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“Equality is when everyone has a shoe, equity is when everyone has a shoe that fits,” said Manisha Mishra, the deputy director of the nonprofit organization Alabama Possible.

Mishra ran the Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS) at Lanett High School on Thursday. Provided by the Missouri Community Action Network, the simulation aims to build empathy and awareness of the systemic issues in the economic opportunities for families across the state. 

“It’s not a game,” Mishra said. “There’s Monopoly money, but this isn’t Monopoly. The scenarios are all real.”

During the simulation, the students role-play the lives of 26 low-income families for four “weeks” which are broken up into 15-minute intervals. Students are assigned real-world family circumstances “from single parents trying to care for their children to senior citizens trying to maintain their self-sufficiency on Social Security,” according to the MCAN website.

The goal of the poverty simulator in Chambers County schools is to show students how poverty affects everyday life and encourage them to pursue continuing education or employment. 

“I’m excited that our students get this opportunity to engage in a real-life, real-world activity. This is great. There’s a lot of excitement in the room,” said Jennifer Boyd, Lanett City Schools superintendent. “I am equally excited, and I believe that this will be a great learning experience for our students.”

The University of Alabama’s Center of Business and Economic Research partnered with Alabama Possible to bring the simulation to the area as part of its project, Chambers County Strong. The nonprofit works statewide to “break down barriers to prosperity through advocacy, education and collaboration,” according to Mishra.

Chambers County Strong is a response to Alabama’s labor force participation rate (LPR), 57.1 percent in 2023. The LPR calculates the percentage of the civilian working-age population who are employed or actively seeking employment. 

Darlene Thompson, a business researcher at the CBER, works closely with the school staff like Lanett High Career Tech Director Hilda Carlisle on programming. 

“The partners are very happy to have us help them, because that’s what we are. We’re just a resource,” Thompson said.

The project aims to address obstacles for individuals entering the workforce in rural areas and introduce state and local resources. Positive outcomes include students enrolling in higher education, enlisting in the army or becoming employed after graduation. 

“Once they have graduated and they move beyond high school, I believe that the skills that they will be exposed to today will help them to be successful and I’m just super excited that our students get this opportunity,” Boyd said.

Other topics addressed by Chambers County Strong are financial literacy, talent development, soft skills, employability skills and etiquette, study skills and career exploration.

An important aspect of the project, Thompson said, has been developing relationships with students to better understand their interests and goals. Thompson said financing college is one of the next topics that she plans to cover with the students of Chambers County. 

Some of the partners that work with Chambers County Strong are Chambers County Development Authority, Circle of Care and other local nonprofit organizations.