Poverty simulation recalls King's vision

from The Ithaca Journal

ITHACA — In the year before his 1968 death, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote that “the time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.”

While King did not have the time to pursue that vision, those celebrating his birthday Monday hope to remind others of his goal and help them understand the challenges faced by those living in poverty today. Organizers of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration at the Greater Ithaca Activities Center, focusing on creating a “Day On, not a Day Off,” decided the way to do this was by including a poverty simulation as one of their many activities.

“Dr. King strongly believed that it is an individual's responsibility to be involved in their communities,” said Marcia Fort, director of GIAC. “When communities have pockets of people living in poverty, it impacts the entire community. This event encourages people to be thinking, what can and should we be doing to make this a better community for all our community members?”

The poverty simulation is a project of Tompkins Community Action, a local non-profit organization that works to improve the lives of low-income people in the area. First performed as training for the group's staff, some participants quickly realized the simulation's relevance for Monday's celebration.

“Poverty seems like something over the years we haven't really talked about,” said Audrey Cooper, an event organizer and director of the Multicultural Resource Center. “We're able to bring that facet into this celebration. This is a part of Dr. King's work. Poverty affects all colors of people.”

During the simulation, participants will be divided into family units and given a folder with a profile of their family members and finances. They will then go through a month trying to manage work, child care, transportation and food needs while working within the confines of their finances.

“You see people begin to connect with how much money does matter and start to realize that people actually do end up homeless because they can't pay the rent or they're underinsured or the foodstamps don't come through. It gives people a glimpse of what that's like,” Cooper said.

“There is a misconception that people in our community have enough to eat and are having three healthy meals a day. That's not true,” said Marcia Fort, director of GIAC.

During the simulation, other activities will be available, including storytelling by Perry Ground, who specializes in tales of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois, people and projects run by The Johnson Museum of Art and the Paleontologial Research Institute. The Green Guerillas group will share footage they've collected related to the issue of honoring King in the city, and there will be performances by the Cavalry Baptist Church choir and the Ithaca Children's choir.

At noon will be a free community lunch in the Beverly J. Martin Elementary School gym, 302 W. Buffalo St., during which United Way of Tompkins County Director James Brown will give a keynote speech. The day begins at 9:30 a.m. at GIAC, 318 N. Albany St.