♪ p ple don't realize what they have until it's gone. narrator: tonight on "frontline"... >> we lost our whole house andyt evng. >> narrator: growing up poor. >> and wre going to start with numbers one through 20. >> i think there's a lot of people in america that need help with food. >> narrator: through the eyes o. childr >> sometimes when i watch people who, like, walk into tir house when we're driving, i wish that sometimes, like, i had a house like those people. >> narrator: we first met them five years ago. >> if i could change anything,

it would be being poor. i'm kaylie, and i'm 15.>> arrator: now we catch up with them as teenagers, and see the america they'rgrowing up in today. >> "frontline" is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you.k thu. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. p major support vided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation.te commto building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information is available at macfound.org.ad tional support is provided by the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. at fordfoundation.org. the park foundatn, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. the john and helen gle family trust. supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. the heising-simons foundation.

locking knowledge, opportunity, and possibilities. more at hsfoundation.org. and by the frontline journalism fund. with major support from jon and jo ann hagler, and additionalom support aura debonis and scott nathan. corporate support is provided by: ♪ u >>lives here. where we can be surprised by othe. and ourselves. the y. for a better us. ♪ ♪ i

>> my nabrittany smith, and i'm nine years old.gh it's tecause my mom and dad are poor. my dad just lost his job. mo ay i tried getting in the shower, and it was cold. i put the hot on all the way and no cold, and it was freezing. it felt like shoving your face in a bunch of snow. it was freezing! the hot water shut off because we didn't pay the bill in time. it was overdue. >> so what's the next bill due? >> electricity. it's going to be $318. we just need to put roger's ass to work. yeah. >> when you see the flat-screen tv and the computers and our ps3 and stuff, that's just things we've acquired over e years,

stuff that we've had before all this happened, like when we wers not oor. >> sink's broke. (laughs) i don't know how or why, but it broke. s,and the cheapest plumber like, $65 an hour. i can't even afford $20. >> we lived in a farmhouse. my dad lost his job from picture perfect. he got laid off, and we got kicked out of there. we movedere. it's not very big. we didn't have enough room, so we had to put stuff in storage, and we lost it all because we couldn't pay it. >> how storage works is, like,l you put ur stuff in there when you move, but you have to pay the bill or else it gets thrown out in the street,

because they have a spare key. i don't think it's right, icause people shouldn't throw other people's stuthe street, because that's just plain up rude. i got a big make-up thing, and i lost it in storage. i got a bratz dolli lost it in storage. i lost my favorite teddy bear. i lost my ds. it was great, it was awesome. i'm bummed out because, like, that was my favorite thing in the worlbesides my family. (laughs) >> yeah, caliper's shot. got to get new pistons, at. least, on >> my dad's brakes on the truck isn't working.e me we almost got in a wreck. it sounded like nails on a chalkboard. i hate that sound. when is thcable being shut off?

>> soon. we owe them almost $0. the cable, the internet, all that, we don't have the money y it. b. what are you doing? >> applying for a >> have you applied to many plac? >> this'll be the third menard's store i've alied at. walmart, the anchor place, quite a few. i hope that my dad will somehow miracle-y get his truck working and get a good job and so we'll be able to get money to keep this house, hopefully, and not get kicked out. ♪

>> my name is kaylie hegwood, and i live in stockton, iowa. oh, yay! that one was good, tt one was good! and i am ten years old, and i live with my mother an brother, tyler, and he is 12 years old. i don't think we're a rich family, but think, like, we're kind of a poor family. i'm hungry. >> (laughing): i knew you were going to say that as soon asyo .. you're going to have to wait, sis. >> i'm just starving. we don't get the three mls a day, like breakfast, lunch, and

then dinner. when i feel just, like, hungry, i justlike, feel like i'm so, like, sad and all droopy, and then i'll begin to feel, like, weak, anthen some in the mornings i'll be, like, so starving, but then i'll be, like, "i need some food!" but then, like, i'll get, like... but then i don't think of fooand then i'll just think of something else and then i'll not be hungry anymore. >> there's good days and bad days.wh sometime we have cereal, we don't have milk. we have to eat it dry. sometimes we don't have cereal d we have milk. it's often, like, switch and swap. sometimes, like, when i switchl the chand there's a cooking show on, i get a little more hungry, and i want to vanish into the screen and start eating the food. >> you can't pull at mom when i'm doing this. >> stop pulling.

