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Poverty Simulation To Be Held In Atchison

By Joel Hardy

06/23/2015

(KAIR)--The K-State Research and Extension Atchison County office is sponsoring an event next week that seeks to give participants an idea on what it is like to live below the poverty line.

Extension Specialist Diane Nielson says the simulation will allow participants to live in poverty for a month, divided in to fifteen minute weeks and “will have an opportunity to take on an identity. It might be a senior citizen living on a fixed income, it could be somebody whose maybe temporarily off work, it could be a child living in a home, but we are going to look at that through the eyes of someone who, according to federal poverty guidelines, will have an income that says they live below poverty, which for a family of four is about $24,250 a year.”

Nielson adds that poverty is a problem even in the local community. She says that “as I look at trends over time in 2000, compared to today, the poverty rate has increased in Atchison County. Today, about one in four kids, or about 22 percent of our kids live in what is called poverty.”

The poverty simulation is set to take place June 30th from 9:00am to 2:00pm at the Atchison Middle School. Following the simulation, a K-State Research Extension specialist will facilitate a group discussion, followed by lunch.

To register, or for questions, you can call 913-833-5450, or go to atchison@ksu.edu.

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