MOLINE, ILLINOIS (September 16, 2021) — The Moline Foundation, Moline Public Library, Child Abuse Council/AOK Network, River Bend Foodbank, and University of Illinois Extension are joining forces to offer a virtual simulation about living in poverty called $1,000 to Spend on October 19, 2021, 1:30-3PM. A follow-up workshop on SocioEconomic Differences will be on October 26, 2021, 1:30-3PM. Attendance at simulation is not required for workshop or vice versa.
COVID-19 has pushed more people towards poverty, although when describing themselves, most say they are middle class. Unfortunately, numbers tell a different story. The River Bend Food Bank shows an increase need of 50,000 people in the QCA since COVID-19 began.
The simulation illustrates the difficulties of trying to pay for everything each month when enough money isn’t coming in but is going out. You have the chance to make the difficult decisions that face people in poverty every day. In the past, this collaboration offered an in-person experience through University of Illinois Extension Program.
The workshop covers values, hidden rules and speech. People who live in poverty make decisions based on their culture — what they value and what rules they live by. Learn to better understand their reality versus yours. If you didn’t grow up in poverty, you don’t understand it. No matter how well-intended you might be, the values and hidden rules that people in poverty live can be baffling to the other groups.
If you work with clients that come from a different background or just want to understand the choices others make, the workshop will help you.
Registration is free for both workshops but is limited. To sign up:
· $1,000 to Spend Simulation: https://go.illinois.edu/PovertySimulationOct19
· SocioEconomics Differences workshop: https://go.illinois.edu/SocioEconomicsWorkshop
About The Moline Foundation
The Moline Foundation, founded in 1953, is a community foundation which provides grants to health, human services, education, community development, the arts, and other charitable organizations which benefit the citizens of Moline and the surrounding area. The Moline Foundation receives and administers charitable gifts for all citizens in a seven-county region including Rock Island, Henry, Mercer, Warren, Henderson, and McDonough Counties in Illinois, and Scott County in Iowa.
