Rich people undergo 'poverty simulation' at Illinois country club

UPDATE: On Thursday, following the publication of this article, the City of Highland Park, Illinois announced it had canceled the event.

On Tuesday, the city of Highland Park, Illinois announced that it had partnered with a number of organizations to host a "poverty simulation event" at a local country club. The free two-and-a-half-hour experience has been billed as an opportunity for more well-to-do residents to briefly feel what it's like to be poor.

The event has been widely criticized, with many suggesting that those who take part are more interested in virtue signaling to their other rich friends than actually doing anything to fix America's increasing inequality.



In a Facebook post, the city announced that it had partnered with the Alliance for Human Services, Family Focus, Moraine Township, and the Highland Park Community Foundation to organize the event, which they hoped would "increase residents' understanding and awareness of what it is like to live in poverty in Lake County."

"The simulation," as they call it, will be held on Saturday, September 9 from 9:00 - 11:30 am at the Highland Park Country Club.

"Participants in this immersive experience will begin to experience what a 'month' in poverty feels like," the city claimed, explaining that those who take part will be "put into situations in which they do not have enough resources and are forced to make difficult choices that can negatively impact them and their families."

On their website, The Poverty Simulation explained that it is "not a game," but rather, an "interactive immersion experience" that "sensitizes community participants to the realities of poverty."

Regardless, the event and its hosts were lambasted across social media.

"Why don't y'all teach the impoverished how to be wealthy," one Facebook user asked. "Seems like a win win rather than this boneheaded lose lose."

"Tone deaf doesn't even start to describe how absolutely embarrassing this is," another added.

"I have a better idea," one Twitter user said. "Give them $5, take away their cell phones, and drop them off in a homeless camp. They can spend a month there. Or let them live in the apartment/home of someone with little income and they have to live on the same amount that the poor person lives on. Make sure there's no food in the fridge when the month starts."