Their families were already struggling to make ends meet. Then came the coronavirus.
Director Jezza Neumann, who made 2012’s Poor Kids, once again delves into how poverty impacts children. With the 2020 election approaching, FRONTLINE’s Growing Up Poor in America follows three children and their families in the battleground state of Ohio as the COVID-19 pandemic amplifies their struggle to stay afloat. As the country also reckons with issues of race and racism, the children share their worries and hopes about their futures.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic hit, almost 12 million children in America were estimated to be living in poverty — a burden disproportionately affecting Black and Latino kids.
The experience of childhood poverty against the backdrop of a pandemic and a national reckoning with racism. Set in Ohio, the film follows children and their families navigating issues of poverty, homelessness, race and new challenges due to COVID-19.