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 61 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Unknown Host hosts Community In-Site, a society show with 61 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 #18

  Why Diaper Banks Can Be Key to Preventing a Family Crisis with Dr. Megan Smith

  Sep 17, 202639 minS3

  Diapers may seem like a small need, but for families raising babies, diaper insecurity can affect child care, work, parental stress, health, social connection, and the choices families are forced to make every day. In recognition of National Diaper Need Awareness Week, September 14-20, 2026, this episode asks what becomes possible when family well-being policy begins with the needs families are already naming before those needs become crises. In this episode of Community In-Site, host Valerie Frost speaks with Dr. Megan V. Smith, Chief of Innovation & Impact at the National Diaper Bank Network, about diaper need, the Super Bundle, and why immediate material support can be an entry point to something much larger: maternal well-being, direct cash support, economic security, and long-term opportunity through baby bonds. Together, Valerie and Dr. Smith explore why upstream prevention has to become concrete, what it means to meet today’s needs while planning for tomorrow’s growth, and how family-centered policies can move forward even when they run into old debates about work, dependency, deservingness, personal responsibility, and the role of government. 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. https://thrivingfamiliessaferchildren.org/ Here are some resources that Dr. Smith wants to share with you. Index - National Diaper Bank Network The NDBN Diaper Check 2026 - National Diaper Bank Network Urban Institute Partnership - National Diaper Bank Network Superbundle 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 #17

  What's Best for Newborns and Parents When Substance Use Is Involved? With Dr. Sharon Ostfeld-Johns

  Sep 3, 202648 minS3

  When substance use is involved during pregnancy, the instinct to protect a baby can quickly lead to testing, reporting, child welfare involvement, and possible separation. But what if pregnancy is also one of the most important opportunities we have to help a parent recover, stabilize, and safely care for their child? In this episode of Community In-Site, host Valerie Frost speaks with Dr. Sharon Ostfeld-Johns, who is dual board certified in internal medicine and pediatrics and is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Internal Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Ostfeld-Johns appears in this episode in her personal capacity and not as a representative of any organization. Dr. Ostfeld-Johns has worked to rethink how hospitals respond when babies are born substance exposed, including reducing unnecessary newborn toxicology testing and developing more compassionate Family Care Plans. Her work raises a central question: can systems respond seriously to risk without automatically treating substance exposure as evidence that a parent and baby should be separated? Together, Valerie and Dr. Ostfeld-Johns explore why pregnancy can be such an important window for treatment and support, how stigma and fear can push parents away from care, what compassionate Family Care Plans look like in practice, and how CAPTA notifications, child welfare reports, and hospital decision-making can become conflated. The conversation asks whether infant safety and family preservation have to be competing goals, or whether a more coordinated and evidence-informed response can give babies and parents a better chance to remain together safely. 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 Dr. Otsfeld-Johns wants to share with you. Sharon Ostfeld-Johns, MD, IBCLC | Yale School of Medicine Why Some Doctors Are Pushing to End Routine Drug Testing During Childbirth - Reveal Folder - Google Drive 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 #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

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.