DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
From massive social changes in politics and the economy to worries about artificial intelligence and the personal challenges we face in our own relationships or emotional life, everyone is facing headwinds.
So many forces seem to rob us of our freedom and responsibility. Life seems too big and too fast to do anything about it.
While making this film, the stories our team heard were heavy—stories of abandonment, addiction, violence, and poverty. Yet I would come home inspired and with a profound sense of hope. There are amazing people in this country who are overcoming their own struggles or helping others to believe in themselves.
I hope that POVERTY TRAP challenges people to rethink poverty in America—to see the capacity of people, not just deficiencies. I also hope it inspires people to believe that we are not simply determined by forces outside our control. With friendship, community, courage, and grace, we can overcome challenges and better our lives and the lives of our neighbors.
FILM TEAM
MICHAEL MATHESON MILLER
DIRECTOR & PRODUCER
SIMON SCIONKA
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, EDITOR, & CO-PRODUCER
CALEB WHITMER
CO-PRODUCER
TOM VOGT
CO-PRODUCER
KRIS MAUREN
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
STEPHEN BARROWS
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
KEVIN AUGUSTYN
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
JO JENSEN
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
ANIELKA OLSON
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
VLADIMIR SNURENCO
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
NICO ZVIOVICH
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
TYLER FOLLON
ADDITIONAL CAMERA
FILMING LOCATIONS
CAST
DARON BABCOCK
Daron is a social entrepreneur, having started multiple successful social ventures, including Bonton Honey Company, The Market at Bonton Farms, Bonton Farms Coffee House, Bonton Farmers Market, The Preservatory, and CityBuild Housing. Of all his ventures, the most notable, though, is Bonton Farms, one of the largest urban farms in the United States nestled in a once-forgotten neighborhood in South Dallas.
JUSTIN BEENE
Justin Beene is the founder and visionary of the Grand Rapids Center for Community Transformation, a collective of nonprofits and social enterprises working together for a flourishing city. Raised on the southeast side of Grand Rapids, Beene grew up seeing firsthand the vast disparities between the city's wealth and its most underserved neighborhoods, an experience that shaped his conviction that sustainable change requires cross-sector collaboration and economic opportunity, not charity alone. He is also the founder of Thrive and Prosper, a cross-sector initiative working to create a culture where everyone can flourish.
ANTHONY BRADLEY
Anthony Bradley is a professor, and public intellectual, and theologian whose work focuses on the intersection of faith, culture, and social ethics. He has written extensively on race, inequality, and the role of institutions in shaping opportunity. Drawing on both academic research and theological insight, Bradley challenges prevailing narratives about poverty and advocates for solutions rooted in family, community, and personal responsibility.
JACK BRIGGS
Jack Briggs is the former President & CEO for Springs Rescue Mission, southern Colorado’s largest homeless shelter and addiction recovery program. Prior to his time at Springs Rescue Mission, Jack was Vice President for Global Resiliency and Security at New York University (NYU). He was responsible for organizing, integrating, and executing the University’s Emergency Management and Continuity Programs and security for NYU’s 15 campuses in 11 countries. While at NYU, Jack earned his Doctorate in Education Leadership and Innovation. Before NYU, Jack served in the U.S. Air Force for more than 30 years in a variety of senior leadership roles retiring as a Major General.
JOCELYN BRISSON
Jocelyn Brisson is the shelter manager at Watered Gardens Ministries in Joplin, Missouri. After growing up in Southern California, she spent most of her adult life homeless and struggling with addiction before getting clean at age 50. She went on to earn a bachelor's degree in sociology and a master's in criminal justice from Missouri Southern, became a credentialed substance abuse counselor, and has managed the Watered Gardens shelter for nearly a decade.
JAMES BURLING
James Burling is Vice President for Legal Affairs at Pacific Legal Foundation, where he has litigated extensively on behalf of individuals facing regulatory overreach. Burling’s work highlights the role of legal protections in expanding economic opportunity and safeguarding individual liberty. He is the author of Nowhere to Live: The Hidden Story of America's Housing Crisis.
WILLIAM EASTERLY
William Easterly is Professor Emeritus of Economics at New York University and co-director emeritus of the Development Research Institute. One of the world's leading authorities on global poverty and foreign aid, he is the author of The Elusive Quest for Growth, The White Man's Burden, The Tyranny of Experts, and Violent Saviors, which argues that top-down technocratic approaches to development undermine the freedom and agency of the poor. A former researcher at the World Bank, Easterly has spent his career challenging the aid industry's faith in big plans and expert-driven solutions, insisting that what the poor need most is not more programs but more rights, more freedom, and more respect for local knowledge.
