Two staunch child advocates, Bruce Lesley of First Focus on Children and Phoebe Boyer of Children’s Aid, talk about the detrimental impact of poverty on children and the crucial role of social safety nets and nonprofit organizations in mitigating this harm.

“Every aspect of the life of a child is negatively impacted by poverty. It impacts their health, their education, their early childhood, their nutrition, their housing situation, and also abuse and neglect,” Lesley states.

“I look at every child that comes into our programs as having incredible potential, and there are all these barriers in their way, and our job is to remove those barriers,” says Boyer. Both guests stress that all of us have a role to play in protecting children against proposed changes and cuts to safety net programs that threaten kids’ wellbeing and ability to thrive.

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