The Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS) is a unique tool that community action agencies are able to use to educate everyone, from policy makers to local community leaders, about the day to day realities of life with a shortage of money and an abundance of stress. CAPS is a copyrighted tool made available by the Missouri Association for Community Action to organizations that want to promote a greater understanding of poverty.
During a simulation, participants role-play the lives of low-income families, from single parents trying to care for their children to senior citizens trying to maintain their self sufficiency on Social Security. The task of each family is to provide food, shelter and other basic necessities during the simulation while interacting with various community resources staffed by low-income volunteers.
Although it uses "play" money and other props, fictional scenarios, and time limits,
CAPS is not a game. It is a simulation tool that enables participants to view poverty from different angles in an experiential setting, while empowering low-income volunteers by allowing them an opportunity to interact with leaders from their community.
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Each CAPS kit is all-inclusive and reusable. It comes in a large, convenient storage container on wheels and is yours to keep and use as many times as you want. Each kit contains:
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DIRECTOR'S MANUAL: Instructions on how to run a simulation, sample invitation letter and news release, facts about poverty, suggestion about what people can do to impact policy.
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RESOURCE PACKETS: Instructions and accessories for each community resource, including welfare office, pawn shop, school, bank, police station, grocery store. Accessories include calculators, clip boards, money boxes, play money, homework, Social Security cards, name badges, forms.
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FAMILY PACKETS: There are 30 family packets, each with a family scenario and accessories, including play money, appliance cards and transportation passes.
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COMPACT DISC: Contains PDF files of all materials so lost items can be reprinted.
The cost of the Poverty Simulation kit is $1,350 plus shipping and handling.
If you are interested in purchasing a Community Action Poverty Simulation kit(s) you need to click on the forms below, fill them out and submit both with your deposit/payment:
Click Here To Download a
Community
Action Poverty Simulation Brochure
For questions you can contact the MACA office at 573-634-2969 or by e-mail.