Washington Gas supports DC Infrastructure Academy
To foster a better understanding of poverty on a firsthand level, Entergy Corporation and Catholic Charities USA partnered recently to host a poverty simulation in the Capitol Visitors Center to educate members of Congress and congressional staff.
During the simulation, which was developed by actual clients, participants take on the role and personality of real people living in and on the edge of poverty. Participants must figure out how to provide food, shelter and other basic necessities while interacting with various community resources over the course of a simulated month.
“Unfortunately, the issue of poverty is very real for people in the region we serve. An estimated 25 percent of Entergy customers live at or below the poverty level,” Patty Riddlebarger, director of corporate social responsibility for Entergy Corporation, told American Gas. “Many low-income households often face the tough choice of paying for food, medicine, rent or the energy bill. The goal of the poverty simulation is to build awareness and renewed understanding about the plight of the poor in our country in order to sustain programs like LIHEAP [the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program] and other important safety nets.”
Members of Congress are a key audience because of members’ abilities to affect policy change, she said.
Entergy employees volunteer during the simulation, and two trained facilitators lead the debriefing with participants following the exercise. Catholic Charities USA volunteers share information about services they offer with member agencies that provide immediate aid and cultivate skills to help move people out of poverty.
“The simulation may dispel previous narratives about people living in poverty and provide a new understanding of some of the common challenges to those living in impoverished communities,” Lucas Swanepoel, vice president, social policy, Catholic Charities USA, told American Gas.
Entergy sponsors or participates in a half-dozen or more simulations annually, primarily in its service areas of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The utility also hosted a simulation this summer at the annual conference of the National Energy and Utility Affordability Coalition in Phoenix.
Entergy first partnered with Catholic Charities four years ago on their first simulation for Congress. The two organizations share the same mission of eliminating poverty in America, Riddlebarger said.
Entergy and Catholic Charities hope participants act on what they learn at the simulation.
“All participants are asked to make a change in their community to help address the plight of the poor and improve some aspect of their quest to survive,” Riddlebarger said.