Community In-Site

Community In-site is about the family well-being movement. Hosts Tecoria Jones and Elliott Hinkle bring their lived expertise with the child welfare system as well as their professional insights to each episode. We'll be talking to leaders, advocates, and community members who are working from the grassroots to the grasstops on strategies to invest in the well-being of families and communities in order to prevent child welfare involvement. The show will feature stories and lessons from community sites (featuring Thriving Families, Safer Children sites) that make the family well-being movement real and personal. Each episode will unpack a specific topic (e.g. racial equity or community partnerships) and what can be learned from the challenges and successes. The hosts hope to leave listeners with something they can take into their own work to help grow the movement in their community. For more information about the family well-being movement and Thriving Families, Safer Child

Community In-Site is a society podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 58 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Community In-Site, a society show with 58 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  Episode #16

  How One College is Creating the Conditions for Students from Foster Care to Succeed with Nailah McDowell and RaMaj Parker

  Aug 20, 202637 minS3

  Getting into college and succeeding in college are two very different things. Young people with foster care experience have gained greater access to college through tuition assistance, scholarships, and enrollment support. But if access alone were enough, completion rates would look very different. In this episode of Community In-Site , host Valerie Frost talks with Livingstone College Vice President Nailah McDowell and student RaMaj Parker about what changes when an institution asks a different question: not simply whether students are ready for college, but whether the college is ready for its students. Livingstone spent nearly a year preparing before welcoming its cohort, looking beyond tuition and academics to belonging, relationships, trust, and the kinds of support that rarely appear on a financial-aid form. Nailah shares what it takes to design that kind of institutional response, while RaMaj offers his own perspective on what support, trust, and belonging look like in practice. Together, Valerie, RaMaj, and Nailah explore whether real opportunity requires more than opening the door, and what it would look like for institutions to take responsibility for creating the conditions students need to stay, grow, and succeed. Community In-Site is now on YouTube . You can go to the website to listen to episodes, access information and resources, and subscribe to the email newsletter. Podcasts Archive - Thriving Families Here are some resources that Nailah and RaMaj wanted to share with you. Livingstone College | Excellence – The Livingstone Way HBCU looking to offer foster care students HOPE (and money) - HBCU Gameday A Model HBCU Program Nurtures Students Who Have Experienced Foster Care - The Annie E. Casey Foundation We appreciate you spreading awareness by sharing this episode with your friends, family, and colleagues who care about family well-being. Please email us if you want to connect with the creative team or find out how to engage with the family well-being movement. comminsite@gmail.com

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #15

  How Do We Build Public Assistance Programs So Families Grow Beyond Them with Commissioner Clarence Carter

  Aug 6, 202636 minS3

  What happens when a public-systems leader with more than 30 years of experience is asked to move from a sweeping vision for reform to the realities families experience when they seek help? In this episode of Community In-Site , host Valerie Frost speaks with Tennessee Department of Human Services Commissioner Clarence Carter, author of Our Net Has Holes in It . Carter argues that America does not lack programs, funding, or the desire to help. It lacks a coherent design for helping people move from crisis toward lasting stability, dignity, and agency. Commissioner Carter offers a blueprint for redesigning public support around outcomes rather than transactions. But a blueprint is only as useful as our ability to translate it into daily practice, relationships, and decisions that families can actually experience. Together, Valerie and Commissioner Carter explore what it takes to move beyond what exists on paper, how leaders can connect policy intention to implementation, and whether systems can help families move from surviving to thriving and flourishing while preserving what matters most: their dignity, agency, and ability to define when support has truly worked. Community In-Site is now on YouTube . You can go to the website to listen to episodes, access information and resources, and subscribe to the email newsletter. Podcasts Archive - Thriving Families Here is a link to Commissioner Carter's new book. Our Net Has Holes In It: Carter, Clarence H: 9798895761267: Amazon.com: Books We appreciate you spreading awareness by sharing this episode with your friends, family, and colleagues who care about family well-being. Please email us if you want to connect with the creative team or find out how to engage with the family well-being movement. comminsite@gmail.com

