Until yesterday, James Doyle of Oakland said, he had no concept of how complicated and time consuming it is for the poor to survive.
"It's not just the money. It's also the time that is required just to try to run your life," Doyle said.
Doyle, executive assistant at Pittsburgh Cares, an agency that coordinates volunteer services, was one of about 90 participants in a poverty simulation at the University of Pittsburgh Saturday sponsored by the Pittsburgh Social Venture Partners, a nonprofit group whose members include foundations, social service agencies and companies.
Participants in yesterday's three-hour simulation assumed the roles of fictional impoverished people and were forced to overcome obstacles and devise survival tactics.
Designed to make people understand what living in a low-income family is like, participants were forced to make decisions on whether to cut back on food, whether to keep kids in school and what items to sell at deflated prices at a pawn shop.
"This is a lot worse than I thought," said Emily Lawrence, a Pitt sophomore as she pawned a microwave, her engagement ring and a digital camera for only $120.
Even participants who consider themselves fairly streetwise said they were surprised by the confusion and frustration associated with poverty.
"I'm from a divorced family that went on food stamps," David Harvitz, of Philadelphia, an exercise therapy major at Pitt, said about his own childhood experience. "I never knew it was this bad. School just has nothing to do with the real world."
Still, many people come into simulations thinking they will get by on their smarts, said Andrea Fitting of Mt. Lebanon, owner of the Fitting Group ad agency and a member of the social venture partnership.
"Smart educated people come to these things and think they can beat the system," Fitting said. "When they can't, it piques emotions people never thought they had."
Most participants were affiliated with the Pittsburgh Social Venture Partners and its members. Some participants, like Cindy Bahn, of Edgewood, said the simulation needs a broader range of people.
"We need legislators to be here. Then things might really change."
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