>> i'm sry. >> how do you think you have customers? >> (laughing): customers. i on't want you to freakin' cut me. >> i'm not gonna cut you. >> you better not. >> i've been in school long enough, i won't cut you. >> or you're dead. mean it. my mom, she has very little in her bank. and, like, she can't pay all of her bills at the same time. >> my income is $480... or $180, and the total of my bills is $1,326, and that does not leave me money for food or gas. i've never seen it this bad. >> my best friend isordan, and we grew up together. we like to go canning to make money. cans! with canning, i just walk around, look for cans, and i walk, like, around the whole

town. the non-squished ones are five cents. >> and the squished are two cents. >> yeah.eo some pe come over here for gas, and it's not here anymore. kethe dance hall, that's b train station, that's still up, but it's all rotted and stuff. i'll do it nice and slow for you. oh, another crushed >> in 2004 is when this shut down. >> and now look at it. it's crappy. it used to be so... special. didn't that use to be a movie theater? >> what? >> that. >> no. >> what did it use to be? >> it was the old bank. >> huh. i bet there's old money in there. >> i'm not going in there. the floor fell in. >> well, that would be awesome if there was, like, thousands d

and thousands lars. >> tyler! those are ours! drop 'em! kaylie! >> drop 'em! >> kaylie! >> when we can't afford to pay our bills, like our house billsi and stuf afraid, like, we'll get homeless. me and my brother will starve. yoinnever know what'll happe your life. so, yeah. ♪ (train rumbling) (kids chattering)

>> my name is jasmine, and i am nine years old, and i live with my brothers joshua, jaylen, ando y. >> my name is jonny davis. i'm 13 years old, going to be 14 in three months. we are in the salvation army homeless shelter. my dad had got a business, andak he wasg about a good $5,000 a month. we hadood and fancy things then. we had, like, a three-bedroom house. our living room had a 32-inch flat-screen tv in there. tv mom's and dad's room had a 42-inch flat-screen their room. and that's what tv we watched the super bowl on. >> (screaming playfully) >> those are eggs. are you serious?

>> yeah. >> whyould you bring that out here? >> because. >> whoa! >> when it was good, it was good. i can remember having five or six jobs a month that were lined up back to back, and i mean decent paying jobs-- $4,000, $5,000, $7,000, whatevwas. and all of a sudden, just right about the time when everybody was saying, you know, "the recession is coming about, the recession is coming about," people just plain old stopped fixing on their houses, stopped making repairs. >> the payment on the house wasu in two weeks, and i guess my parents just didn't have the money at t time, because he was explaining to us business was slow. andwe lost our whole house everything.t so we're jck to ground zero. sthen we moved to a homel shelter. anything that can fit in a book bag or a suitcase, you can take it.

whatever you... like this tv, the yellow one in the living room, that only made iuse it could fit in my bag. if it couldn't fit in my bag, that would've been left behind, too. >> we have to go. hurry up, and let's go. >> hurry, hurry, hurry. my dad works at a factory, and we drive him the every day. >> in, in, in, in, in.se >> assignes, assigned seats, let's go. >> the journey takes about two hours there and back. we have to go with our mom because the rules say that we couldn't be left in thshelter by ourself because we weren't old enough. >> i thank god that he still has a chance and an ability to still go out and get different jobs. >> it's not a career, something that i want to spend the rest of my working years doing, buthi it's som that will provide for us to have some food >> ♪ ...road again... always driving, always.

>> i know this is tough, driving out here every day, there and back, there and back, there and back, there and back. it'd be so much easier if you could go ahead and just grab us a place out here so you don't have to make the trip ba and forth. i look at that little hous every time i ride past. that's a nice one there. >> sometimes when i watch people who, like, walk into their house when wre driving, i wish that sometimes, like, i had a house like those people. >> is it me or does it seem like it gets further away every day? ♪ (traffic passing) (train horn blaring) ♪

>> kaylie, what are you looking at? >> it's loud. ♪ >> i would just like to go explore the world. but i'm never going to be able to do this, because these ys everything is expensive. i watched one show where it said they're raising the gas veprices, and my mom can't afford gas. we have be careful how we use our gas, how we use everything. >> a lot of times i have to give my money up to buy groceries and buy gas for the car an lawnmower.er (lawnmtops) >> (giggles) >> for mowing other people's

lawns and... i got ten dollars, and i put in six of it for the gas and ve the rest to my mom for some food and... it's kind of what i do with my money. i don't think i'm going to do mowing for a living. (barking) >> the bills here at the house is just too much for me to handle. and i seen a doctor lasteek for depression, and she put me on some antidepressants and xanax for my panic attacks. right now there doesn't seem too be a w. so my only options are to giveup y house and move my stuff into storage and move into the motel room.

