Supporting Efforts to Fight Poverty in our Community through Poverty Simulations
The impact of poverty on our community is both devastating and accelerating. Building awareness across our community, activating existing resources, and fostering innovation will be critical to the success of the initiative.
Poverty simulations are a powerful exercise designed to help community leaders, health and human service providers, area businesses, and other community stakeholders deepen their understanding of the day-to-day challenges faced by those living in poverty and how current systems, policies, and practices create barriers.
How does it work?
The poverty simulation is a highly interactive experience designed to help participants begin to understand what a typical low-income family experiences trying to survive from month to month. In the simulation, participants assume the roles of family members in poverty. Volunteers play the roles of service providers and other community resources (e.g., bank, employer, grocery, Department of Social Services, landlord, school, child care, and law enforcement, etc.).
Cultural Competence and Health Literacy (e.g. health and systemic inequities, Social Determinants of Health, structural racism, implicit bias, language barriers, cultural nuances, etc.), as well as critical points related to your organization's area of service, are incorporated into the Poverty Simulation, making the experience resonate with professionals regarding emerging and concerning issues associated with community and health outcomes paired with the relative impact of poverty on the people you serve, all to support your organization's effort to improve service delivery and patient/consumer/client outcomes.
The exercise runs for approximately 3 hours - a 30-minute registration process, 2-hour simulation, and 30-minute debriefing session. Poverty simulations are led by CCSI’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Watch this News 8 WROC news story about how poverty simulations increase empathy among healthcare professionals
Check out a video from a workshop
Interested in hosting or want to learn more? Connect with Kesha Carter.

Kesha Carter, CDE, PHR
Kesha Carter is the Chief Diversity Officer for CCSI. There she leads the organizational strategy on diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), and antiracism. She has facilitated DEI workshops, conversations, and trainings, both locally and nationally. Prior to coming to CCSI, Kesha developed policies and programs to attract, retain, and promote a diverse workforce. In another previous […]
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Poverty Simulation Workshops
Evaluation results suggest that RACF’s goals of helping to create greater awareness of and sensitivity to the challenges faced by individuals living in poverty were achieved. Click here to read more about Assessing the Impact of Poverty Simulation Workshops.
Feedback from Participants
Featured Articles
The University of New Mexico College of Nursing held its first Poverty Simulation Workshop giving their students a glimpse into what their future patients might be going through, thus preparing them to be better nurses. Check out this great video featuring UNM Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs, Carolyn Montoya, PhD, RN, as well as nursing students form the program as they share how the workshop impacted them.
Democrat and Chronicle Executive Editor Mike Kilian participated in a poverty simulation for Rochester's media and communications professionals. He shared his experience, and how it reinforced his commitment to guiding insightful journalism, that points out needs and offers solutions in a perceptive and compassionate manner for the greater good of all. Read his article here.
Karen Fine from Westside News shared her feedback from the poverty simulation. "The experience was overwhelming to me," she said. "I can't imagine if my family had ever lost their home and had to live in a shelter, in a car or on the streets, with nowhere to turn, no support system." Click here to read more about how she and her "family" better understand the day-to-day challenges faced by those living in poverty.
CCSI conducted a poverty simulation in Livingston County hosted by the Livingston County Department of Health, in conjunction with the Genesee Valley Health Partnership. Read the article to learn more about this eye opening experience, including participants' insightful reactions.
Library systems from the Finger Lakes region brought together community leaders to participate in a poverty simulation where participants had the opportunity to “walk in the shoes” of individuals struggling with poverty. The goal of this exercise is to create empathy and understanding, and raise awareness of how biases, policies and practices work to create barriers in the community. Ultimately, they hope that library staff and their partners improve upon the services and resources they provide to their communities. Click here to read more.
Community Action for Wyoming County hosted CCSI’s Poverty Simulation Training in Wyoming County for over 80 staff from 22 community service agencies. Read more about the workshop in Wyoming County and check out pictures from The Daily News – A life of poverty: Wyoming County workshop explores challenges, frustration and desperation. (Please note: If viewing in Chrome or Safari, you’ll need to answer a quick survey question and refresh the page to view the article.)