NAPERVILLE, Ill.–Leaders of chapters of the Illinois CU League expressed emotions from “frustrated” to “powerless” to “belittled” to “lucky” after participating in an eye-opening poverty simulation.
The “Life Simulation” was recently introduced as part of the Illinois Credit Union League’s (ICUL) Chapter Leaders Conference. Hosted jointly with the Greater Decatur Chapter of Credit Unions, this annual event brought together more than 80 volunteer leaders from around the state. This was the first time in which the simulation was facilitated for a group of statewide credit union chapter leaders.
Offered in conjunction with the National Credit Union Foundation (the Foundation), the simulation is designed to help credit union employees, volunteers and leadership begin to understand the constant pressures and challenges faced by struggling, low-income families. During the three hour activity, these “families” struggled to make ends meet in a simulated month of four, fifteen minute weeks. Tables representing various community resources, such as social service agencies, a bank, payday lender, childcare provider, school, police as well as juvenile detention facilities, a grocery store, utilities, pawn shop, and a check cashing outlet, were manned by either chapter leaders or ICUL staff. Each participant was provided a script for the role they were to play and how to interact with these resources to try and accomplish their daily business, according to the Illinois league.
Some families were newly unemployed, some were homeless, and others were senior citizens living on disability payments or raising grandchildren. The wide range of reactions articulated throughout the simulation were illustrative of the many issues this segment of the population may face, including substance or alcohol abuse, lack of transportation, eviction, shut off utilities, and behavioral issues in children.
'Threw Themselves Into It'
“The Illinois participants really threw themselves into the simulation much more than we’ve seen before,” said Mark Lynch, Senior Program Manager for the Foundation. “The takeaway is to not only help credit unions develop more empathy, but to also really get them thinking about what products or services they could be offering to these struggling families, such as small dollar loans, non-prime auto loans, or secured credit cards.”
“First and foremost, we just need to be there for our members and think about what type of referrals to agencies in our community we can make available. Some people are literally living minute-to-minute and in constant crisis trying to make ends meet, while at the same time, trying to hold down a minimum wage job,” said Wednesday Medlen, Education Liaison and IYIC Representative for the John L. Kelly Chapter of Credit Unions.
Community Plus FCU in Rantoul, IL. where Medlen serves as Business Development/Membership Officer, is a Certified Development Financial Institution (CDFI) with a low-income designation (LICU) and already offers programs such as non-prime auto loans, Second Chance Checking, free financial counseling and credit building programs. She also acknowledges timing is everything. “There are different levels of when someone is in financial crisis. Our challenge is to know when it’s appropriate to start speaking with these individuals about services we can provide to help them get back on track,” she said.