Creating Poverty Awareness
Learn about a number of strategies that CAAs are using to attract attention to poverty issues and to help educate the public and inform decision-makers.
- Community Action Poverty Simulation
- Community Reading Series on Poverty
- Poverty-Level Living Experience
- Circles™ Campaign
Community Action Poverty Simulation
The Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS) is made available by the Missouri Association of Community Action and used by many Community Action Agencies and other groups to help raise awareness about different aspects of poverty. It moves people to think about the harsh realities of poverty and to talk about how communities can address the problem. More importantly, it moves people to make a difference – CAPS brochure.
Some examples of how CAPS has been used include:
Community & Family Forums organized by the Community Action Association of Pennsylvania – In May, Pennsylvania's Community Action Agencies joined together with community organizations to hold a series of forums that focused attention on how communities can work together to help families across the Keystone State achieve economic success. Watch this video, which offers an overview of the forums structure and includes a brief tutorial on how to organize the poverty simulation experience that is the catalyst to opening the dialogue about how communities can aid low-income families.
Here’s a news article that features a sampling of participants writing about what they got out of a poverty simulation in Wisconsin and how it affected their views:
Participants in poverty simulation find frustration, desperation – About 70 members of our community participated in The Post-Crescent's Poverty Plunge on Nov. 28 at the Appleton Public Library. The event, facilitated by CAP Services, was a simulation of what it's like to be poor and have to try to find a way to meet even the most basic needs for a month.
Media coverage and promotional material for poverty simulation events consistently portray the value of CAPS toward increasing sensitivity about poverty.
- A City Steps Up: Savannah Confronts Poverty (National Public Radio) – Listen to audio
- Step inside poverty: Feel it, see it, live it…understand it. (Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City)
- Poverty Simulations (Oklahoma Department of Commerce)
- View other videos and news articles
Community Reading Series on Poverty
Community invited to “Road Trip into Poverty” summer book club – Hosted by Community Action Partnership of Greater St. Joseph, the three book series will explore true-life accounts of generational poverty, situational poverty, and the plight of the “working poor” across America. See media release and related news article for more information.
The Virtual CAP Book List is a source of additional reading ideas for CAA staff and others. This includes See Poverty, Be the Difference: Discover the Missing Pieces for Working with People in Poverty by Donna Beegle who was a featured speaker at the 2007 National Symposium on Poverty. This book can be used to help people gain a foundation, rooted in lived experience and research, for understanding poverty and addressing its impacts. It is designed to shatter stereotypes with facts about poverty and to provide concrete tools and ideas for creating programs and systems that are responsive to the needs of people living in poverty conditions.
Poverty-Level Living Experience
During the first three weeks of May, as part of National Community Action Month, two Utah Community Action Partnership staff members – Shawn Teigen (and his family) and Jessie Tregeagle – lived at 100% of the federal poverty level. They did this to bring attention to some of the issues that are faced by more than 254,000 Utahns who live at or below the poverty level - Overview of Poverty Experience.
They recorded their experiences on blogs – Jessie’s Blog – Shawn's Blog, while media coverage included:
- Two Families Agree to Live in Poverty (includes video story) – KSTU-TV
- Surprise! You're in Poverty: Part 1 and Part 2 – Salt Lake Magazine
- Poverty experiment is an eye-opener – view reader comments - Deseret News
- Advocates learn to live poor - Deseret News
The Move the Mountain Leadership Center developed the Circles™ Campaign to provide transformational leaders a structure to engage the community in ending poverty. Circles™ works by bringing community volunteers (known as Allies) to partner with families who are pursuing economic well-being to end poverty in their communities. Circles™ wrap volunteer families (Allies) around families who are moving out of poverty, and systematically support people to have enough money, meaning and friends.
Jun 2, 2009 at 5:51 PM I just had the opportunity to attend the Missouri Community Action Poverty Simulation and I found it to be an effective and high-impact way to communicate the issues faced by those in poverty. We plan to use it in our Circles outreach and public awareness campaign.