation. Here are some of their responses:
“The frustration, the exhaustion I felt, I was angry. This is the state of what so many disenfranchised folks are going through and they are constantly forced to be challenged and set up for failure.”
“I felt drained. We were affected because they didn’t have the proper information at the bank. We were evicted because they didn’t have the right information. Thinking about that I’m getting emotional because I had this issue as a child. I think we need to think more about how we work with our families. They may not have the tools or the right information and they need some grace. My [simulated] family and I still sat down and we congratulated each other, my sibling got an award at school. We held it together so that even in the midst of all this we were able to celebrate what we accomplished, and I thank you for this experience.”
“My role was as a child in a family and I had to be in school. The whole time I was in school I was thinking about how much more helpful I could be if I was working.”
“I’ve never spent any time thinking about our patients’ relationships with other people in their families, I never thought it was important. But our [simulated] family would have been evicted and starving without two healthy breadwinners in the house. We need to look at the tools we have and how we can work to address the family as a whole to better support the whole family.”
BronxWorks offers Poverty Simulations as a contracted service. If you’re interested in bringing the Poverty Simulation to your organization or your team, please contact us at info@bronxworks.org.
