By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current
The new Frontline Documentary, “Born Poor,” will premiere Tuesday, Oct. 7, on PBS and includes partial filming at the Geneseo-Atkinson Food Pantry.
Karen Doy, president of the Food Panty’s Board of Directors, was interviewed during the filming at the local food pantry, when one of the subjects of the film was shopping there.
“Born Poor” is a Frontline Documentary concerning poverty in America. More than a decade ago, “Poor Kids” the PBS series Frontline explored poverty in America as it is seen through the eyes of children. On Oct. 7, the “Born Poor” documentary tells the stories of the now-grown children at the heart of “Poor Kids.”
Karen Doy is president of the Geneseo-Atkinson Food Pantry Board of Directors.
Karen Doy said she was “intrigued” when she first learned that Jezza Neumann was filming a sequel to “Poor Kids,” which was filmed some time ago.
“My experience at the Geneseo-Atkinson Food Pantry and on mission trips made me realize not everyone is born fortunate enough to have thee meals a day, a roof overhead, and adequate clothing.”
Doy said she liked watching “Poor Kids,” because it showed life from the child’s perspective…”I was looking forward to ‘Born Poor’ to see if their perspective had changed.”
“As fortune would have it, I just so happened to be volunteering at the Pantry on the Friday afternoon when the Pantry is usually closed,” Doy explained. “I was excited to be asked to participate, but even more excited to meet one of the stars of the documentary.”
And that is when Doy was introduced to Brittany and her son, and Doy said, “We first shopped on the food side of the pantry. I assisted as I do with other clients: touring through the shelves as one would at a grocery store while helping Brittany select her allowed number of items. I bagged them up while she selected free seeds for her garden.”
“Brittany and her son then went into the clothing room where they looked for clothes and toys,” she added. “I helped her son select a toy while she looked for shorts that would fit him. Unfortunately, she did not find shorts for him, but she did find enough items to fill her bag.”
Doy said she looking forward to seeing “how all three ‘Poor Kids’ are now living their lives as adults. I enjoyed the short time I had to get to know and interact with Brittany and her son.”
“BORN POOR” PRESS RELEASE
Born Poor
October 7, 2025
7/6c: pbs.org/frontline, PBS App
10/9c: PBS stations (check local listings), YouTube
& the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel
www.facebook.com/frontline
Instagram: @frontlinepbs | YouTube: youtube.com/frontline
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, at 10/9c on PBS stations (check local listings) and YouTube, and at 7/6c at PBS.org/frontline and in the PBS App.
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.
“Changing the cycle that you were born into is very hard,” Kaylie observes.
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 is a must-watch documentary that gives an unforgettable perspective on the lasting impact of financial distress.
“Once you get in the hole,” says Brittany, “it’s extremely hard to find your way out.”
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 (check local listings) and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel that night at 10/9c and will also be available on the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel. Subscribe to FRONTLINE’s newsletter to get updates on events, podcast episodes and more related to Born Poor.
Credits
Born Poor is a FRONTLINE production with True Vision Productions. The director is Jezza Neumann. The producers are Jezza Neumann and Lauren Mucciolo. The senior producer is Frank Koughan. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.