B RID GES IN ITI ATIVE
CIRCLES
CITY OF DUBUQUE HOUSING & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT PRESENTS:
BIG REVIEW:
FINANCIAL RESOURCES
MARCH 23, 2011 BIG VIEW MEETING
E L I M I N A T I N G
P O V E R T Y
C O M M U N I T Y
I N
O U R
A POVERT Y SIMULATION
We have all heard the
expression, “take a walk in
someone else’s shoes,” but
how many of us actually have?
During the March Big View
meeting, over 75 participants
gathered in Prescott’s
gymnasium to “walk in the
shoes” of someone from
poverty. The Community
Action Poverty Simulation, a
copyrighted tool designed to
simulate one month of life
living in poverty, helps people
from all walks of life gain
insight into the chaos and
crisis that affects so many
poor families. Under the
facilitation of Nancy Z. Fett,
Director of Loras College Social
Work Program and a member
of the Circles® Guiding
Coalition, participants
assumed the identities of lowincome individuals and worked
through scenarios designed to
demonstrate the challenges
families in poverty face on a
regular basis. Participants
were charged with the task of
providing food, shelter, and
other basic living needs for
their family – and quickly
discovered providing for all
their needs with limited
resources was next to
impossible. The laughter and
kindness shown during the
beginning of the simulation
quickly deteriorated into
grunts and rudeness as
participants began to
understand how it feels to live
with your basic needs unmet.
Life in poverty is defined by
the tyranny of the moment
and an excessive amount of
stress that is difficult to fully
understand. The Poverty
Simulation exercise serves as
a tool to engage and motivate
community members to
proactively work to eliminate
poverty. Completing the
Poverty Simulation does not
literally mean you have
“walked in the shoes” of
someone from poverty, but it
does allow participants to
view poverty from a different
angle. The new found
perspective inspired
compassion, understanding
and action towards the
Bridges Initiative goal of
eliminating poverty in
Dubuque. Some
participants commented, “I
was frustrated, flustered and
over-whelmed by my
responsibility as a workingpoor mother,” and “I will
make a point to correct
people when I hear them
making inaccurate
assumptions about people in
poverty.” Thank you for
another great Big View!
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO CONTRIBUTED IN MAKING THIS
EVENT POSSIBLE!
·
City of Dubuque
·
Donna Schmitt
·
Prescott Elementary
·
McDonalds
·
Kay Timmons and United
School
·
Iowa State Extension
·
Loras College
Methodist Woman
·
Bishops
We are on the WEB!
www.cityofdubuque.org/Bridges
BRIDGES INITIATIVE/
CIRCLES®
Circles Weekly meetings:
Prescott Elementary School 4:45pm-7:30pm
1st Wednesday (of the month)Poverty Training and Discussion
2nd Wednesday-
For more information:
Carroll Clark/ Co-Advisor
[email protected]
Ermina Soler/Circle Coach
[email protected]
350 West 6th Street, Suite 312
Dubuque, IA 52001
(563) 589-4230
Ally and Circle Leader support training
3rd WednesdayMatched Circles meet while unmatched circles work on
diversity building activities
4th WednesdayBig View Meeting
*All meetings are open to the community. Come and learn
more about this innovative model that addresses poverty*
WHAT IS BIG VIEW AND HOW CAN I CONTRIBUTE?
As part of the Circles® National Campaign we
need to tackle community issues as well as
systemic issues related to poverty.
Personal choices are not the only factor
contributing to a person being stuck in the vicious
cycle of poverty. Big View is meant to bring a
community together to focus on barriers that
make it difficult for people in poverty to move
forward.
Big View Meetings should raise awareness of
these issues and bring forth community leaders
and champions with a vision of action towards
breaking down the barriers keeping people in
poverty.
Effective strategies for addressing the root causes
and situations of poverty can be separated into
three categories: basic assistance, professional
service, and community engagement.
If you are interested in collaborating on ideas you
may want to consider becoming a part of the
Circles® Big View Guiding Coalition Team. Contact
Ermina Soler, Circles Coach for more information.
[email protected]
“ IT WA S A R EA L FA M I LY VA LU E L E S S O N . ”
Pat Sievers, Circles Ally and
member of the Weekly
meeting Guiding Coalition
team, invited her daughter,
Carrie Sievers-Doyle, and
grandchildren to be a part
of the Poverty Simulation.
Carrie watched as her three
children participated in the
simulation. Fourteen year
old Carly said it made her
realize the hardships
people in poverty must
experience. Twelve year
old Wade enthusiastically
adopted the persona of an
eight-year old and did
what he could to help his
family meet their needs.
Pat played a fifteen year
old who got in trouble for
shoplifting, “But when my
dad heard about it he
made some extra efforts
at the different agencies
that week for assistance (I
am sure he was realizing
how bad things were
getting if his child was
starting to steal)! He then
came to me and told me
never to do anything like
that again and everything
would be fine.”
The Sievers family agrees
their shared experience
with the Poverty
Simulation was “a real
family value lesson.”