Highland Park Hosts 'Poverty Simulator' At City-Owned Country Club

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — City and township officials have partnered with local not-for-profit organizations to host a poverty simulation event to increase awareness of the experience of living below the poverty line in Lake County.

Highland Park and Moraine Township, along with the Highland Park Community Foundation, Family Focus and the Alliance for Human Services, which is made up of several area not-for-profit organizations, are hosting the free "immersive experience."

The program, which simulates a "month" in poverty, aims to get people to better understand the need for resources to support those in poverty to improve health, education and community in the area.

"Participants are 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," according to organizers.

The simulation is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Highland Park County Club, 1201 Park Avenue West. Registration is required for the free event.

Last October, more than 50 people participated in a previous poverty simulation held in Lake Forest and conducted by the Grayslake-based alliance, according to the Lake County News-Sun.

Simulation organizers assign roles to participants, who may find themselves considering their options if they were working their way out of a homeless shelter, being short of money to make it to work or going without food in order to bail out a loved one.