>> whoo! >> i mean, i don't even know if i can find a job when i get out. of sch or if itl ever get any better. >> grace, comeere! >> (sniffling) (dog barking) i'll have to find day care for kaylie. i mean, she's ten, but still... her and tyler, they're brother and sister. they fight. i'll come home and one will be hanging from the ceing fan and the other one will be god knows where. m scared. >> i don't want to move. i like living here, because my friends are nice to me.

like, i just want to stay put here. we won't get to keep our dog, nala. it's extra money, and we're going to get rid of her. like, i want to spend as much time as with her. but then again, i want to spendi with my friends. (chattering in background) ♪ sa (indistinct convon) >> and there might be a question about whether you get food stamps or not. we're going to askou for your name and your phone number. >> i think there's a lot of people in america that need help with food. because they're poor or they're

either homeless, or they're both. od we need or our family. i'm hitting my growth spurt, anl i'm hungry. my favorite food is chinese food. i'm craving that right now. know what makes me mad? we can't afford it (laughs) ♪ >> i think we're probably pretty good for fourth grade. >> wolves aren't ballerinas. i've seen a lot of things in my life... >> (overntercom): mr. jaquin? >> yes? >> if this is a good time for you, would you like to send your students down for the nutrition club?

>> i'll havehem down there shortly. >> nutrition club is a bag of food that you get every fridayyo anhave to make last the whole weekend. they announce in class that you .ave to go down for nutrition club if you're in you have to go to the office and you have to sign your name in. for and then, um, you go put it inan your lockethen you go back to class. >> hey, good morning, brittany. >> hey, brittany. i'm surprised by how things can change so fast. you can go from doing okay, no having to go hungry, to this-- going hungry and having to pay b all yols and not being able to... on the verge of being homeless again. ♪ >> that'll fit you, and it's cute. >> nah.

we just found out my m pregnant. she's like a whale. my dad's been working. he's been working for a week ane as $64 total. d initely not a good time to have a baby, but i don't believe in abortion and... >> mm-mmm. or adoption.y, financiae're going to be in a lot more trouble. >> financial, we'll be strapped. >> (laughs): dogs. >> (growls) >> good lord. >> are you okay, mom? >> don't throw up. >> is the baby hurting you? >> are you going to be alive in ten seconds? >> oh, my god, i'm having a hot flash. >> that's just fanning you, logan. i think it would be difficultby for the o grow up here because we don't have a lot of money. >> i think the thing i miss the most from having all this happen is the internet.

i mean, people don't realize u what they hail it's gone. and, whew, serious world of warcraft withdrawals, man. 'cause, say, in world of warcraft, i'm awesome. i'm a level-85 paladin. tank and healer.li and in rea, i'm a 14-year-old boy with nothing going for him. (chuckles) (train horn blaring) ♪ >> grr! nala, she was, like, my dog. like, she was, like, my favorite dog. and now we have to take her the pound. we have to get rid of nala, but not tanner.

nala's so adorable. like if you had her, she would sleep on your bed d she would sleep on you. she's like your little guard dog. we're getting rid of my perfect little lovey dog. yes, nala, i hear you stressing out. i love you, nala. ♪ >>oes she have any favorit toys or games? >> she needs lots and lots of bos. she'll chew one in, like, an hour, so...

(wspering): she hates bath >> oh, yeah. >> doesn't like baths? >> no. this is my animal lover. >> yeah. she'll have to go into our isolation room, since she hasn't gotten any vaccinations yet. so she'll be in an isolated area .ight now. all right, sweetie do you want the leash and collar back at all? >> just the leash. >> okay. >>nd the collar! >> why the collar? she can have it. >> collar, mom... fine. meanie. (whimpers) (crying) (barks)

♪ (wind rustling) >> i got him! >> i thought we were getting a double bed. >> and there's no mini fridge. dang it. and there's no microwave. okay, we have to ask them about that. >> god. i thought we were getting a double bed.mn >> well, we're going to have to ask them about the mini fridge. >> this is small. >> it's going to be small. plain and simple, it's going to be small. >> this is as big as my room.

