In 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. took up a new cause – the “Poor People’s Campaign,” an interracial grassroots movement demanding economic security “and a determination by poor people of all colors and backgrounds to assert and win their right to a decent life and respect for their culture and dignity.”

To mark MLK Day 2021 and Poverty Awareness Month, WTTW invites you to preview FIRSTHAND: Living in Poverty, and join an intimate conversation about the increasingly urgent crisis of poverty in our city and state.

Watch highlights from the documentary series and join in the Q&A, with a special introduction from Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., and moderated by executive producer Dan Protess. The conversation will feature Carmelo Barbaro (Executive Director, UChicago Poverty Lab), Ebony Scott (Partnership Director, Family Independence Initiative), Audra Wilson (President & CEO, Shriver Center on Poverty Law), and documentary subject Melissa Fonseca.

Lead support for FIRSTHAND: Living in Poverty is provided by The Grainger Foundation and Becky and Lester Knight, The Knight Family Foundation. Major support is also provided by Jim and Kay Mabie; Rande and Cary McMillan; Butler Family Foundation; Denny and Sandy Cummings; The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation; Lew Collens; Edwardson Family Foundation; Marc and Jeanne Malnati Family Foundation; Kristin Carlson Vogen and Shawn Vogen; and the Duncan Family (as of December 30, 2020).