Poverty Trap

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 by experts. It features the American stories of people binding together to find another way, through friendship, community, courage, and grace.