City plans poverty simulations to raise awareness

from the Rapid City Journal

Alderman proposed idea after National League of Cities meeting
By Scott Aust,

Say you're a single parent, behind on your rent, and your son walks in the door and hands you a stereo system he obviously didn't have the money to buy. Do you ask questions about where he got it, or do you pawn it to keep your family under a roof for another month?

That's the kind of scenario policymakers, community leaders and service providers will get a chance to experience vicariously through poverty simulation workshops designed to raise awareness about the reality of living at or below the poverty line.

"You don't realize how tough it is for some people, just getting food and transportation," Alderman Lloyd LaCroix said after Wednesday's legal and finance committee meeting.

LaCroix and Barb Garcia, community development specialist, participated in a poverty-simulation seminar in San Antonio last September during a National League of Cities meeting.

As a result of that experience, LaCroix proposed to the city council buying a poverty-simulation kit from the Missouri Association for Community Action so that Rapid City can conduct its own educational workshops.

"It's a real eye-opening workshop. I thought I knew what poverty was until I went through it," LaCroix said.

According to information provided by the city, the simulation presents real-life family scenarios such as interacting with social-service workers, managing finances and meeting family demands and unexpected life events.

The kit, which costs about $1,500, comes with 30 real-life family scenarios and accessories such as play money, appliance cards and transportation passes, as well as instructions and accessories for community resources such as a welfare office, pawn shop, school, bank, police station and grocery store.

Garcia said "services" people frequently use are set up around a room, and "family members" play out an entire month of scenarios in 15-minute blocks for about an hour. Afterwards, participants talk about the experience with people in the community who volunteer to share their personal stories.

"What it does is bring to light very quickly the struggles and how difficult our social-service system is to work within for a low-income person. It helps in a very short time to bring those realizations to you," she said.

LaCroix said the simulation in Texas moved some people to tears.

"When it was all done, they said, 'Now you know how we felt (in those situations),'" LaCroix said. "After being through this, it opens your eyes to the many factors that affect poverty. Whether it's mental illness or alcohol problems, there are so many factors that there's not just one fix."

The legal and finance committee agreed to buy the poverty kit, and some council members noted it as an example of something learned during a National League of Cities conference. The council has been criticized in recent months over the frequency of trips to public-policy seminars and conferences.

"I think this is a good way to say how we demonstrated the cash flow and made good use of it when we do travel," Alderwoman Deb Hadcock said.

Alderman Malcom Chapman praised LaCroix's leadership in highlighting the issue and noted the importance of streamlining social-service efforts because of decreasing amounts of federal funds for those services.

"I think the community is going to have to put in an infrastructure whereby we understand how to deal with some of these issues locally. The only way you deal with it locally is to bring more and more services and people to the table that truly understand the issues that are in place," Chapman said.

LaCroix envisions tailoring the kit to Rapid City's poverty and homeless issues and offering several workshops during the year to increase community awareness. He isn't sure when the kit will arrive, but he hopes the city can hold a workshop sometime this summer.

Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415 or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com