Circle Leaders and Allies meet during the weekly gathering of Circles Johnson County in 2022 at Grace United Methodist Church. The Circles program is part of Bridges Alliance of Johnson County, which is co-sponsoring a poverty simulation for the public on Jan. 10.
DAILY JOURNAL FILE PHOTO
Throughout Johnson County, poverty impacts thousands of people.
According to the Census Bureau, 7.6% of the population lived below the poverty line in 2022 — more than 12,500 people. More than 9,600 people received food stamps to help them eat, and more than 11,000 students qualified for free and reduced lunches in county schools.
In 2021, 17,484 households were earning more than the federal poverty level, but less than the basic cost of living in the Johnson County.
Yet as much of the community struggles to live day-to-day, very few people outside those in poverty understand how difficult it can be.
“It’s really important that people have an understanding of what the real cost of poverty is. A lot of time, the assumption is that if people worked harder or were playing by the rules or somehow navigating the systems more efficiently, they could get ahead,” said Jill Pierce, Circle Coach for Circles Johnson County, an anti-poverty organization. “In reality, there are a lot of roadblocks and barriers for people who are just trying to get by, let alone get ahead.”
To increase empathy and help the public be better prepared to address the issue, local leaders are hosting a poverty simulation on Jan. 10. The event is sponsored by Bridges Alliance of Johnson County, Franklin College, Circles Indianapolis and BRiCKs Alliance, Inc., a nonprofit organization sponsoring the Circles Indianapolis program.
“While it can’t ultimately simulate somebody’s life exactly, what it does is create the experience or feeling, the frustration, the powerlessness, hopelessness that people can face when they’re under-resourced,” said Marie Wiese, director of Circles Indianapolis and facilitator for the simulation.
Participants will be asked to live in poverty for a simulated month as part of a role-playing experience. They will have to navigate issues related to their jobs, child care, housing situations and more in the hope of maintaining basic living conditions for four simulated weeks.
“The idea is to try to deepen people’s understanding of what families who are experiencing poverty (go through), and help them understand what it’s like to navigate our society without enough to get by,” Pierce said.
Bridges Alliance of Johnson County is a collaboration between businesses, social service agencies, churches and individuals working together to end poverty in the community. The program provides the tools, resources, support and relationships necessary to be successful, helping people establish independence and stability in their lives.
The organization uses parts of two different nationally recognized anti-poverty programs. Bridges Out of Poverty focuses on understanding the hidden rules of society that can keep people from succeeding. At the same time, Bridges Alliance has also worked with a group called Circles USA, whose Surviving to Thriving program brings participants together each week to learn about how to budget, apply and interview for a job, and set goals.
As part of their work, Bridges Alliance has hosted a handful of poverty simulations since forming six years ago, working with Wiese multiple times on the events.
“The goal is to show people what it’s like to live without enough,” Wiese said.
The simulation unfolds like a live-action role-playing scenario, Pierce said. Participants who sign up arrive and are assigned a role as a family who is living in poverty. Maybe they’re a single person struggling to support themselves, or a family with two parents and children who are having a hard time making ends meet.
People will then go through a month in the life of that family.
“Their job is to be that person. If they’re the mom or the dad, at a certain time, they go to work. They try to go about their day. Their kids go to school. Then the job of the people running the simulation is to throw barriers in the way to prohibit their forward momentum,” Wiese said.
Tables set up around the room called “Realville USA,” with a school, employers, medical clinics, social service agencies and more.
At different times, organizers of the simulation will initiate different scenarios, such as calling the participants out of work because their child is expelled from school, or there is a medical issue to take of which prevents them from work.
When people need to make decisions to overcome those barriers, it can make it more relatable to what people in poverty do.
“It’s really easy to sit and say, ‘I’d never make a choice like that.’ If we have many choices to choose from, you might not have to make a choice that is less desirable,” Pierce said. “But when all of your choices are kind of crummy, it becomes a lot more understandable as to why you’d do something that seems like a bad decision.”
The entire experience lasts about three hours, with 90 minutes of that devoted to the actual poverty simulation while the rest of the time includes talking about the experience and how they felt, if they did something they thought they wouldn’t do in real life.
”It really is to help people who have not experienced poverty themselves to grow understanding, and usually that leads to increased awareness and empathy,” Pierce said.
By taking part in the simulation, and gaining some perspective on the way systems in the community make it difficult to escape poverty, people will be better equipped to address the issue at its heart.
“How can we make it easier for families to live the American dream? That’s what we all want, for everybody to have that opportunity. And if they’re not having that opportunity, what can we do to give that to them,” Pierce said.
AT A GLANCE
Poverty Simulation
What: A live-action simulation asking participants to role-play the lives of low-income families, taking on the identity of someone living in a low-income situation. The simulation is appropriate for those 12 and older.
When: 5-8 p.m. Jan. 10
Where: Branigin Room, Napolitan Student Center, Franklin College campus. The student center is off of Forsythe Street, with parking off of Grizzly Drive.
Who: Cosponsored by Bridges Alliance of Johnson County, Franklin College, Circles Indianapolis and BRiCKs Alliance, Inc
How to register: bridgesalliancejc.org/events-%26-training
