The Arkansas Workforce Center in Conway was invited by the Community Action Program for Central Arkansas (CAPCA) to participate in the Reality Enrichment and Life Lessons (REALL) Youth Poverty Simulation in March of 2018.
The goal of the simulation was to connect youth perceptions of education and money to the real world. With this in mind, twenty-five youth were given an opportunity to participate and to experience life of someone else’s choices, which taught participants the importance of making positive life choices.
The simulation lasted approximately three hours. It included an introduction and briefing, the actual simulation exercise, and a debriefing period at the end of the simulation, in which participants shared their experiences and talked about what they had learned.
In the end, participants obtained more knowledge about the financial pressures faced by low-income families in meeting basic needs and they were challenged to think about how choices made in adolescence may have consequences in adulthood.
For more information on how to bring the REALL simulation to your area contact Melissa Allen at melissa.allen@capcainc.org or 501-269-9351.
