The Ladder

... Became a month in the shoes of the poor. After a bipartisan press conference, the coalition that launched Step Up CA on Wednesday also provided lawmakers and their staff with a personal understanding of poverty.

Republican Assembly members Connie Conway and Anthony Adams joined Democratic Assembly members Jerry Hill and Jim Beall to give opening remarks- with Adams and Beall sharing their own personal experiences of living in poverty. And then participants jumped with both feet into the lives of the less fortunate. 

The hour was split into four fifteen-minute “weeks.” Attendees were assigned an identity, a family, and a particular set of resources and burdens. The rules were merely to eat, pay the bills or face the consequences, show up for work on time. Transportation passes were required upon arriving at each destination. 

And through the strivings of a group of families, a temporary community was created. For a short time, the players in California’s most important policy and budget decisions were faced with the same challenges as those in poverty. And the employers they bargained with, the check cashers, the shelter boss, the Social Services clerk? All were Californians and community volunteers who have been in the system in their own lives, finally seeing the other side of the table.

The Asset Building Program’s Olivia Calderon, who participated alongside staff and Assemblyman Beall in the simulation, sat down with staff after the simulation. Their remarks point to the lasting, if intangible, power of this awareness-raising exercise.

Michelle Doty Cabrera, a consultant for the Assembly Committee on Human Services, says it highlighted "what the smallest things can do to aggravate an already difficult situation, so it was really helpful." 

And the practical effect of the simulation goes beyond empathy. Cabrera pointed to the activity’s role in bringing together staff across the policy spectrum, and thus helping all staff in “figuring out the ways that different policy areas intersect with poverty…like the Banking and Finance Committee, we all had interactions with the payday loan folks-- you know, sort of broadening the net and not making poverty just a Human Services issue.”

Consultant to Assembly Committee on Human Services Frances Chacon agreed, saying, "For some of the legislators, when they make those decisions to make cuts...they'll actually be able to put faces to them--it will feel more real. And it might change the type of vote, or it might change the amount that they cut, or the decision to shift funds from some other program."

In a state with perpetual budget woes, each and every staff member and legislator should at least understand the impact of any cuts to social programs. As Assemblywoman Conway said, "If there's anything I've tried to do, my entire life, is to make sure I'm always open to learning."