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Connections

What will help families most when it comes to affording basic necessities?

Four smiling people wearing headphones sit around a table in a radio talk studio: a man front left has short brown hair and a brown mustached and beard and is wearing glasses, a black polo shirt, khaki pants, and white sneakers; a woman back left has braided black hair and is wearing glasses and a multicolored dress; a woman back center has long brown hair and is wearing glasses and a dark top; a man at right has very short dark hair and is wearing a grey button-down shirt, jeans, and blue and grey sneakers.
Mary Hussong-Kallen
/
WXXI News
(foreground) Pete Nabozny, (background) Tianna Johnson, and Madison Byrne with host Evan Dawson on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Friday, August 14, 2026
WXXI News

Which expense is most difficult for your family to afford?

That question was raised during a recent public hearing hosted by New York State's Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council. The goal was to hear from the public about the financial challenges they face, while also examining the council's anti-poverty efforts.

What's working? What challenges still need to be addressed? And what kinds of support do families say they need? We discuss those questions with our guests, and we talk about how expected cuts at the federal level could affect local families.

In studio:

Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.
Megan Mack is the executive producer of "Connections with Evan Dawson" and live/televised engagement programming.
Julie Williams is an associate producer for "Connections with Evan Dawson." She started at WXXI in 2019 and has been working on Connections since 2022.