AIRING THIS WEEK ON PBS: The Poverty Tour Documentary

This past summer members of the Media Mobilizing Project traveled the country alongside PBS broadcaster Tavis Smiley and Princeton professor Dr.Cornel West on a Poverty Tour of the US.

Starting tomorrow, October 10th and running through Friday, October 14th PBS’ Tavis Smiley will broadcast the fruits of this outing in a 5 part documentary called “Understanding Our Struggles and Changing Our Conditions:  A Poverty Tour Documentary”

Watch the full episode. See more Tavis Smiley.

The five-part documentary reveals the conditions of poverty facing the majority of Americans across the country (who some have recently called “the 99%”) and shares the story of brave everyday people who are fighting back, organizing and empowering their communities to come up with solutions.  

MMP’s mission is to build a movement to end poverty led by poor and working people united across color lines. We see media and communications as a vital tool in this. Thus we were excited and honored to be part of this groundbreaking documentary that will show the nation real-life effects of the ever widening divide between the rich and the poor in this country--and more importantly, how different organizations and individuals across the nation are fighting back.

“I want to salute my magnificent brothers and sisters at the Media Mobilizing Project; the world can now see the humanity of poor people and the reality of poverty-ridden conditions. It was a blessing to work with them, as they use their art as a form of service that inspires me and the world to muster up the courage to fight poverty,” said Dr. West. 

In Philadelphia, Tavis Smiley airs on WHYY weeknights at 11:30pm and re-broadcasts at 12pm the following day. For timeslots in other locations, or to watch the show online, visit http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/about/. 

In front of the MLK memorial.