(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – The city of Highland Park is hosting what it's calling a "poverty simulation" this weekend, but the event has drawn jeers for the location of the event and other reasons.
An announcement for the Saturday morning activity says it will show people what it's like to live in poverty for a month. It will immerse people in situations where they're forced to make difficult choices due to a lack of resources, officials said.
But some have criticized the event as elitist, out of touch and an example of virtue-signaling. Many comments on social media also take issue with the location for the activity: the Highland Park Country Club.
A spokesperson says the city-owned space is one of the few venues big enough to hold it.
One of the organizations behind the event also hosted a poverty simulator in Lake Forest last year.
Highland Park City Manager Ghida Neukrich says in a statement to WBBM Newsradio the experience will “raise awareness of the need for resources to support individuals experiencing economic insecurity, and the wide-ranging consequences of this systemic inequity on families and communities.
“Programs such as this one, which are developed and presented by social services professionals, are intended to bridge that gap."
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