On the Radio with Rick Steves: Stories of Progress and Possibility

Rick Steves and David Beckmann in the Tigray region of Ethiopia in 2016, scouting locations for Rick’s television special, Hunger and Hope: Lessons from Ethiopia and Guatemala.

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with my friend Rick Steves to talk about ending poverty on his radio show, “Travel with Rick Steves.” It was a thoughtful and hopeful conversation, and I hope you’ll listen. Rick's radio show is broadcast across the U.S. and provided an incredible opportunity to reach a new audience with the messages in Poverty Abolitionists—Rick wrote the forward to the book. We discussed the power of effective foreign assistance and touched on policies that have helped drive progress against hunger and poverty. Our conversation includes stories from a trip we took together in 2016 to Ethiopia and Guatemala, where we saw first-hand the impact aid programs can have on individuals, families and communities. Rick later returned and filmed his 2020 special titled Hunger and Hope: Lessons from Ethiopia and Guatemala.

Sadly,  progress against hunger and poverty around the world is now grinding to a halt. Cuts to U.S. foreign assistance and other policies of the second Trump administration are a major cause.  But we know that progress is possible, and concerned people can help get things moving again. That’s what Poverty Abolitionists is about. You can listen to our full conversation below.