This live simulation puts local poverty in perspective | A First Person Account
Sophie KaplanEvery family, including my own, has its challenges, but it is hard to imagine how much more difficult it would be to manage those challenges without the comfort of financial stability.
Last week, I participated in a poverty simulation with the Community Progress Council at the YWCA in Hanover, and I got just a glimpse of what it feels like to be living in poverty in Hanover.
One in five people in York County can't meet their basic needs without public assistance, according to the United States Census Bureau.
The Community Progress Council organizes simulations so that community members can start to understand the nature of poverty and what actions they can take to alleviate it.
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As a part of the simulation, I was given the identity of Robert Rogers, a 40-year-old, single father of a 9-year-old son, and I was also helping to support my 20-year-old daughter, who had a baby of her own.
As Rogers, I had a full-time job working at the hospital making $1,517 a month after taxes, and my daughter had a part-time job that she tried to go to when she could afford child care and when she also wasn't in college.
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Even with the extra help of $190 in food stamps per month, my expenses for food, rent, utilities, child care and clothing came out to be $1,545 a month. Just the basic necessities were out of my financial reach.
And this doesn't include the cost of transportation, insurance, internet, cell phones, school supplies and forms of entertainment, like books, games, going to the movies or eating out one night.
Throughout the activity, the organizers could throw the families a financial curve ball. At one point, my son needed a new pair of glasses that cost $50, and it could have been much more costly like a car accident or an illness.
We only had the time and money to purchase groceries once during the entire activity, which definitely is not four weeks worth of food, let alone a well-balanced diet.
Money is not the only resource I felt like I was running short on.
The simulation was divided up into four 11-minute weeks. For my full-time job, I spent five minutes of each week at work. With the help of my daughter, we spent the rest of the time trying to find and benefit from supplemental assistance programs or finding extra cash, like selling items from our home.
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At one point, I didn't pay my bills on time, and we were temporarily evicted.
Any free time we had — which was only when the social service agencies were closed otherwise we would have been in line trying to get some more help — we talked about money and how we could get through the next week, rather than asking the children in the family how their day was and how we could help them with their homework.
No matter what I did, it felt like I wasn't doing enough to support my family and get done everything I needed to.
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For a one-person household, the federal poverty level is $12,140 and the threshold increases by $4,320 for every additional family member in the household.
According the United States Census Bureau, in Hanover, 2,512 people, or 16.1 percent of the population, are living in poverty.
However, if a household's income is above the poverty level, it does not mean they are self-sufficient.
In York County, 41,931 people fall below the federal poverty line, and an additional 30,000 people are below the self-sufficiency standard, according to the United States Census Bureau.
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Individuals have little incentive to get out of poverty and become self-sufficient because as their salaries increase a little, they no longer qualify for certain benefits. The extra help they got from food stamps or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), for example, decreases disproportionately to the small increase in salary.
The idea that there are "welfare queens" living successfully on social welfare programs, cheating the system and driving a Cadillac is not realistic, said Robin Rohrbaugh, the president of the Community Progress Council.
The CPC has a client base of almost 10,000 and offers the following programs:
- Head Start of York County and Adams County
- Women, Infants and Children Program (WIC)
- Early Head Start of York County
- Pre-K Counts
- Housing Education and Counseling
- Workforce Development
- Community Centers
- Foster Grandparent Program
- Self-Sufficiency Program
At the minimum, this simulation reminded me that I never fully understand what people are going through and how hard they are working to get by and survive. At the end of the simulation, we were given a list of things we can do to help those living in poverty:
- Educate. It would be hard to end poverty if people don't know about how it affects people.
- Volunteer. Read below for a list of organizations in the area at which to volunteer.
- Talk to elected officials. Let them know that eliminating poverty is important.
- Socialize. Meet with people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and learn about their experiences.
2017 U.S. Census poverty statistics
- In Lebanon County, 15,093 people, or 10.8 percent of the population, are living in poverty.
- In York County, 41,931 people, or 9.4 percent of the population, are living in poverty.
- In Franklin County, 14,960 people, or 9.7 percent of the population, are living in poverty.
- In Adams County, 8,391 people, or 8.2 percent of the population, are living in poverty.
2012 self-sufficiency standard
Depending on where a person lives, there is a certain amount of money a person has to make to be self sufficient.
- In Lebanon, Adams and York counties, the annual self-sufficiency wage is between $35,000 and $39,999.
- In Franklin County, the annual self-sufficiency wage is between $30,000 and $34,999.
Places to volunteer or to get help in Hanover
Sophie Kaplan is a reporter with The Evening Sun. Follow her on Twitter @yofisofi.