ISMAEL HERNANDEZ
Ismael Hernandez is the founder of the Freedom & Virtue Institute and a leading advocate for character-based approaches to poverty. A Cuban immigrant and former Marxist, he now writes and speaks on the importance of personal responsibility, moral formation, and free society principles. His work focuses on equipping individuals and communities to achieve lasting independence.
HOWARD HUSOCK
Howard Husock is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a leading voice on housing policy, philanthropy, and civil society. His work examines the long-term effects of government programs on low-income communities, particularly in public housing. Husock advocates for approaches that strengthen local institutions and encourage mutual responsibility as a foundation for lasting change.
SETH KAPLAN
Seth D. Kaplan is a leading expert on fragile states, societies, and communities and a Professorial Lecturer at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. His most recent book, Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time, argues for a grassroots, relational approach to social repair — blending the stories of organizations successfully rebuilding America's social fabric with the latest research. He has authored over 100 articles and co-authored the landmark United Nations–World Bank report Pathways for Peace: Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict. He consults for organizations including the World Bank, U.S. State Department, and OECD.
DARIS LEE
Daris Lee grew up in the Bonton neighborhood of South Dallas. After years of dangerous living, he was arrested for aggravated robbery and drug possession and sent to prison. Upon his release, mounting legal debts and failing kidneys brought him to the edge — but a moment of clarity in the face of death changed everything. He vowed to spend the rest of his life giving back to the community he felt he had wronged. Daris joined Daron Babcock in 2010, and his story helped inspire what would become Bonton Farms, which he joined officially in 2021 as Health & Wellness Manager.
ANTONG LUCKY
Antong Lucky is president of Urban Specialists and a national leader in violence intervention and community transformation. A former gang leader, he now works to reduce violence through mentorship and credible messenger programs. His work is rooted in lived experience and focuses on breaking cycles of violence through personal accountability and community engagement.
ALAN MALLACH
Alan Mallach is an urban planning and policy expert specializing in housing, economic development, and the revitalization of post-industrial cities. He has held senior roles in government and research and is the author of multiple books on urban transformation. Mallach brings a data-driven perspective to the challenges of disinvestment, neighborhood change, and equitable growth.
IAIN MCGILCHRIST
Iain McGilchrist is a British psychiatrist, philosopher, and former Oxford literary scholar. A Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and former research fellow in neuroimaging at Johns Hopkins University, he is best known for his 2009 book The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. In it, McGilchrist argues that Western culture has become dangerously dominated by the left hemisphere's drive toward abstraction, control, and technical mastery — at the expense of the right hemisphere's capacity for context, relationship, and meaning. His 2021 follow-up, The Matter with Things, explores the deeper metaphysical implications of that argument. He lives on the Isle of Skye, Scotland.
LEE MOORE
Lee Moore is a landscaper and entrepreneur from Jackson, Mississippi. Raised without parents and neglected as a child, he was taken by the state at 13 and placed with relatives in Rankin County — a move he credits with opening his eyes to what was possible. He went on to earn an associate degree in business, graduating top of his class. After years of legal trouble and repeated encounters with a system that made rebuilding nearly impossible, he turned his life around, investing $10,000 in landscaping equipment in 2020 and building Moore Lawn Care into a thriving business. He has since added a food truck and a graphic design operation. Today he is an active member of his church and a mentor to younger family members navigating the same streets he grew up on.
AMITY SHLAES
Amity Shlaes is an economic historian and author of The Forgotten Man and Great Society. Her work examines the history of American public policy, particularly during the Great Depression and the postwar era. Shlaes brings a historical perspective to contemporary debates about poverty, economic growth, and the role of government.
JAMES & MARSHA WHITFORD
James and Marsha Whitford are the co-founders of Watered Gardens Ministries in Joplin, Missouri. Their work focuses on serving individuals experiencing homelessness through programs centered on work, recovery, and long-term stability. The Whitfords’ approach emphasizes personal responsibility, relational support, and pathways toward lasting independence.
BOB WOODSON
Bob Woodson is a civil rights veteran and founder of the Woodson Center, where he has spent decades supporting grassroots leaders in underserved communities. He is known for identifying and elevating “neighborhood healers” who are addressing social challenges from within. Woodson’s work emphasizes self-determination, local leadership, and the enduring strength of civil society.