Trainings and Webinars

Upcoming Webinars

The National Center offers trainings and webinars on a variety of topics, from starting an MLP to legislative advocacy. All are welcome to participate. To register for any webinar, click on the links below.  Please note that all webinars are recorded.

Previous Trainings and Presentations

Past webinars are available to MLP Network members in the Resource Library.  You will need to log in to your account to view the webinars.

Additionally, recent webinars are available to all and can be accessed via the links below.

• MLP 101
• 2011 National Center Transition Question & Answer

Poverty Simulation

What is Poverty Simulation?

Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS) is a tool created by the Missouri Association for Community Action that allows organizations to educate partners, staff and others about the daily realities of life with a shortage of money and a large amount of stress.  The goal is to promote a greater understanding of poverty. During a simulation, 40-80 participants role-play the lives of low-income families and each family must provide food, shelter and other basic necessities for themselves.

Why do MLPs use Poverty Simulations?

MLPs use poverty simulations to train healthcare providers and attorneys.  It has been a particularly useful tool in training residents and pro bono attorneys.  The goal is to:

• Educate medical residents, medical faculty and lawyers about some of the stressors patient-clients face living in poverty;
• Help participants understand the issues their patient-clients face; and,
• Teach participants to consider poverty issues when giving treatment or advice to patient-clients.

At the end of every poverty simulation, participants debrief with staff about what they experienced and learned during the training.  Below are quotes from Boston Medical Center pediatric residents about their experience during the simulation.

Gita Rao, MD, MPH

“The simulation is helpful because it challenges us to feel the emotions of people living in poverty in addition to recognizing the challenges they face.”

Seth Rakoff-Nahoum, MD, MS, PhD

“Every program should be doing something like this.”

Lauren Fiechtner, MD

“Doctors are often frustrated by patients who arrive late to their appointments.  The simulation helped me realize how chaotic the lives of low-income patients can be.  I think now I will be more understanding and sympathetic in the future.”

“The simulation made me realize how important it is to screen my patients for legal issues.  I think I’m more likely to use I-HELP now than ever before.”