Poverty simulation held in Kalispell demonstrates daily struggles
Kalispell residents took on fictional identities and families at the Gateway Community Center Tuesday as part of a poverty simulation organized by Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana.
Organizers held the event to educate people about the challenges of budgeting and navigating work, family life and social services on a limited budget.
The simulation placed the roughly 50 participants into 15 fictional families of differing circumstances and backstories. The scenario was designed to represent a month in the life of the economically disadvantaged people of Flathead County.
Volunteers manned tables around the room that stood in for places such as the bank, homeless shelter, pawn shop, public utility and nonprofit organizations such as Community Action Partnership. With every 15 minutes representing a week in the simulation, participants had to juggle traveling to and from their homes to work and child care centers while paying bills and meeting eligibility requirements for public assistance such as food stamps.
As one participant found out, failing to meet obligations such as picking up children on time from child care could leave them arrested and sitting in a simulated jail cell. A mocked up 85-year-old, meanwhile, ended up on the streets after overstaying the limit at the homeless shelter.
“It visualizes and brings together a lot of the different aspects [of living in poverty],” said Kalispell resident Ron Gerson, who took part in the exercise.
Gerson is a board member of Valley Neighbors, a nonprofit organization that cultivates a welcoming environment for immigrants within the Flathead Valley.
“I see the challenges but I don’t live it,” he said.
“It’s good to see all the red tape and hoops people have to jump through to get some help,” said Sean O’Neill, a Community Action Partnership employee. O’Neill wore a name tag that identified him in the simulation as Melinda Morris, a 37-year-old unemployed woman.
During the simulation, O’Neill, acting as Morris, saw her car stolen, was forced to pawn her microwave and was arrested for being in possession of stolen goods. The Morris family also received a utility rebate through a program administered by the fictional version of Community Action Partnership.
Many of the participants were already volunteers or employees of local nonprofit organizations and were pretty familiar with the challenges faced by disadvantaged residents. To Cassidy Kipp, the organization’s deputy director, the exercise was a valuable way to remind social service providers that their clients are often juggling many commitments to try to stay above water.
“Do I show up to [qualify for utility assistance to] keep my lights on or do I go to work?” Kipp asked, describing the hoops that her clients must often jump through to receive aid.
“Any time we can continue to have conversations about navigating these systems it helps us understand them and helps practitioners,” she said.
Gerson said that the exercise was largely “preaching to the converted.” He would have liked to see local or county elected officials take part.
“They would have learned more than anyone else here,” he said.
Tracy Diaz, Community Action Partnership’s executive director and the simulation’s leader, said the group asked local officials to attend, but that none took the invitation. She said she was disappointed, but unsurprised.
Diaz was pleased with the turnout and will run similar simulations in Polson, Libby and Havre. The group is also in talks about running the program with Leadership Flathead, a group of business leaders organized by the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce.
Although the topic of poverty is a serious one, Diaz thought the light-hearted atmosphere of the Monopoly-like simulation helps people grapple with difficult socio-economic issues.
“We could sit and lecture and give statistics and data but [the simulation] is supposed to be fun and engaging,” she said.
Reporter Adrian Knowler can be reached at 758-4407 or aknowler@dailyinterlake.com.