Shows
Peace4Kids PodcastBlack and Brown Realities – Division, Solidarity, History & HopeIn this powerful episode of The Peace4Kids, ROCMove Podcast, we dive deep into the complex racial experiences of Black and Brown communities, exploring history, systemic barriers, and the narratives that have both united and divided these groups.Host, Leila Garcia, shares personal reflections on growing up Mexican-American and navigating cultural identity. Zaid Gayle brings his historical insight into the Black experience, from redlining and migration to modern-day challenges. Together, they unpack divisive media rhetoric, immigration struggles, law enforcement issues, and the perceptions of race.Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation that sheds light on...
2025-03-1338 min
Peace4Kids PodcastWelcome to Season 3In this episode we meet the host of Season 3! We explore their hopes and concerns for this season, and how vulnerability and speaking your truth can have some unintended consequences.
As always, we invite you to offer your suggestions for topics that you'd like us to explore. You can message us directly on Instagram @ Peace4Kids or ROCMove, or email us at podcast@peace4kids.org.
Episode music graciously provided by Stephen Muldrow
2025-01-3124 minPeace4Kids PodcastThe Power of Self-CareAs Black History Month comes to a close and Women's History Month begins, Mir celebrates this moment with a conversation with two dynamic leaders in the Peace4Kids community.
Jhamasa Lewis-Adams and Jasmine Lamitte discuss how, as Black women, they have developed holistic practices to ensure their sense of safety and wellbeing, They also highlight how they are sharing these practices through the launch of THRIVE, a Peace4Kids program serving young adults leaving the foster care system.
For more information on THRIVE please click here or check out details on our website.
...
2024-02-2940 min
Peace4Kids PodcastThe "Mind Over (Foster Care) Matter" EpisodeThis episode (recorded live on the beautiful campus of Cal State LA) features longtime community advocate, educator, and Pomona's own: Meet Miranda Sheffield.
Our conversation is sweeping. Learn about the tenacity of our guest, what foster care was like in the late 20th century, the importance of the Foster Care Ombudsperson Office to youth in foster care, and the nuanced implications of the child welfare system.
Learn More
In California, if you want to learn more about the Foster Youth Bill of Rights or you are concerned...
2023-08-1036 min
Peace4Kids PodcastThe "GO PATO!" (Part 2) EpisodeWhere were we? In case you missed it: we heard from the Legendary Pato Banton in Part One of this series.
For Part Two, we pick up where we left off, with Pato confronting himself at a creative crossroads.
This episode features live performance footage from Pato's Peace4Kids concert at our 25 Year Family Reunion :)
Don't miss a heartfelt reflection on innovation, determination and transformation.
#GoPato #Peace4Kids #25Years #FamilyReunion
2023-06-2241 min
Peace4Kids PodcastThe Foster Care Mental X Health Month EpisodeThe stars align for this episode of the podcast where Zaid introduces the newest addition to the Peace4Kids community: Jasmine Lamitte (Director of Mental Health and Wellness). Stick around for an in-depth conversation between two leaders and subject-matter experts (and of course the very loud opinions of our local neighborhood rooster) in the spirit of National Foster Care and Mental Health Awareness month.
We want to hear from you as well! Leave us a comment on social media, make a note to yourself, or share with someone you care about: What daily or weekly habits do...
2023-05-3023 min
Peace4Kids PodcastThe Legacy EpisodeThe Legacy Episode
In celebration of Black History Month, we are consciously leaning into the future. Join Miriam, Noah, Zaid, and the Peace4Kids community (youth, caregivers, volunteers, staff, and program alumni) in a collage of ideas that honor our collective history and personal legacies in progress.
As always, reach out if there is a topic you want to see discussed that relates to foster care or the foster care experience. If you have something you want to add to the topic of Black history or legacy, let us know, too!
Editor’s No...
2023-03-0421 min
Peace4Kids PodcastThe "At Risk" EpisodeThe “At Risk” Episode
Miriam and Noah are back in time for National Mentoring Month to demystify mentoring x foster care: what is mentoring? How do young people manage the road to independence? What might it mean to mentor a young person in foster care?
This episode digs into formal and informal definitions of mentoring; hear from the community directly to gain multiple insights into how culture, psychology, and policy shape how society understands independence after foster care.