>> yeah? ♪ (kids shouting playfully) >> here's one of tom's old business cards. >> oh, yeah, i remember t&c! >> t&c, tom and classy. >> yeah. >> you don't want a lot of people to find o that you live here. people will make fun of it and, and it can really hunt you after a while. it start.. you start to have no friends, people will tease you about it and stuff like that. >> you getting too big. inu always want something extra. >> i don't want noextra. >> yes, you do. you want a phone, you want shoes... >> i got a phone. i ain't wearing no earth outside. no, sir. jordans and nikes. >> jonny, nikeand jordans are expensive. >> i know.

es just for a name, that m no sense. you need a job. >>ike's not expensive. >> look, i've been buying josh shoes after shoes after shoes. i can't afford it. now what-- walmart? he gotta take walmart. what else can i do? at least his feet not dragging the ground.re >> tere some jordan flip-flops in there for 30 bucks. now, that's a great deal.u nnot find no jordan flip-flops, the brand-new kind, for no 30 bucks. they're probably not real, but guess what? an is that a great deal when i can go to walmarbuy my... the shoes i'm wearing i got from walmt for five dollars. >> i'm talking about name-brand stuff.de that's a goo, mama. >> my sandals are nice, right? >> if you listen to it, it's a good deal. >> you want some of those, right? see, that's why i like y'all when y'all small. they accept stuff. you getting too big. your feet growing. you in grown people's shoes now. (groans) please stop growing!

(chuckles) >> i'm embarrassed because i'm poor and because i live in ash ter. it makes me feel like i just... wi i never lived here. >> there's a kid at the school who looks... dress worser than me. but he has his own house, though. he got a house to call home.on he have to go sit down with thousands of people to eat dinner. c run to his refrigerator and open it up. ad i can't do that. i have to wait untertain time and i have to eat, because if i don't eat, i will srve all night, until the next morning. >> make sure you stay in line so you can get your plate, okay? >> yes, yes, sir. >> standight here, and as soon as she goes, jonny, you go

after jasmine. ot as a mother, you always different thoughts going through your head and mind and wishing that you could change things ani ing things was different. but what are you to do? you can't ke beating yourself up about it, but at the same time... it's just hard. having a family is hard. maintaining a family is hard. keeping us indoors is hard. (door closes) >> hey, mom and daddy. g guess what on my grades? >> what? oh, oh! >> that's good. >> one for the willis team. >> that saved you from 70 lashes, didn't it?

(laughg) so did you do good? >> i got two a's, two d two c's. >> ooh, wow. >> that's at's up, johnny. >> i have to get you a skateboard. >> grades is my only way out of. he if my grades are not good, i know i can't go to universities like my dream to go. i know if my grades are not good, i can't play football like i want to. if i don't succeed doing what i have to do in school and making good grades, i will fail-- i'm going to live this life, a life of shelters, going through hard times, can't feed my kids, trying to figure out where i'm going to lay my head every night. ♪ >> look... ewww... nc it's all cd up and there's not much space.

see? (groans) he takes up the hallway to go to the bathroom. we had mucmore space in the house. right back. the cold stuff that needs to be freezed ise sink. we don't have a fridge. just this sink is our fridge. brush. we have to get ice mostly every day because it melts during night. when i struggle for money, there's nothing to eat.l ere is is cans of vegetables. so i've been eating vegetables. there's really not enough food.

if i could change anything, it would be being poor. i really don't want to be poor because then you can't get... because then how can you pay rent, how can you get food, how can you get a roof over your head if you're gonna be poor? ♪ >> all i want is to play football, but football is expensive. i can name a few items i needwa an for my sports, but i just got to wait on it till next time mama can afford it. >> ooh, good one, good one. >> i'm 14. my life is almost over, until

i'm a grown man.an if i don't have the opportunity to show somebody to play football, football won't ext in four years from now if i don't get to ay on a team this year, that dream is going to slowly start fading away.ha that's whaens to some of the dreams of kids. anthey pertain to somethin they can't afford it. (baby crying) >> it's a boy. lee baby's a boy. >> he wants a bo >> i was really hoping for a little sister, but, you know, you get what you get. went back to work for these company that ito work for, and they're not doing the greatest, either. i'd say i got maybe a week's worth of work, andhen they're going to be closing up shop from thisocal office and only keeping one of the three branches open, you know.

