GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) — United Way of Mesa County debuted its poverty immersion experience to the Grand Junction public on Thursday. The experience offers the opportunity to step into the shoes of a low-income family navigating life with limited resources.

United Way is hosting these poverty immersion experiences as part of its United to Solve Homelessness program.

People from all over the Grand Junction community attended the experience at the Mesa County Workforce Center. When participants arrive, they are given a family. Each family is based on a real situation. Around the business center conference room, there were different providers. You can go and get a loan, you can go to work, and you can go to school.

The experience pushes participants to view poverty in a new way. Zebulon Miracle, United Way of Mesa County’s Executive Director, said he hopes participants create a baseline of empathy for those living in poverty.

If you are interested in attending United Way’s poverty immersion experience for yourself, you can visit their website for more details. Miracle says he hopes to begin offering this experience to the public quarterly, starting in 2024.

For more information about the poverty immersion experience — or United Way of Mesa County’s “United to Solve Homelessness” program, you can follow this link:

https://www.unitedwaymesacounty.org/united-to-solve-homelessness