Works Referenced
California Department of Education — Foster Care & California Schools
...
2023-02-0139 min
Peace4Kids PodcastWelcome To Season TwoWelcome to Season Two of the Peace4Kids X ROCMove Podcast 🚀 Meet Miriam and Noah who introduce themselves, share how Peace4Kids and Revolution of Care Movement (ROCMove) are connected, and what to anticipate in Season Two.
This is an interactive, community-centric podcast: We genuinely want to hear from you! This platform is all about community and learning. We don’t know it all, and that’s the beauty of setting a big table: pull up! If there is something you’d like to share or discuss with us that intersects with foster care, please reach out to us!...
2022-12-1615 minPeace4Kids PodcastThe Pandemic Episode"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." - Alice Walker
Every crisis provides a distinct privilege to those who chose to embrace it. This does not mean there is no suffering, but rather a space to integrate it into our awareness. The pandemic has provided a unique chance for us to experience life the way youth in foster care do. A sudden and shocking removal from everything familiar... our relationships, our consistent spaces, and a disorienting uncertainty.
In this episode, we hear pandemic reflections from two m...
2022-10-1930 min
Peace4Kids PodcastA Mindful Movement w Dr. Niki Elliott"We are triggered from our places of marginalization but we react from our places of privilege" - unknown
In this episode, the Peace4Kids community along with Dr. Niki Elliott, Clinical Professor and Director of the Center of Neurodiversity, Learning and Wellness at the University of La Verne, explore the health benefits of mindfulness practices and the launch of our Heart Centered Connections partnership and certification.
Learn More:
https://www.peace4kids.org/justice_in_the_classroom
Dr. Niki Elliott:
https://www.mindful-leaders.org/about-drniki/
https://youtube.co...
2022-06-0222 min
Peace4Kids PodcastReflecting on the Tragedy in UvaldeAs someone who has spent my adult life being in service, it is easy to feel stressed and overwhelmed by the circumstances. I know that many of you are feeling the same way. In these times it is easy to isolate and bury ourselves in our emotions. There is a certain solace to knowing that you can retreat to an inner sanctum and tune out the noise of the world. Indeed, it is a path that I often take.
However, this moment feels different. I still feel unfathomable pain, but I no longer think that nesting with...
2022-05-2821 min
Peace4Kids PodcastThe Pointless Forest"Our differences are what color the world" - Angelica Nwandu
In this episode, author Angelica Nwandu and illustrator Miriam Alejandra Cortez Cáceres discuss how they authentically represented the foster care journey in their new children's book The Pointless Forest. From shame and feeling small, to building community, owning their differences and ultimately impacting the world around them.
THE POINTLESS FOREST
LEARN MORE: https://www.rocmove.org/the_pointless_forest_book
BUY NOW: https://www.rocmove.org/pointless_forest_donation
2022-05-1428 min
Bonus BabiesZaid Gayle: They Treat Us Like We're BrokenSend us a textJayne Amelia talks with Peace4kids.org Co-Founder and Executive Director Zaid Gayle.During his tenure at Peace4Kids, Zaid has had the opportunity to blend his experience in the film industry as a Coordinator and Assistant Director to ensure that media is an integral part of improving the lives of foster youth. Most specifically, Zaid was the lead in designing and launching the Peapod Music & Arts Academy in 2008 at the Watts/Willowbrook Boys & Girls Club. The Peapod Music & Arts Academy was the vision of Black Eyed Peas band...
2022-05-071h 09
Ear Snacks Podcast for KidsSeeds & Ideas: How do they grow?What does a seed need to grow? A kid? An idea? Andrew & Polly ask many different people about growing many different things.
How does bird poop bring the world together? With peppers, of course! Uncle Fred tells us about germination, the first World's Hottest Pepper (Bhut Jolokia), and... BIRD POOP. If you aren't a dragon and like spicy stuff, you can check out the Sparkling River Pepper Company's smoke dried peppers, sauces and spice blends at sparking-river.com
Our neighbor Miriam takes us to visit the Peace Garden, an urban garden space at Peace4Kids in S...
2022-04-0628 minPeace4Kids PodcastLove#1 Creating Family"I sustain myself with the love of family." - Maya Angelou
At Peace4Kids we believe that you are born to relatives but you choose your family. It is this choice, the commitment to love as you are, that lays the foundation for our experience in the world. If we are diligent about our choices we can nurture love and watch it grow and challenge our assumptions. If we are careless, we litter our emotional landscape with unresolved feelings and unmet expectations.
