N. Ga. school officials experience poverty

GAINESVILLE - School officials from 16 rural north Georgia communities got the feel of poverty and what it's like to cope at a “Welcome to the State of Poverty” program held at the Northeast Georgia History Center in Gainesville Wednesday.

The program, conducted by the University of Georgia, was co-sponsored by the Georgia Appalachian Center for Higher Education (GACHE).

GACHE Director Shirley Davis said the simulation was aimed at helping rural students get past poverty challenges and move on to education.

“It’s a real life simulation that we hope they will take back to their schools and train their faculties so that they have a better understanding of the children that we teach,” Davis said.

North Georgia College & State University also sponsored the activity, which placed participants into “families” and challenged them to survive for one month.

During the simulated month, broken down into four 15-minute “weeks,” the families had to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table, keep the utilities on, make loan payments, pay for daily living expenses like transportation, handle unexpected emergencies and keep their children in school — on less than $18,000 a year for a family of four.

The poverty simulation program, led by faculty from the University of Georgia’s Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program, assisted the school officials in shaping program and policy decisions.

GACHE at North Georgia College & State University awarded 16 competitive grants totaling $98,000 to area high schools to support strategies to assist and encourage students to finish high school and pursue a college degree.

The high schools receiving the grants are: Banks County; Chattooga; Commerce; Elbert County; Fannin County; Franklin County; Gilmer; Gordon Central; Gordon Lee; Jackson County; LaFayette; Lumpkin County; Murray County; Ridgeland; Sonoraville; and Woody Gap. (See separate story.)