About THE Event
You are invited to join the Acton Institute on Tuesday, October 6, 2026 in Chicago at the Chicago History Museum for an advance screening of POVERTY TRAP, a new film about how big plans to end poverty broke the promise of America and what communities are doing to renew it.
Please join us at 6:00 p.m. for a pre-screening cocktail hour with heavy hors d'oeuvres and a red carpet photographer.
Tickets are $10.
OCTOBER 6th EVENT PROGRAM
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6:00 p.m. | Reception with heavy hors d'oeuvres
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7:00 p.m. | Screening of POVERTY TRAP
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8:45 p.m. | Q&A with filmmakers
EVENT LOCATION
1601 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60614
United States
PARKING
Public parking is conveniently located one block north of the Museum near Clark and LaSalle streets at 1730 N. Stockton Drive for $10 with validation. Find more details on the Chicago History Museum website.
EVENT ATTIRE
The event dress code is business casual.
FILM SYNOPSIS
From the creators of the award-winning documentary Poverty, Inc. comes a new film about social and material poverty in the United States. POVERTY TRAP examines how big plans to end poverty broke the promise of America—and what communities are doing to renew it.
From the legacy of urban renewal and the War on Poverty to today's sprawling network of social programs, many attempts to fight poverty have kept people stuck. As Lee Moore of Jackson, Mississippi puts it: "It's hard to make it out."
Drawing on more than 130 interviews across 16 states, the film traces a sweeping story of policy failure and lost communities, but also redemption—finding purpose after prison, dignity reclaimed from addiction and homelessness, and revival around “a little garden” in South Dallas.
POVERTY TRAP exposes the tragedy of treating human struggle as a technical problem to be managed and solved by experts. It points toward something different: the untapped capacity of people to transform their own lives and communities.
ABOUT THE ACTON INSTITUTE
Acton Institute is one of the world’s leading think tanks on the relationship between religious principles, morality, and free economic institutions. The institute’s mission is to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.
Located in Grand Rapids, Mich., USA, the Acton Institute conducts research, publishes, and offers educational programs for religious leaders, students, business leaders and policymakers around the world. For more information, visit acton.org.
To learn more about the Acton Institute, visit acton.org.
