A poverty simulation will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Friday, April 26, at the Waupaca Recreation Center, 407 School St.
Sponsored by Financial Information and Service Center (FISC) and CAP Services, the event is open to the public at no charge.
Organizers say participants will gain first-hand knowledge of the situations and decisions experienced by low-income households.
The experience involves participants assuming a role in a family.
The scenarios include grandparents raising grandchildren, single parents, unmarried adults living together, two-parent household.
Family units are provided with background information regarding their income and expenses and are asked to achieve goals over the “four-week” simulation.
They must pay bills, feed children, get them to school, go to work or get a job and access community resources.
The choices they make over the time period vary from one simulation to another.
“Poverty simulations provide a great thought-provoking experience about the struggles and challenges met by individuals living in poverty,” said Dana Berger, a certified credit and budget counselor for FISC in Waupaca. “They challenge how we currently may take spending money for granted and force us to think twice about what our current understanding of poverty is.”
Betsy Rozelle, CAP Services’ project development coordinator, will lead the simulation.
“These experiences always have a lasting impact on participants, and often ignite people into action,” Rozelle said.
For more information and to register, contact Dana Berger at 715-942-1599 or [email protected].