so it's just temporary, but it's something. mporary fix to a long-te problem. >> no more babies. i i got my tubes tied afted him. i love him and i wouldn't mind having more, but we can't afford it. >> the babies' futures are going to be weirand messed up. life is going to be hard because there's hardly gonna be any jobs left in the future, or any money. then rich people will be poor, and like this. like you. you might get poor in the st few months. you never know. ♪

>> my mom can't sign us up for scho. my mom says that we're going to go, we're going to get in school when we move into the trailer that we are getting. >> the trailer is very livable, it has floors. we're going to be redoing it. >> am i going to have to crawl in with the snakes to get theoz pipes unfr? >> no, no. it's all... >> the best thing too is put hay bales around it. >> i know, we're going to get some of those and do that. but we're going to be moving th traiobably in a couple of summers, but that'll be two years away, because we have to have a two-year lease. >> what? >> if we stay there two years. >> if i keep missing school, then i see my future poor, on the streets, in a box, not even. and... asking for money m erywhere, everybody, and then

stealing stuff fores and, you know... i don't want to steal stuff.n' i want to do any of that stuff. i want to get an education and j go. i believe that i'm go get a perfect job that i like and that i want to do. people can't stop you fromg believ your own dreams. ♪ >> barack obama has been reelected. the 44th president. listen to the crowd.g >> ...warnicago to expect dangerously cold temperatures and wind chills... >> theoaring price of gasoline, now $3.67 a gallon... >> detroit is now the largest

u.s. city to file for bankruptcy... >> ...shelters to stay open 24 hours a day instead of... >> ...leaving millions struggling to find opportunity in the land that always promised it. >> my fellow americans, it has toen the honor of my life serve you. ♪ p >> donald trum the next president of the united states. >> i'm kaylie and i'm now 15,in tu16 in a month or so. i've moved to a trailer, then i moved to a duplex, then i moved here. and we've been here for almost a ar and a half, two years. ow, that actually hurt. >> i'm tyler, i'm 18 years old now. i would still say we're, we're kind of stuck in a hole, but's . it's better than what it was before. my mom, she was working at

night, she was in third shifts, rsand they worked her 40 h50 hours a week at third shift, so she was sleeping in thing. if i didn't wake up in time for school, i was late and she couldn't call me in. i cked up a couple hundred detentions, and i dropped out and stopped going to school, and they didn't call my mom, they didn't ce. so i felt like they just kind of dropped me off like a ece of trash, almost. (water running) >> bella, oh, my god, i'm so happy i got her. she cuddles with me, actually cuddles. e'll sit there and lay on my chest all night. bella, can i get underneath your chin? are you gonna let me? it's important for me to have a dog because it's kind of like erapy. come on, lift up-- lift up.s bella helpme feel safe. everyone surrounding me is getting cancer. my grandma was diagnosed with

mucosal melanoma cancer. my grandma, she gives a lot. without her, we wouldn't have this house, my mom wouldn't have ver car, like, i wouldn't phone. we wouldn't have anythingt onthr. >> you could be puour feet, but there's always something putting you back to the ground, and pulling youck well, there's gravity, but there's other things, too. >> my mom, she was then diagnosed with cancer.ag she wanosed with ovarian. canc >> i was supposed to go to the specialist this weeknd schedule the surgery. but they won't see me because they don't accept wa medicaid. >> it kind of makes me afraid, like, when i g older, what'll happen to me. because my grandma and my mom got it, i'm bound to get it,ma e. maybe if luck's on my side, i

won't, but... how long are you gonna be out of work? >> well, it was supposed to be two months, a month to two months. now it's probably going to be closer to three, maybe four. >> sometimes i'm not sad about things that happen. somemes i am. i think i've just gotten so used to bad things happening, i just' care anymore. (train horn blaring) ♪ >> i'm brittany and i'm now 15 years old. my hair isn't blonde anymore because i dye it, wh one of my hobbies, i guess. i like to do different stuff with my hair. and i like it. and i'm probably not going toop

ntil all of my hair is gone. (chuckles) f >> give me oneese ones. i'm roger and i'm now 19. graduated high school a year and a half early. i got a job, i've gotten a few different jobs. i've just been working, been working and sleeping. (chuckles) >> zakkary, one... >> mommy. i'm playing. >> it's not a toy, you see that? that's germs, that'sross. put your chair back. >> my little brother zakk turned five. oukk is autistic. to help him, we'll with him and we'll help him try to read and stuff like that. >> b is for... >> ball and... bee. >> yeah. e'si love that little guy, so awesome. he's helped pull the family together and definitely takes a lot of stress out of the day. (zakk cohs) there's your dragon.

