Poverty Simulation prepares community for financial difficulty

“The Poverty Simulation is not a game,” the University of Wisconsin-River Falls’ website states. “It's based on real people and their lives.” UWRF staff and students, and members of the River Falls community, assembled in the University Center on March 27 to learn about the realities of poverty and participate in a live simulation to experience these realities, and challenges, for themselves.

After a presentation on poverty in Pierce and St. Croix counties, the participants were divided into one of several families. Then, they were assigned different roles within these families to act out during the simulation, ranging from adults with full-time jobs to teenagers and small children.

Various stations had been set up in the University Center’s Riverview Ballroom for participants to interact with: a residence for each family, the General Employer, the Food-A-Rama Super Center, the U-Trust-Us National Bank, the Childcare Center, the Public School, Mortgage and Realty, the Utility Company, and several others, including a homeless shelter and a jail.

The simulation was an hour long, and represented a month in poverty, with each 15 minute period representing a week. Each family was given a list of instructions and requirements. To “survive” the simulation, they were told to: “Keep your home secure, buy the required amount of feed each week, keep your utilities on, make your loan payments, pay for clothing and miscellaneous items, respond appropriately to unexpected factors in your life, [and] keep your school-age children in school.”

To accomplish this, participants had to travel to the different stations: the General Employer to work either full-time or part-time, the National Bank to receive wages, the Childcare Center to drop off children, the Food-A-Rama Super Center to buy food and essentials, and so on, all within a limited time.

Those with full-time jobs had to spend a certain amount of each 15 minute period at the General Employer to represent the hours they worked that week, while those who were children or teenagers had to spend a certain amount of time at the Childcare Center or the Public School.

In addition, they had to use transportation passes to travel, which represented either bus fare or the gas and maintenance costs of a motor vehicle.

“There is a larger population of people out there who are struggling financially than we know,” said Kathleen Hunzer, director of the UW-River Falls Honors Program, and the Chancellor’s Scholar and Falcon Scholars programs. “We want to open the community’s eyes to that and get them thinking about poverty in their communities.”

According to the event’s presentation, 1,268 Pierce County households, or 8%, are below the Federal Poverty Line, and 4,599 Pierce County households, or 29%, fall into the ALICE demographic.

ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, and, according to the website, is “the population of people who work hard, earn above the federal poverty level, but not enough to afford a basic household budget.” In other words, they are the working poor.

“They’re good people,” said Steve McCarthy, executive director of United Way St. Croix Valley. “[They’re] working hard; they’re not people who are just lollygagging…. I’ve been ALICE before, early in my career.” United Way St. Croix Valley is a non-profit organization that, according to its website, seeks to support healthy lives, quality education, and financial stability for those in the St. Croix Valley.

According to the presentation, an average of 23% of Wisconsin households are categorized as ALICE, which means that Pierce County is 6% higher than the state average.

The presentation went on to say that one reason for these numbers is that, for many ALICE households, the cost of basics outpaces wages.

According to data from 2021, the total annual cost of basics­ for a single adult (rent, utilities, childcare, food, transportation, health, technology, tax payments, and miscellaneous expenses) was $31,980. This would require an hourly wage of $15.99. For a family of two adults, one infant, and one preschooler, these same basics (with tax credits of $1,222), would cost $76,044 a year, or an hourly wage of $38.02. In Wisconsin, the minimum wage is $7.25, and has remained so since 2009.

“These [numbers] are about as bad as it’s ever been,” McCarthy said. “We’ve never had this many ALICEs before. Nobody should accept that this is just the way things are. It’s not normal; it’s not acceptable.” McCarthy said that the costs, and especially the housing costs, that were listed in the presentation have increased substantially since 2021.

“ALICE families are not able to save up for unexpected things that happen to them,” he added. “They are not able to save up for retirement, not able to save for higher education. They’re barely able to make ends meet.”

At the end of the simulation, the participants discussed their experiences. Several families had been unable to meet their food requirements, several had been unable to pay for their utilities, several had been evicted from their residences, and several had been unable to take care of their children.

Several participants had been sent to the jail or the homeless shelter, and one three-year-old was in child protective services for much of the simulation. One participant stole from several residences in the first week, and took money and transportation passes, as well as appliances.

When Hunzer asked what emotions the participants experienced, the responses were similar: panic, stress, desperation, failure, insecurity, and frustration. Many participants mentioned the limited time they had each week, and how they had to choose between working and taking care of their children. Many of the teenagers had to take on additional responsibilities, and fill the roles of adults.

One of the volunteers, who operated the Utility Company, said that many of the participants chose not to pay their phone bill so that they could pay for their other utilities. 

The participants also discussed policies that could be passed to help ALICE households, including policies to support affordable housing and transportation. One participant, Joyce Hall, a member of the Hudson City Council, said that the council had recently passed a shared-ride taxi service. Hall described how this and other policies, including those for affordable housing, have been met with opposition.

“Individually, we can only do so much,” one student said. “But when people work together to encourage change to happen… that's how big changes happen, and what lots of younger people really right now are looking for is big change…. I think that things can get better.”

The Community Action Poverty Simulation was hosted by UWRF and co-sponsored by the UWRF Student Government Association, the UWRF Honors Program, the UWRF Sustainability Office, and several community partners, including Our Neighbor’s Place, United Way St. Croix Valley, and the Pierce County Hunger Prevention Program.