The Poverty Solution Podcast Is Live: Essential Leadership to End Poverty

After more than four decades in the fight against poverty—from the streets of Rochester to national strategy rooms—one truth has become painfully clear:

Our systems are failing the very people they were built to serve.

Each year, the United States spends over $1.1 trillion on public assistance. And yet, 37 million Americans still live in poverty. That kind of spending should be transformative. Instead, we’ve built a fragmented system that manages poverty—but rarely helps people escape it. And too often, that management comes at the cost of real progress.

I’m launching this podcast because I believe we can do better.
In fact, I believe we must.

We've Settled for a Lie

Somewhere along the way, a quiet resignation crept in—a sense that poverty is just part of the American landscape. Permanent. Inevitable. Unfixable.

That belief is not only wrong. It’s dangerous.

It tells us to make peace with systems that punish people for earning more, trap families in place, and define success by enrollment stats instead of real outcomes. It allows us to accept a story in which poverty is normal—and change is out of reach.

But that story doesn’t match what I’ve seen on the ground. Not in Tennessee, where a $25 million TANF pilot is helping hundreds of families build long-term economic stability. Not in rural and urban communities where cross-sector partners are aligning around what actually works.

This Podcast Is About Rewriting That Story

In each episode, you’ll hear from the people on the front lines—community leaders, policymakers, and people with lived experience—who are not just imagining something better, but building it.

We’ll dig into what it really takes to move from managing poverty to helping people leave it behind for good:

• A support system where healthcare, education, and employment services are aligned and working together
• Policies that reward progress instead of punishing it
• New ways of measuring success—like mobility, not just enrollment
• And maybe most important: a shift in mindset, from scarcity and survival to dignity and possibility

This isn’t just a moral issue.

It’s economic, social, and deeply structural.

Our country can no longer afford to leave millions of people behind. Businesses need workers. Families need dignity. Taxpayers need systems that deliver.

We don’t need another tweak or task force. We need transformation.

Join the Conversation

If you care about ending poverty, rethinking systems, or restoring upward mobility in America, I hope you’ll tune in.

Because we’re not just asking if change is possible.
We’re asking how soon.

🎧 Listen Now: 

Apple Podcast

Spotify

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