i think my monster could kick your monster's but dude. (crashes) (laughs) well, dang! >> middle school was filled with drama. and i hated it so much. people would bully me because i was or. it distracted me from focusing on my grades 'cause they would,t like, pass and everything saying that i look ugly and that i needed money. my lowest point was getting expelled and getting held back. and my highest point was, you know, finally, like, graduating middle school.li and i felt, super-proud of myself. a i like a creativityu because yot away from the real world. it just helps me a lot. >> it's definitely gone up and down over the past five years. (truck starts) work's unsteady. it'll be going good for, you

know, a week or two, a month, and then out of nowhere, all the bills pile up and justn't seem to find any money any way. >> i know that my pares try to make it less stressful for us, but dad will come ho with a really bad paycheck and then i'll just, like, start doubting everything. we won't be able to pay bills, is what i keep thinking. and i'm thinking that we're not gonna be able to pay rent. we're gonna be sitting on the streets or something like that, and justvery time that happens, it pops up in my head. you know, being stressed out and everything is part of life. >> what can i get for you? >> i just need to pick uthese, two shower doors and a storm door. >> you betcha. >> my dad, he just recently got his job back at lowe's, and that's whei started with him, too. i think i've gotten myself into the business to wherit's always gonna be there, you know? people are always gonna need sidings, and i always figured if this didn't work out, build toilets. everybody's always gonna need

to take a crap. (laughs) i never really thought that i'd still be at home, but i don't make enough money to make it on my own. i just think at this point in my life, i don't need to be happy right now-- i need to make everything i need to and get the ball rolling. >> most kids around here, ey do graduate high school, but hardly any of them ever go to college. because, you know, college is pensive. i want to go to college, because i feel like i could do better. but then other times, i get doubts of how, like, you know, what if i get a bad job and end up like this with my kids? (sighs) ♪ (chattering) i'm jasmine and i'm 14, turning 15 in december.

ght now we're in a hotel because we're waiting for my mom and dad to find us somewhere to live. (laughing) jonny is in chicago with my grandma. i haven't really heard from him since the last time that we saw him.ss i onny because, um, he, he odlistened, and he was som that i could talk to. >> what you doing? >> homework. >> homework? >> the hdest parts for me were jumping from school to school. i'm not blaming it o situation, but my grades aren't bad, but they're not as good as they should be. >> so have they offered you tutoring there? >> it'not in the classes that i need. >> really? >> they don't help me with math.

>> well, if you really need it, and you really need y after school, then you can get the tutoring, jasmine. i just got to come get you. okay? >> mm-hmm. i don't think it's my parents' fault because they're moving so we could have somewhe to stay and so we can be stable. for you to get a house, that takes time and work ney. >> it's like a game, the hurry-up and wait. you waiting on answers to see c when y move or when you can get in or... >> you can have one year where everything is fine, but that next coming year, you catch a bad cold and it's all over with. >> yep. >> and sometimes it means picking up and leavinggoing somewhere to try to start over to t to get a better fit for your family. >> i feel like, with the parents that i have, it's ing to come eventually.e, right now,e cleans windows. >> but the thing is, ithat you

make up in your mind, like i said, whether you gonna survive or not. so i choose to go ahead and try to make an honest dollar. >> people don't know half of the stuff that he does to make sures that we'ble and we're okay. and. he tries harder than people think. (crying) ♪ >> i'm jonny. i'm 19 now. i live with my grandmother in chicago. with my parents, it couldn't ay stable and moving around

a lot of places, and i knew it was going to be a problem for me academically as far as my life situation. i guess i started hanging out with the wrong pple. i ended up going to jail. when i went to jail that d, it was, like, "you really falling off. you let yourself fall off. you went from all this good stuff happening to youyou gonna be, you know what i'm saying, a good football player." scouts was coming to see me at practices and asking about me, and wanting me to play on their team, to "now you smoking weed and you got locked up and all that." a it was just lieality check to myself. like, "you really falling off.t you need to ck on track." and this was my wake-up call, i guess. i came up here to start over. if you fall, you gotta get up, dust it off, and keep ng. that's the only thing you can do. till you get to thtop. i work for hmr designs. it's a party and wedng designing company.

