The Walk a Month Poverty Simulation is a unique training opportunity for anyone wishing to develop clearer insight into the hardships faced by low-income clients.

Over the course of a few hours, we simulate a full month in the life of a typical low-income community; each week takes 15 to 20 minutes. Participants are divided into families; each family is placed in a specific set of circumstances based on real clients' experiences; and then you live the life of that family: working, obtaining benefits, buying food, taking your children to school, and staying in housing. We'll have volunteers on hand to portray merchants, employers, police officers, landlords, teachers, agency representatives, and others. When it's done, we'll discuss your experiences and how they reflect obstacles faced and decisions made by our clients.

This interactive, immersive experience is appropriate for any lawyer interested in pro bono or public-interest work, board members of public-interest organizations, and law students. Whether you work at a law firm, nonprofit organization, government agency, or in-house legal department—or hope to do so after law school—you'll learn and grow from this unique simulation.

We are cosponsoring the Poverty Simulation with American University, Washington College of Law; Catholic University, Columbus School of Law; George Washington University Law School; Georgetown University Law Center; Howard University School of Law; and the University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law.

Thanks to American University for hosting us. The campus is two blocks from the AU/Tenleytown metro station on the red line; onsite, paid garage parking is available as well.