Civic leaders experience poverty in simulation

For a few hours Wednesday morning, Nancy Jernigan lived another life, one no one ever would have chosen.

In that life, Jernigan was a troubled 14-year-old, not a prominent resident and executive director of the Area Wide United Way. In that life, she was abandoned by her father, who left the family with no money and a stack of bills.

In that life, her mother worked all hours and her sister was constantly in trouble with the law. Though Jernigan obviously would never do such a thing in this life, in that life it was even routine for her to steal and sell drugs just to get by.

For Jernigan and 40 other area civic leaders, a so-called "welfare simulation" offered a brief glimpse of what it would be like to grow up in a life of poverty.

The role-playing exercise was aimed to help participants -- mostly those who work with poor people in their jobs at social service, education or health agencies -- to become more sensitized to people who live in low-income families.

"It was awful," Jernigan said. "We had no food. Our mother had to leave to take care of things and left us unsupervised. We were supposed to be kids! We had no clue what the issues really were."

In the simulation, which was held at the Cape Girardeau County Extension Center in Jackson, the participants assumed the roles of 26 different families facing poverty. Some were newly unemployed. Others were seniors living on Social Security. Others were welfare recipients.

The task of the "families" was to provide for basic necessities and shelter. Each family was given a packet, which included a combination of a meager amount of pretend money, food stamps, transportation tickets, characteristics and a list of bills to pay over a month -- four 15-minute "weeks."

Role play

The simulation was conducted in a large room with the "families" seated in groups in the center. Around the perimeter were tables representing community resources and services for the families. These services included a bank, church food pantry, employment office, pawnbroker, grocery, welfare office and a legal aid office.

Volunteers were recruited to staff the resource tables, as well as act as a police officer -- several people were arrested and one baby was taken away -- utility collector, rent collector and an "illegal activities" person, who stole unattended money and property.

"We were frustrated," said Marla Mills, a program participant who works at the United Way. "We didn't know where to go or who to trust."

Sometimes the 19 community resource "staff members" were rude, leaving signs that said they were "out to lunch" or would "be back in an hour."

A welfare office worker told a pretend 85-year-old widow woman who had her electricity turned off that "at least it's June." When she told the welfare worker that she did not have a transportation ticket to get to the bank, she was cheerfully told "it's a nice day for a walk."

Mary Gosche, the human development specialist with University of Missouri Outreach and Extension Office, served as the simulation coordinator.

"We wanted them to know that if they are feeling frustrated when they're dealing with low-income families, think about how they feel," Gosche said. "We want them to be more sensitive when they're dealing with low-income families."

Brigitte Loos, a counselor at West Lane Elementary in Jackson, said she thinks her brief experience as a single mom with two children -- one was Jernigan -- will help her better help students who come from low-income families.

"It gave me an insightful look of what some of my kids are going through," she said. "Part of my job is working with social workers and finding community resources that can help. After this, I can see what they're going through."

smoyers@semissourian.com

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