At 8 am on the morning of Dec. 1st, approximately 60 education and health professionals and community members gathered together in a conference room to take part in a Community Poverty Simulation, orchestrated by Trident United Way. Thirty minutes later, the room was humming with chatter and motion as the participants, who had been split into family units of every shape and size, tried to follow directions for their first week in the simulated month. They had to get kids to school, get to work, pay bills, buy food, visit the bank and apply for social services. People were scrambling to form long lines, concerned about the number of transportation passes they had (each trip anywhere but school took one pass) and how long each task was taking.
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