This Phase II renewal builds on three years of JTF-supported work that produced a completed documentary on U.S. poverty, established the Center for Social Flourishing, and executed a series of high quality conferences and seminars.
Phase II is an “all hands on deck” deployment of the Acton Institute’s staff to execute a disciplined distribution strategy for Poverty Trap and an accompanying education campaign. Drawing on 130+ interviews across two dozen cities, the film reframes the conversation around poverty in the United States around human agency, economic opportunity, and civil society—in contrast to top-down technocratic plans. Like its predecessor Poverty, Inc. (millions of views, 54+ countries), the film addresses complex issues in a sensitive way, avoiding partisan language and challenging the viewer to see poverty not as a technical problem to be solved from a distance but a human challenge to be overcome through relationships and opportunity.
Our strategy has two aspects: a successful film roll out and a complementary educational campaign. Poverty Trap will catalyze national reflection and practical action. We’ve set ambitious goals for the film’s rollout. More than viewership metrics, though, we will be tracking the “stickiness” of the film’s message: We aim to change how people think about and act on poverty.
Second, our education campaign will organize a series of high quality leadership formation conferences, seminars, and events with the goal of further spreading and institutionalizing the core ideas of the film. Alongside the events, we will produce digital content for dissemination on social media platforms, using unused content from the documentary and new content gathered as needed, bringing our message to new audiences.
Ultimately, the goal of both the film and the educational campaign is to further expand a movement around the renewal of civil society leadership that advances human flourishing.