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #14

  Is Our Definition of Prevention Right for What Families Need with Zach Laris

  Jul 23, 202642 minS3

  Prevention is one of the most common words in child welfare and family well-being conversations. But what are we actually trying to prevent? Are we trying to prevent foster care entry, family crisis, poverty, surveillance, or are we trying to build the conditions families need to thrive? In this episode of Community In-Site, host Valerie Frost speaks with Zach Laris, founder of Bolder Horizons and author of Child Welfare Wonk, about the Family First Prevention Services Act, federal financing, evidence standards, implementation, and the limits of the current prevention frame. Family First was meant to help move child welfare upstream by allowing federal dollars to be used for prevention services. But early data raises bigger questions about what prevention is designed to do, what states are incentivized to build, and whether a child welfare financing policy can carry the weight of a much larger family well-being vision. Together, Valerie and Zach explore whether Family First has exposed an implementation problem, a policy design problem, or something deeper: a vision problem. This conversation sits in the tension between policy possibility and family reality. Policy can create flexibility on paper, but families experience systems through implementation, trust, culture, and whether help feels safe enough to use. So the question is not only whether Family First is working. It is whether prevention is big enough for the family well-being vision we keep placing on it. Community In-Site is now on YouTube . You can go to the website to listen to episodes, access information and resources, and subscribe to the email newsletter. Podcasts Archive - Thriving Families Here are a few resources that Zach wanted to share with you. Weekly Wonk: Family First, Light on Families Being an Architect in a Firefighter Era - by Zach Laris WonkCast: People Power Policy | Zach Laris | Substack Child Welfare Wonk | Zach Laris | Substack We appreciate you spreading awareness by sharing this episode with your friends, family, and colleagues who care about family well-being. Please email us if you want to connect with the creative team or find out how to engage with the family well-being movement. comminsite@gmail.com

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #13

  How Hip Hop Culture Can Be a Cornerstone of Family Support with William Feggins and Camille Sledge

  Jul 9, 202638 minS3

  Family well-being is often discussed in terms of concrete resources and services. But what happens when family support is built from the cornerstone of community, culture, creativity, healing, and relationships? What if reimagined what’s possible for a family resource center. In this episode of Community In-Site , host Valerie Frost speaks with William and Camille, founders of School of Hip Hop in Phoenix, Arizona. They use hip hop culture to engage young people and families in ways they believe traditional systems often miss. Through music, dance, visual art, mentorship, and business education kids and their parents get the benefits of a typical family resource center plus so much. Drawing from their own lived experience with child welfare involvement, they reflect on why culturally grounded spaces matter, what it means to create community-centered support, and how relationships can become a form of prevention and healing. Their work eventually became connected to Arizona’s broader Family Resource Center movement through partnerships focused on prevention and community support. And while School of Hip Hop is not a traditional Family Resource Center, this conversation raises a broader question many communities are working through right now: If family well-being is truly about helping families thrive, what kinds of spaces actually help families feel safe enough to ask for help before a crisis happens? Community In-Site is now on YouTube . You can go to the website to listen to episodes, access information and resources, and subscribe to the email newsletter. Podcasts Archive - Thriving Families Here are a few resources that William and Camille wanted to share with you. School of HipHop Find Your Village WALKTHEPLANK.mp4 - Google Drive School of HipHop Radio #Shorts - YouTube Phoenix School of HipHop’s Afro Grooves fundraiser lights up Arizona We appreciate you spreading awareness by sharing this episode with your friends, family, and colleagues who care about family well-being. Please email us if you want to connect with the creative team or find out how to engage with the family well-being movement. comminsite@gmail.com

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #12

  Centering Fathers to Advance Justice with Carol Mitchell

  Jun 18, 202637 minS3

  Today’s episode is a re-release of the recording with Carol Mitchell from Season Two on June 19, 2025. This is a great episode for both Father’s Day and Juneteenth. In this episode, Valerie sits down with Carol Mitchell, a seasoned attorney, social justice advocate, and founder of the Institute for Black Justice (IBJ). With over 20 years of public sector leadership experience, Carol is dedicated to transforming how systems recognize and support Black fathers as essential caregivers and partners in family well-being. Based in Washington State, IBJ is committed to uplifting Black families by addressing systemic bias and promoting policies that center Black fathers’ dignity and leadership within family and community life. For example, the BABAS Program empowers dads to successfully navigate systemic challenges, achieve reunification with their children, and build healthy, enduring parent-child relationships. This episode explores the often-overlooked role of fathers, especially Black fathers, in caregiving and systems change. Carol and Valerie discuss the historical and cultural pressures shaping fatherhood, and why naming and centering fathers in child welfare and family support systems is critical for true justice and healing. Tune in to hear powerful stories from Carol’s advocacy work and discover practical ways child welfare leaders and others can shift their approach to engage fathers authentically and respectfully. Community In-Site is now on YouTube . You can go to the website to listen to episodes, access information and resources, and subscribe to the email newsletter. Podcasts Archive - Thriving Families Here are a few resources that Carol wanted to share with you. Institute for Black Justice - Social Justice, Family Advocacy Carol Mitchell, M.A., J.D. | LinkedIn Facebook We appreciate you spreading awareness by sharing this episode with your friends, family, and colleagues who care about family well-being. Please email us if you want to connect with the creative team or find out how to engage with the family well-being movement. comminsite@gmail.com

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on Community In-Site. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.