Two free sessions precede Early Childhood Conference

The first, a poverty simulation designed to bring awareness of the struggles many families face, will be Friday, Feb. 19, 2-5 p.m. Later that night at 7 p.m., children’s author and illustrator Preston McDaniels of Aurora will deliver a presentation. Both events are in the Student Center.

The simulation will be conducted by educators from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension, Carla Mahar and Jamie Goffena. 

During the simulation participants will assume roles of families facing poverty. Some families are newly unemployed, some are recently deserted by the “breadwinner,” some are homeless and others are recipients of temporary assistance. Still others are senior citizens with limited income or grandparents raising their grandchildren. During the afternoon simulation, the task of the simulated families will be to provide for basic necessities and shelter during the course of four 15-minute “weeks.”

The simulated families will interact with volunteer staffers playing the role of human service agencies, grocers, pawnbrokers, bill collectors, job interviewers, police officers, teachers and others to experience what it is like to live in the “state of poverty.”

The current poverty threshold for a family of four in the United States is $22,050. Nebraska’s poverty rate, based on a three-year average from 2004 to 2006, ranks 12th in the nation. The extension educators note that Dawes County, with a 15.8 percent poverty rate, is one of two counties in Nebraska that rank the highest. With the unemployment rate being 4.5 percent this means a number of families are part of the “working poor” struggling to make ends meet.

Simulation organizers say understanding this reality can help sensitize those who frequently deal with low-income families and help create a broader awareness of poverty among policymakers, community leaders and others.   McDaniels is one of many presenters invited for the conference, which is Saturday, Feb. 20.

Illustrations by McDaniels have appeared in Newbery Award winning author Cynthia Rylant’s Lighthouse Family series and the critically acclaimed collection, “From the Highly Scientific Notebooks of Phineas L. MacGuire” by Francis O’Roark Dowell. McDaniels’ first self penned work, “A Perfect Snowman” also has earned critics’ praise.

More information about the conference may be obtained at its Web site, www.csc.edu/conferencing/upcoming.csc, or by contacting its organizer Kim Madsen at 308-432-6372 or kmadsen@csc.edu. More information about the poverty simulation may be obtained by contacting Yvonne Moody, CSC associate professor of family and consumer science, at 308-432-6368 or ymoody@csc.edu.