“Below the Line: The Changing Face of American Poverty”, the provocative series featured on the Tavis Smiley Radio Show, has profiled a vast range of people living at or below the poverty line in the United States. The series has critically examined what it looks like to be poor in America today, by telling stories as varied as the young, African American, single mother of two children who lost her job at Enron only to find herself making less than $10,000 a year as a nursing assistant; a young married couple, graduate student and carpenter, trying their best to sustain a family of five on the land by growing a community garden; and the Ethiopian immigrant working full time at a meat packing plant, and part time as a child care provider in rural Minnesota.

Angela Glover Blackwell frames each installment from a public policy perspective, while respective experts offer insight and strategic solutions for the foreclosure crisis, living wage, inadequate health care, homelessness, transitional housing, and ex-offender re-entry, along with other issues faced by a growing number of Americans.

Now you can catch the entire series right here on EquityBlog:

Episode One
The series begins with Terreal Grant of Baltimore who is coming out of poverty and drug addiction with help from the Thompson Mobility Program [PDF].

[17 minutes | MP3]

Episode Two
The second installment features Cici Youngblood, a college graduate who describes her path to poverty as “riches to rags” and Jeff Page, a former DJ who went from fame to a downward spiral into homelessness after cancer. Both profiles illustrate how poverty is compounded by health and how successful programs (e.g. Rainbow Apartments) in Los Angeles’s Skid Row community work to meet these challenges.

[17 minutes | MP3]

Episode Three
Reporter James Mills shares the story of Abeba Adella of Minnesota. Originally from Ethiopia, Abeba left an abusive husband, raises two children alone, and works two jobs to barely avoid poverty.

[17 minutes | MP3]

Episode Four
From Augusta, Georgia, reporter Charles Edwards speaks with two residents who struggle with less than the federal minimum wage. Richard Sparrow suffered a back injury and was shunned by employers as an insurance liability. Unemployed since 1996, Richard lives on less than 700 dollars a month, over half of which goes to medicine. Sunny Johnson, a former Enron employee, describes the sacrifices she makes with her wages from her day and night jobs.

[17 minutes | MP3]

Episode Five
New Orleans producer Eve Abrams brings us the story of Vanessa Nevilles, who is struggling to find a job with health insurance, and Keith Carter who was shunned from employment after an arrest and a lengthy legal battle.

[17 minutes | MP3]

Episode Six
Executive Producer Cheryl Flowers visits Mississippi to find two stories of poverty in small rural communities. Mississippi is home to one of the highest concentrations of poverty in America.

[17 minutes | MP3]

Wrap Up
Dr. Cynthia Duncan, Founding Director of the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire and Alan Jenkins, Executive Director of the Opportunity Agenda, joins Tavis Smiley and Angela Glover Blackwell for the series wrap up and analysis.

[53 minutes | MP3]

Audio courtesy of The Tavis Smiley Show from PRI. Check your local listings for more from Tavis Smiley.

Trouble the Water fills the cover of the New York Times Arts section this morning. Manohla Dargis calls it “One of the best American documentaries in recent memory,” and one of the strongest films in this year’s edition of New Directors/New Films, by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art.

Read all of Voice, Eyes and Camera of Katrina Survivors.

Or listen to New York Times audiocast available below:

A crowd of more than 1,000 packed the Grand Ballroom at the Regional Equity ‘o8 Summit Thursday to see clips of “Trouble the Water,” a powerful new documentary about post-Katrina life in New Orleans.

Executive producer Danny Glover joined with the film’s directors, Carl Deal and Tia Lessin, and the film’s subjects, Kimberly and Scott Roberts for a passionate and inspiring discussion about the film and the issues of equity and equality is raises.

The documentary follows Kim and Scott for more than a year as they face the storm (via gripping hand-held camera work as they were still trapped in their home by floodwaters) and try to recover and start a family. Critics are already raving about the film, including awarding it the Grand Jury prize for best documentary at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

As Glover pointed out, though, the Roberts’ story is not just an tale isolated to post-storm New Orleans. It reflects the inequity and injustice we see all over the country.

“In Detroit, Chicago, New York, communities have been left behind,” Glover said. “This is an epidemic.”

Lessin said she hopes the film can serve as a catalyst for equitable change across the country, as activists, advocates, policymakers and people from the faith community come together to watch the real life struggles of Kim and Scott and strategize ways to create more and better opportunities for all people.

To find out more about the film, please visit the film’s homepage, www.TroubleTheWaterFilm.com.

Producers are eying a late summer or early fall theatrical release.

For more information about what PolicyLink is doing to help Louisiana recover more equitably and how you can help, please check out www.PolicyLink.org/Communities/Louisiana.