News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
UCHRA officials advocating for the use of an interactive simulation to increase empathy towards Upper Cumberland residents dealing with poverty.
Trained Facilitator Jackie Reynolds said the simulation is an in-person exercise where dozens of people go through some of the problems faced by those in poverty. Reynolds said it is a very intense experience that has brought people to tears once they realize how difficult life in poverty really is.
“And now when I see people and I see them do some(thing), I’ll go, ‘Do you remember the positivity sim?'” Reynolds said. “And it makes them stop and think, ‘How am I acting? How do I want to be treated?’ You know, we don’t have a clue what has gone on in their life and what they’ve been through.”
Executive Director Mark Farley said they want to expand access to this program to anyone across the region who wants it. Farley said UCHRA employees should work with their local communities to foster support and find the resources needed to conduct the exercise.
“We don’t know exactly how we’re going to pay for every bit of it,” Farley said. “But we want to try and facilitate this.”
Empower Upper Cumberland Director Megan Spurgeon said the simulation is well suited for anyone working with families, such as those in county government and health department offices.
“There were even state employees that came out of that simulation like, ‘I never even realized,'” Spurgeon said. “And we’re talking people who are over programs that work with people in poverty that had never gone through that simulation. It was definitely a mind shift for everybody.”
Reynolds said they started the program in the Upper Cumberland by training all of the teachers, administrators, and supervisors in the Putnam County School System.
“We know that half of our kids in the school system live in poverty because they qualify for free and reduced lunch,” Reynolds said. “So one out of every two that you see live in poverty.”
Reynolds said she works with another facilitator when running these simulations. She said they each charge $1,500 to do the exercise.
“Hers can be an all-day thing or a three-hour thing, even an hour,” Reynolds said. “But really the more bang for your buck is for her to do hers for the three hours and then mine for the three hours. Mine’s only three hours.”
Reynolds said the program was founded in Missouri and has had extensive research done to prove that it increases empathy towards those in poverty.
