When it comes to poverty in California, it boils down to some pretty startling numbers: Last year, six million people in the state were officially living below the poverty line, two million of them children. And more than half of the state’s students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. This data comes from Kidsdata.org, a program of the Lucile Packard Foundation for children’s health.
Recently, Kidsdata co-hosted a community forum with New America Media. It was called “Growing Up Poor in the Bay Area,” and it featured video and photography by young people about what it’s like to grow up poor. KALW’s Sara Bernard attended the forum to hear what they had to say.
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Broadcast History
KALW 91.7FM:
November 15, 2011
Transcript
SARA BERNARD: Everyone knows that statistics can never tell the whole story behind an issue like poverty. When people try to fill in the blanks, usually experts and professionals are the first to speak up. As more voices join in, they may be diverse in many ways, but usually they are all adults. New America Media decided it was time to hear from young people when it comes to poverty in California.
JOSUE ROJAS: My name is Josue Rojas. I do mainly video production. I’m here at the poverty forum in San Francisco because I did a video about a young woman whose family was deported.
WOMAN (from New America Media video): When my dad and my brother got deported, I would see my mom and she wouldn’t know what to do. She was like, “What’s next? How are we going to pay rent?” She was stressed about the things that didn’t matter...
ROJAS: Of the five people in her family, the two male...
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