ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - Leaders from across Southwest Georgia (SWGA) are taking part in a hands-on experience to grow a deeper understanding of the poverty issues plaguing our communities.

United Way of Southwest Georgia and Strive2Thrive have partnered to host Cost of Poverty Experience (C.O.P.E.), a poverty simulation designed to expose Southwest Georgia’s community and civic leaders to the day-to-day realities of living in poverty.

Community members and leaders gathered at the Event Center at Northwest Library on Thursday to participate in this simulation.

C.O.P.E. participants role-played families facing real-world challenges like eviction, food insecurity, and access to healthcare. Some families only had one working adult in the house; others were unemployed all together. What made them the same was that the household incomes were all under the poverty line. On top of that, circumstances changed every 10 minutes.

Cindy Jordan, who works for Albany area healthcare, says she got visibly emotional through the experience.

“When doors start closing, eviction notices come through, life got real in this room,” Jordan said. “I’ve never been through anything like that before.”

The executive director for Strive-2-Thrive says leaders and residents must understand what all these families go through so they can really solve the poverty problem in Dougherty County.

“It’s important that they have a framework for the people they actually serve,” Swain said.

According to the United States Census Bureau, 13.6% of Georgians are in poverty. That is above the national average of 12.5%.

United Way of Southwest Georgia serves thirteen counties, including Baker, Calhoun, Crisp, Dooly, Dougherty, Early, Lee, Mitchell, Randolph, Sumter, Terrell, Wilcox, and Worth.

Of those 13 counties, nine have a poverty rate of 24% or higher. That means there is a total of 57,893 Southwest Georgians below the federal poverty level.

According to HealthCare.gov, the federal poverty level (FPL) is a measure of income updated yearly by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that’s used to determine eligibility for certain programs and benefits, like Marketplace savings, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage.

Here is the percentage of Southwest Georgia counties’ percentage and total population in poverty as of 2023:

• Baker- 26.2%; Total of 717 people
• Calhoun- 35.5%; Total of 1,338 people
• Crisp- 26%; Total of 4,981 people
• Dooly- 22.5%; Total of 2,068 people
• Dougherty- 26.4%; Total of 21,140 people
• Early- 25.5%; Total of 2,642 people
• Lee- 9%; Total of 2,975 people
• Mitchell- 23.8%; Total of 4,698 people
• Randolph- 26.7%; Total of 1,581 people
• Sumter- 26.3%; Total of 7,187 people
• Terrell- 28.1%; Total of 2,361 people
• Wilcox- 28.4%; Total of 1,903 people
• Worth- 21.4%; Total of 4,302 people

The goal of the simulation was to foster empathy, drive conversation, and inspire action in the leaders who serve these communities.

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