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 Children initiative you can visit, Thriving Families
Community In-Site
How Do We Build Public Assistance Programs So Families Grow Beyond Them with Commissioner Clarence Carter
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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.
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