Poverty is a daily reality for many individuals and families but, unless you’ve lived it, it’s difficult to truly grasp the stress, complexity, and emotional toll it takes. Misconceptions about poverty often overshadow real understanding, but there’s a powerful tool changing that narrative: the Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS), from the Missouri Community Action Network.
What is a Poverty Simulation?
The Community Action Poverty Simulation is not a game — it’s an immersive, eye-opening experience designed to sensitize participants to the daily challenges faced by people living near or below the poverty line. It bridges the gap between misconception and understanding, shifting perspectives in a powerful way.
Participants are divided into small “families” and spend a simulated month in poverty. The simulation is broken into four 15-minute “weeks,” during which participants must navigate limited resources, mounting stress, and real-world obstacles — just as millions of Americans do every day. During each “week,” participants interact with role-players representing community institutions and service providers. They must find ways to secure housing and food, access transportation, and care for their children — all while facing time constraints and financial limitations. This role-play format brings to life the overwhelming sense of urgency and frustration that poverty breeds, highlighting the complexity of balancing work, school, and survival with limited support.
What Participants Say
After a simulation, participants often report a shift in mindset, with the most common takeaway being a newfound commitment to show greater empathy and compassion toward people experiencing poverty. Many share that they plan to be more mindful, patient, and supportive in both their personal and professional lives, while others express a desire to advocate, volunteer, or educate others about poverty. A recurring theme is deep concern for children, with participants emphasizing how strongly poverty-related stress impacts the youngest and most vulnerable. As one participant reflected, it was difficult to escape “[t]he feeling of chronic stress and that there seemed to be no time left over to parent my children.” Another noted, “The stress of poverty leads to making wrong or poor decisions.” Several simply described it as an “eye-opening experience.”
Want to Host a Simulation in Your Community?
If you’re interested in bringing this transformative experience to your region or organization, the Illinois Extension is here to help. Extension's trained and experienced simulation facilitators, like Mike Delany, Valerie Belusko, or Richard Proffer, recommend that conversations with Extension concerning a desired event should start about two to three months ahead of the targeted date. A hosting organization should have access to an event space roughly the size of a middle-school gymnasium. There will be about 2-3 hours of set-up time required and the event itself will last about 3.5- 4 hours.
The hosting organization will need to recruit 20-22 volunteers to act as role-playing "employees" in the simulated public agencies. The simulation can accommodate up to 80 participants in the family roles, but must have at least 30 for the simulation to take place. Illinois Extension's facilitators will be happy to provide additional details about the simulation and its planning. For more information and a connection to a trained facilitator in your area, please contact:
- Nancy Ouedraogo: esarey@illinois.edu
- Mike Delany: mdelany2@illinois.edu
Extension's programming staff look forward to hearing from you, to join together to build empathy, foster action, and create more informed, compassionate communities.