Three participants in the recent Bartholomew County Community Action Poverty Simulation described their first-time experience as an eye-opening one.
Firefighting mode
Kathy Oren said that she knew from her role as executive director of the Community Education Coalition that about one-third of Bartholomew County residents live below self-sufficiency, and that those living in poverty face more barriers to academic success. The simulation allowed her to gain a better understanding of the challenges people face when working and struggling to pay bills, she said.
She portrayed a 15-year-old girl who lived with her mother, father and grandmother. The father was employed, the mother recently unemployed and the grandmother living on her Social Security checks, Oren said.
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The family lacked adequate transportation, which meant the father struggled to get to work and the grandmother couldn’t get to the bank to deposit her Social Security check that was needed to pay the bills, Oren said.
As the 15-year-old girl, Oren said she had an after-school job at a grocery store, but struggled to get there because of transportation issues.
On top of all this, the family’s home was robbed, and the family was unable to pay the mortgage and was served an eviction notice, Oren said.
“It is extremely complicated to try to get by when you are barely making ends meet,” Oren said.
For example, those who are on food assistance have forms to fill out, but they must travel to fill out the forms. Often, people don’t know what forms are needed, and the offices may only be open when someone needs to be working. And if one gets a better job, they may lose government assistance and still not have enough money for food, child care and rent, Oren said.
“If you are struggling to make ends meet, you are always in firefighting mode. You are always dealing with a challenging situation, or trying to prevent the next setback,” Oren said. “It can be emotionally exhausting, and that can take away energy you need to be focused at work or in school.”
‘Extremely challenging’
Shane Yates, Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.’s pre-K director at the Johnson Early Education Center, said he portrayed a 12-year-old girl who had a twin sister, a 3-year-old brother and a 21-year-old brother who lived at home with them. Their 36-year-old father had been in jail for 45 days, for reasons unknown to the family. Their mother had moved out long ago and the children had not heard from her in years.
The situation was dire for the family, Yates said. They had $300 in cash, but $650 in rent due at the end of the month. In addition, they needed $100 per week for groceries and needed more money to pay utilities. On top of that, they had to figure out transportation.
“I had to stop attending school at the age of 12 in order to attempt to find work babysitting others kids. No one in my area was able to pay me to babysit because they were in similar or worse financial situations than mine,” Yates said.
“There were quite a few social services available to me who helped in a variety of ways, but they were always busy due to the high demand for the services they provided,” he said.
The family made ends meet for a couple weeks by pawning its couch and TV, but ran out of money for food and bills toward the end of the month, Yates said.
“The struggles some families face are extremely challenging, and they often need all of the help they can get. The supports in place are not always enough to help meet basic needs,” Yates said.
‘I was shocked’
Megan Shaff, director for adult and alternative education at McDowell Education Center, participated to gain a deeper empathy and understanding of the multi-faceted challenges that individuals face, so she and others at McDowell can better serve them, she said.
Her role in the simulation was to portray a 17-year-old high school junior who was seven months pregnant and part of a five-member family — including two younger brothers, a mother who worked full time and an out-of-work father whose unemployment benefits recently expired.
One of her solutions to help the family affected her education.
“I forgot about going to school because I was trying to help out, and then when I did go to school I was expelled,” Shaff said.
The family struggled to pay utility bills, and didn’t buy groceries two weeks out of the month. Her brothers were left to fend for themselves. The kids rarely saw their mother, who was always working or in lines at the bank or grocery store. Stress in the family grew as the simulation went on, Shaff said.
As the 17-year-old, Shaff said she even tried to move out of the house and file for social-service benefits on her own so the family wouldn’t have to worry about her and the baby.
“I was shocked at the very hard decisions that were facing my parents and I every single week. Having to choose between food, bills, health care seemed so unfair. It was impossible to think about school and the future while dealing with so many pressing issues,” Shaff said.
Shaff said she learned that kindness and compassion go a long way, but that sometimes best efforts also fall short.
“All of our well-meaning systems that are in place to support people in need do not always work together to provide actual support to help people move out of poverty,” Shaff said.
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A look at the poverty situation in Bartholomew County, including those defined as ALICE (asset limited, income constrained, employed). Data for 2016.
Households: 31,626
In poverty: 10 percent
ALICE: 24 percent
Above ALICE threshold: 66 percent
Households by ethnicity
White: 2,771 poverty, 6,564 ALICE, 17,864 above ALICE
Asian: 48 poverty, 176 ALICE, 1,594 above ALICE
Hispanic: 200 poverty, 698 ALICE, 511 above ALICE
Black: 22 poverty, 135 ALICE, 302 above ALICE
2-plus races: 66 poverty, 82 ALICE, 223 above ALICE
Source: United Way of Bartholomew County
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