Virtual COPE

Virtual COPE is an interactive poverty simulation allowing participants to walk in the shoes of families facing poverty. Each participant simulates a week in poverty by making difficult decisions, completing activities, dealing with unexpected situations and doing their best to get ahead.

Think Tank, Inc. aims to equip organizations to address the root causes of poverty. We developed COPE with low-income individuals that shared their own stories to increase empathy and help participants better understand the day to day realities that low-income families in America face. By doing so, our goal is to shift the culture of helping in America by equipping organizations to respond to poverty in ways that promote human dignity and lasting change.

COPE is a tool that helps a variety of organizations:


* Deepen their understanding of the realities of poverty in America.
* Improve practices and approaches to better engage low-income individuals and their families.
Build partnerships with the broader community to improve outcomes for low-income families.

Virtual COPE provides a live one-hour experience for both organizations and individuals. Users walk away with a better understanding of poverty, meet real people with lived experience in poverty and are inspired to turn their insights into action. The live online experience consists of approximately 40 minutes of simulated game play and twenty minutes of a group debrief, led by a live facilitator on Zoom.

To learn more and to schedule a Virtual COPE event, go to thinktank-inc.org/vcope. You must register or book an event to receive an event code in order to participate.