The Invisible Americans

06/06/2025

💡 Elder New Yorkers need care. Young New Yorkers need jobs. What if one program could meet both needs? Dr. James Farber and two graduates discuss the Skillspring program.
🚑 Dr. Juliet Widoff shares what it means to provide street medicine to those without housing and without judgment. "We treat people, regardless."
👧 Khin Mai Aung of Children’s Defense Fund–NY brings in the "genuine voices" of youth in poverty and discusses how to create stability in their lives. Children's Defense Fund

🎧 Listen now to hear these powerful stories of care, hope, and policy that meets people where they are.
🔗https://www.theinvisibleamericans.com/podcasts/ep406

19/05/2025

📣 Breaking: Our guest Natalie Foster’s organization, Economic Security Project, hosted a powerful press conference on May 13 to .

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeYXBMZACAA&t=22s

🕯️Carol Jenkins opens Episode 405 with reflections on a moving 24-hour vigil organized by Caring Across Generations to defend Medicaid—a lifeline for over 72 million Americans.

🎧 In this episode:

Natalie Foster outlines her bold vision for guaranteed essentials—housing, health care, and income
Sarah Cowan explains how Alaska’s Permanent Fund is helping families thrive through universal cash

“Every Alaskan gets a check. And nobody has to prove they’re poor.” – Sarah Cowan
“The whole policy is endowed with trust.” – Sarah Cowan
“I believe the United States can center inherent worth and dignity of every American.” – Natalie Foster

📖 Don’t miss David Ambroz’s personal reflections from his memoir "A Place Called Home"
🎙️ Listen now: https://www.theinvisibleamericans.com/podcasts/ep405

14/04/2025

"Poverty is 100% a policy choice." - Fatima Goss Graves

Episode 404: Going Far Together. Listen now: https://www.theinvisibleamericans.com/podcasts/ep404

Hear clips from two members of Congress about moving the needle on keeping the promises of this country and eliminating childhood poverty:

Cory Booker
Rosa DeLauro

Then host Carol talks with two women leading organizations who can help us all navigate the uncertainty of what's going on right now:

Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, president of MomsRising.org, and Fatima Goss Graves, CEO of National Women's Law Center.

A conventional if shocking estimate is that one in five American children live in poverty, but we will argue even this measure is inaccurate. The true number is undoubtedly considerably higher, closer to two in five. We already know that even by conventional measures, one in three of our children li...

27/03/2025

$60 billion is on the line -- and the wellbeing of thousands of kids.

Listen here: https://www.theinvisibleamericans.com/podcasts/ep403

New York is reducing child poverty by half before 2031.

Governor Kathy Hochul addressed it in her State of the State, NYSDOH - New York State Health Department Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald addressed it at a symposium hosted by the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, and Kate Breslin addressed it with optimism and hope this episode.

18/03/2025

A five-year-old with a working mother.

Listen here: https://www.theinvisibleamericans.com/podcasts/ep402

In this episode, we take a look into what poverty actually looks like. We dive deep into Robin Hood's newly published poverty tracker with Chris Wimer, director of the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University, and Chloe Sarnoff, Director of Policy Research at Robin Hood. Then we talk to Christine Quinn, CEO and president of Women In Need, Inc. (Win), discusses the nuts and bolts of providing shelter to the unhoused - and how the face of homelessness in New York City is "a five-year-old with a working mother."

28/02/2025

Our guest host Dr. C. Nicole Mason reminds us that 13 million children live in poverty in the United States, and guest Laura Clancy provides perspective: That is more than the entire population of the county of Greece.

Our guests to kick off Season 4 are Speaker of the New York City Council Adrienne Adams and Executive Director of The Bridge Project Laura Clancy.

They discuss the $1.5 million plan to provide unconditional cash support for expectant parents facing housing crisis in NYC and expansion of The Bridge Project into Appalachia.