College and Lawrence County Community Action Partnership to Sponsor Poverty Simulation Feb. 22
Posted on Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Westminster College's Drinko Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and the Lawrence County Community Action Partnership will sponsor the fourth annual poverty simulation Monday, Feb. 22, in the Witherspoon Rooms of the McKelvey Campus Center.
The first session will be from noon-2 p.m. and the second session is scheduled for 2:30-4:30 p.m. Participants should plan to stay for the full length of the event. Both sessions are identical and students may attend either one. Students should contact the Drinko Center to indicate their preferred session.
The experience is designed to help participants understand what it might be like to live in a typical low-income family and to help create greater awareness of the impact of poverty, especially in the local area.
Participants will view poverty from different perspectives in an experiential setting as they role-play the lives of low-income families, from single parents trying to care for their children to senior citizens trying to maintain their independence on Social Security. The task of each family is to provide food, shelter, and other basic necessities while interacting with various community resources.
"We will also be receiving donations at each session for our Hands for Haiti initiative to aid in the earthquake relief effort," said Jeff Ledebur, the Drinko Center's Americorps*Volunteer in Service to America (VISTA). "Our hope is that each participant will gain new insight and awareness into the lives of those affected each day by poverty."
The Drinko Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning was created to enrich undergraduate education at Westminster through advancing world-class teaching as well as by participating in collaborations that address community and regional needs including strengthening K-12 education. Visit www.westminster.edu/drinko for more information about the Drinko Center.
Lawrence County Community Action Partnership reaches out to low-income people in Lawrence County to address their multiple needs through a comprehensive approach, develops partnerships with other community organizations, involves low-income clients in the agency's operations, and administers a full range of coordinated programs designed to have a measurable impact on poverty.
Contact Ledebur at (724) 946-6194 or e-mail ledebujt@westminster.edu for more information.
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