United Way Summit Simulates Poverty, Spurs Local Policy Conversation

Sixty community leaders and front line workers met in Greensboro on November 7 for an immersive exercise designed to replicate the experience of living with tight resources. The Beyond Poverty GSO Summit, organized by the United Way of Greensboro and facilitated by Triad Goodwill, grouped participants into simulated families and asked them to seek services and make choices over a four week period, exposing administrative hurdles and trade offs common among low income households.

The simulation arrived against a stark statewide backdrop. According to the North Carolina Department of Commerce more than 1.3 million North Carolinians live in poverty and the state ranks 17th highest nationwide by poverty rate. Organizers said those figures, combined with uncertainty over SNAP benefits, have created pressure on local safety net providers just as more households approach the poverty line.

As a program director at Piedmont Health Services, Monica Summers took part in the simulation and described the practical constraints she faced. She summed up one immediate struggle when she said, “Just trying to find some resources to find housing.” She also reflected on what the exercise revealed for staff who deliver services, saying, “As a program director, it really helps us to understand what our clients have to go through, the different steps they have to take, just so that they can receive the services that they need. So this has been an eye opening experience, and it's very humbling.” Summers also noted the operational consequences for local food aid, saying, “I run an emergency food pantry. I have seen an increase in the number of people that need food and help.”

Summit leaders emphasized that poverty extends beyond households below the federal threshold. The event focused on ALICE households, a term for families who are asset limited, income constrained and employed, but who do not qualify for most public assistance. United for ALICE was started by the United Way of Northern New Jersey to provide data and a programmatic framework for addressing those hidden strains. On day two of the summit United Way of Northern New Jersey CEO Kiran Gaudioso presented interactive, data driven initiatives used to engage business leaders in identifying and addressing challenges faced by ALICE employees.

United Way of Greensboro officials framed the summit as a call to collective action rather than a single organization response. “It’s not just SNAP benefits, but we're in a spiraling situation at this point. We planned this event not expecting any of this, and we just know that we've been working on reducing poverty in our community, and we can't do it by ourselves,” said Traci McLemore, Chief Community Impact Officer.

For Guilford County residents the event signaled likely near term impacts on local services and the labor market. Increased demand for emergency food, housing navigation and case management raises costs for non profit providers and could prompt calls for expanded local or state support. The summit organizers said action items and follow up would be posted on the Beyond Poverty GSO website, and they urged continued coordination between service providers, employers and policymakers to mitigate both immediate hardship and longer term financial instability among working families.