More than a decade ago, in the Emmy-nominated documentary "Poor Kids,' the acclaimed PBS series FRONTLINE explored poverty in America as it’s rarely seen: through the eyes of children.
This fall, FRONTLINE’s 90-minute season premiere tells the stories of the now-grown children at the heart of "Poor Kids" — chronicling their lives from childhood to the present day, and offering a powerful, personal and longitudinal look at the realities of growing up in poverty in the U.S.
Filmed across 14 years, “Born Poor” premieres Tuesday, October 7, on PBS stations.
The documentary is from an award-winning team led by director and producer Jezza Neumann and producer Lauren Mucciolo, who first began filming with Kaylie, Johnny and Brittany in 2011.
Back then, these three kids from three families were living in the Quad Cities, a crossroads along the border of Iowa and Illinois on the Mississippi river that had been hit hard by the recession.
“I’m just starving. We don’t get that three meals a day, like breakfast, lunch and dinner,” said 10-year-old Kaylie, who worried about missing so much school as a result of her family’s transient existence: “If I keep missing school then I see my future poor, on the streets, in a box,” she said from the motel room where she and her family were temporarily living.
It’s a worry that was all too familiar to 13-year-old Johnny, who had been living with his family at a homeless shelter since the recession hit his father’s business: “Grades is my only way out of here,” Johnny said.
Nine-year-old Brittany, whose father was laid off and whose family feared losing their home, also worried about what was to come: “Life is gonna be hard because there is hardly gonna be any jobs left in the future.”
In “Born Poor,” the filmmakers follow Kaylie, Johnny and Brittany across three chapters of their lives as they grow from kids to teenagers to adults, trying to pursue their dreams while dealing with an economy where they face more obstacles than opportunities — and trying to overcome the grinding poverty that shaped their childhoods.
Despite difficulty, loss and setbacks, Kaylie, Brittany and Johnny — now navigating parenthood themselves — refuse to give up on their pursuit of economic stability and an American dream that’s felt perpetually out of reach.
“Do I ever get tired of the struggle? Absolutely,” Johnny says. “But I feel like if you get another day to breathe and wake up and make something happen, you got to get off your butt and make it happen.”
Amid headlines about economic uncertainty, inflation and the faltering U.S. job market, "Born Poor" delivers an unforgettable perspective on the lasting impact of financial distress.
“Born Poor” will be available to watch at pbs.org/frontline and in the PBS App starting October 7, 2025, at 7/6c. It will premiere on PBS stations and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel that night at 10/9c and will also be available on the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel.
Guest: Jezza Neumann
Jezza Neumann is the director of the documentary, "Book Poor."
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This interview will be recorded live Tuesday, October 7, 2025, at noon.
