Youth Today, September 6, 2016: Could you Survive One Month Living in Poverty? A Simulation for Youth Workers and Educators

“Rice’s school system purchased two simulation kits from the Missouri Association for Community Action, and runs simulations for the district’s schools and some community agencies. Approximately 15 million U.S. kids under age 18 (21 percent) are growing up in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold, according to a 2014 report by the National Center for Children in Poverty. The center estimates families actually need income twice the federal poverty level in order to survive, thus estimating 44 percent of U.S. kids live in low-income families. Families in this simulation typify a majority of low-income homes, based on average family income across the country. ‘Poverty is not a game,’ Rice began.”