Training and Resources

Bucks County Opportunity Council offers a training experience designed to educate people and facilitate understanding of the dynamics of living in poverty:

Poverty Simulations  

Sponsored in Partnership with

 

Over 40 million Americans live in poverty every day. 

Nearly 6% of Bucks County residents live in poverty and over 56,000 of these residents are food insecure.  More than half of these individuals make too much money to qualify for programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which are at risk of losing federal funding. Unemployment rates and the use of emergency food pantries are rising, which increases the need for community resources. The Bucks County Opportunity Council helps more than 57,700 low-income people annually.

It is difficult for those of us who have enough to truly understand the situations that families living in poverty experience every day – the decisions they must make, and the fears and frustrations they feel.

The Poverty Simulation provides participants with the opportunity to briefly inhabit the role of a low-income family member living on a limited budget. The experience is divided into four 15-minute sessions, each of which represents one week in which you must provide for your family and maintain your home, making tough decisions about housing, food, work, and transportation.  As one participant commented, “This simulation dramatically demonstrates how much time and energy many families have to give just to survive from day to day. It quickly dispels the myth that ‘people would do fine if they would only go out and get a job’!” This experience is designed to gain empathy, inspire conversations, shift perspectives, and ultimately create positive community change.

 

If you would like to find out more about hosting or attending a poverty simulation, contact Danielle Bush at
dbush@bcoc.org or 215-345-8175 ext. 209.