Save the date. 4RHC is planning its next Poverty Simulation for April 2027. Check back here or follow our Facebook page for the exact date, location, and registration details as they’re confirmed.

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About the Poverty Simulation

4RHC’s event is based on the Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS), an interactive exercise developed by Missouri Community Action Network. Participants take on roles as members of low-income families and navigate a simulated month — securing food, transportation, and housing, managing chronic illness, and meeting work and school obligations — to experience firsthand the daily stress families in poverty face. A typical simulation runs 2–4 hours, involves up to 26 families role-playing alongside volunteers staffing community resource stations (bank, school, social services, grocery store, and more), and closes with a guided debrief connecting the experience to opportunities for local action.

Four Rivers Healthy Community previously held the simulation in 2017 and again in 2025. View the history of past Poverty Simulation events