The Office of Community Engaged Learning and Service is looking for volunteers to help with this year’s Poverty Simulation on Nov. 16 and 17 from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Community partners, students, faculty, and staff are all welcome to volunteer for one or both days.

The simulations will be held Nov. 16 and 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. Sign up to volunteer.

We ask that volunteers come 30 minutes before the simulation starts in order to complete training for the experience. The simulation will conclude by 3 p.m. but you are welcome to stay for the debriefing and reflection from 3 to 4 p.m.

The poverty simulation is meant to help sensitize participants to the struggles people in poverty face on a daily basis. During the simulation, participants role-play the lives of low-income families, from single parents trying to care for their children to senior citizens trying to maintain their self-sufficiency on Social Security. Time is represented by four, 15-minute periods, each representing one week. The task of each family is to provide food, shelter, and other basic necessities during the simulation while interacting with various community resources, such as the bank, pawnshop, childcare center, school, employer, and grocery store. Afterward, participants and staffers conduct a debriefing.

Please see the description page for a list of all the job descriptions in the poverty simulation. You can click on each individual position for a more in-depth look at the job tasks.

—Gabriella Gugliotta