Picture yourself playing a five-card stud poker game but only getting dealt three cards.
The odds of putting together a good hand are slim because so many combinations involve more than just three cards.
That’s what poverty is like, said Sunny Gibson, director of diversity and community outreach.
Gibson spoke about the different definitions of poverty during the Ninth Annual Associated Students of Social Work Conference, “Class and Consciousness: Knowing the Worth of a Person,” in the Saltair Room on March 3.
“It’s important to be aware of the definitions surrounding social class,” she said. “Some people never really think of wealth in anything but money amounts.”
People don’t see the wealth found in support systems, mental health and relationships. These attributes are all part of our personal wealth, she said.
“We have to ask ourselves how much of our personal wealth isn’t money,” Gibson added.
There is an uncanny stability of the definitions of what it means to be poor, said Ed Buendia, associate professor of Education, Culture and Society.
“Discussing poverty helps interconnect views of race, class and urban lifestyles within education,” Buendia said.
There is a general misunderstanding on what it means to be poor, said Helen Thatcher, assistant director of the Utah Department of Workforce Services Operations and Support Division.
“There are chronic homeless people that are chronically homeless for a number of reasons,” Thatcher said. “Then there are situational homeless people and people that go in and out of poverty throughout their life.”
Being rich or being poor is not always our fault, but we can do things to help out the people who are dealt out, Gibson said.
The general public usually thinks of the poor as people who live on the streets and barely have enough to get by, said Christopher Gold, a sophomore in film studies.
“There are a lot of people out there, though, that have some sort of disadvantage,” Gold said. “Being wealthy means you get to look ahead.”