just working to this point till i enroll in school this spring. when spring come around, i could still end up going to the school i want to go to, which is louisiana state university. going there and pursuing this football dream. there we go, come on, get open. oh, yeah. oh, gotta go for it. let's go! you can come check on me five years from n, i'll be somewhere, playing for somebody's team in the nfl.er ody knows the american dream-- oh, go to college, and go live your life. that's all i want to do. living my dream and take care of my family.'s tht. ♪ (laughing) >> i would not do that. ♪ >> i was sitting at home till ii was just, , "why am i sitting here doingothing when

i could be finishing high school?" i see how hard it isor my mom, 'cause she didn't finish school. i think i started two days late but i was, like, "i need to get in there and do it now." a lot of teachers have been tellg me that, uh, it's bett late than never. but i'm right there at the edge of being too late! (laughs) >> i'm gonna laugh if he falls. ready? >> oh! >> told you! ♪ >> i wouldn't choose this life, but it's kind ofhowing me what can happen. i would take this experience and use it to make myself a better person by learning from it and knong what not to do. my hopes for the future would be to have a house and my own room and my own space, buyou can't really have everything you want.

♪ >> if i have kids, i would not lwant them to be growing e this. no matter what i go through, i'll still, like, you know, want to try and try and try to be better. >> there've probably been manydr ch who've grown up in a poor household, became rich in the future, which i believe i can. um, but it's a 50-50 chance. but the most thing i'm afraid of is becoming like my mom. no offense, she tried her st, but i'm scared to death of becoming like her. her financial situation and things tt's happened to her that affects how she acts.e if i becke her, i don't know. i'll cross that bridge when get there.

you know. ♪ i know it's gonna be really hard. but maybe someday in my future, i'll graduate from college and push through life. >> go to pbs.org/frontline to learn more about child poverty in america, then listen to the latest episode of "the fronine dispatch," our new original podcast series. >> and i'm not entitled to anything. you know, i'm not innocent. >> subscribe now wherever you listen to podcasts, or at pbs.org/frontline. >> narrator: next time... >> here comes the federal government, saying that they own the land and everything on it is theirs.

but my dad said, "hell, no." >> narrator: how one family's fight against the government... >> the armed standoff in bunkerville... >> this became sort of this rallying cry for anti-governme extremists everywhere. >> ...sparked a movement. >> anti-government patriot ammou ndy is in federal custody... >> n.rator: and what it means >> the bundys defied three court orders and the rule of law. >> "frontline" is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. ank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major support is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. blmore information is avaiat macfound.org. additional support is provided by the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the front lines of social changedw woe. at fordfoundation.org. the park foundion, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. the john and helen glessner family trust. supporting trustworthy

journalism that infod inspires. the heising-simons foundation. unlocking knowledge, opportunity, and possibilities. more at hsfoundation.org. and by the frontline journalism fund. with major support from jon and jo ann hagler, and additionalsu ort from laura debonis and scott nathan. corporate support is provided by: ♪ >> us lives here. where we can find common ground bienough to dance on. ♪ the y. for a better us. ♪ ♪ >> for more on thiand other "frontline" programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

frontline's "poor kids" is available on dvd., to ordsit shoppbs.org or call 1-800-play-pbs. esrontline" is also available for download on it ♪ ♪ >> you're watching pbs.

>> natalie: this summer- >> robin: we're going across the us. >> zoed: interviewing minorities who are successful >> natalie: whe under-repren computer science. >> natalie: def con was so cool. so many hackers. i wanna explore more of, like, opening my mind to all of these amazing things that other people can do. >> leader #1: one night i was playing with my iphone and i was like, why can't i use this athe brains to control these robots? >> leader #2: i was justrsa nad so i thirsted for technologytr >> narrator #1: road nation is made possible by microsoft. as technology becomes an integl part of our daily lives, there is a growing demand to provide computer science education to all young people to empow them to become well informed citizens and imaginative creators. microsoft youthspark is committed to ensuring that all tyyouth have the opportuni to learn computer science, a foundational subject that teaches the computational thinking and problem solving skills required forur