In this first episode in our LOVE series, we speak to Jayde and Luis about honoring their heart t...
2021-07-3140 minPeace4Kids PodcastFreedom"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." - Frederick Douglass
How do we practice the art of being free? At Peace4Kids we have a practice of discovering answers to important questions through living through shared experiences. In honor of Juneteenth, we brought our community together for an in-person exploration on the concept of freedom. Juneteenth commemorates the last of American slaves learning that they were liberated from one of the greatest stains on our humanity. However, there is still evidence that America still struggles with the residual effects of slavery. From the littlest members...
2021-06-2621 minPeace4Kids PodcastConfidence Club"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." - Maya Angelou
How do you share your authentic self with the world? This is a question many youth in foster care wrestle with as they build the confidence to live out loud regardless of their circumstances.
On this episode Zaid & Jacob introduce Charmaine Griffin as she shares her personal story of leaning into a confident life. She is the founder of the vegan hair care brand, Kollective Koils (@kollectivekoils) and the originator of Confidence Club, a nine week program designed for the f...
2021-06-1130 min
Peace4Kids PodcastPerceptions w/Dr NashOur beliefs shape how we see the world.
In honor of National Foster Care month, Zaid and Miriam explore the public’s biases toward youth in foster care and the impact it has on our community. As one of the founders of the Revolution of Care Movement (ROCMove), Dr. Noah Nash, shares his strategy towards change in foster care from the bottom up. His research centers on the intersection of technology and foster care and unpacks the negative effects of media perceptions on marginalized communities.
ROCMove is a new initiative of Peace4Kids that honors the raw, unfiltered, authentic voices fr...
2021-05-2828 min
Peace4Kids PodcastChanges"The only thing that is constant is change." Heraclitus
In this episode, we dive into the idea of change with Laura Cortez as she reflects on loss and disruption caused by the pandemic and how adapting to life away from her friends, sisters, and school reminded her of her experience in foster care.
A recent graduate from Barnard College of Columbia University, Laura shares the lessons she's learned and the resilience that helped her persevere and make it through.
Watch Teen Vogue's "My Culture is Not a Costume" featuring Laura Cortez... https://www.youtu...
2021-05-2139 minPeace4Kids PodcastMotheringWhy do we call it "Mothering Day"? Our community has a very different relationship with the idea of motherhood. For young people in foster care there is a need to reconcile the disruption of their biological family to create chosen family.
In this first episode of the Peace4Kids podcast we explore the lived experience of women from foster care who have redefined mothering to create safe and nurturing spaces for themselves and the children they love. We're giving these remarkable women the flowers they deserve right now!
Watch Peace4Kids and USC's award winning...
2021-05-0852 min
Everything is the BestThe Changing Lives of Youth in Foster Care with Zaid GayleZaid Gayle is the co-founder of Peace4Kids, a non-profit, volunteer supported organization based on trust, equity and stability for children in foster care. I found out about the program from Instagram, after asking my audience how I can get involved in the foster care community. I was sent their profile by the hundreds, and quickly realized this was a uniquely special place. Peace4Kids listens, rather than teaches. They use volunteers, so the kids have an adult who has chosen them, rather than gets paid to be there. They work on building trusting relationships within their community of...
2020-08-1251 min
We Need Each OtherPEACE4KIDSZaid Gayle's desire is to have the youth in foster care become the masters of their destiny.Zaid serves as the Executive Director of Peace4Kids and oversees an ambitious organizational growth plan, with the intended impact of helping youth in foster care cultivate their strengths and transition successfully into adulthood.
2020-07-2043 min
For The Life Of Me#133 SUPER HEROS OF PEACE 4 KIDS WITH ZAID GAYLEZaid Gayle shares his experience of over 22 years nurturing foster youth of south central Los Angeles who are rewriting their stories by transforming their trauma into their superpowers. We discuss moving from the othering of experience into the collective experience of humanity // Accessing the power for paradigm shift // Super-hero work! // Embracing oneness and embodying the truth of who we are // Radical personal shift // Moving out of paralysis into co-creation
"The most radical thing that we can do is to be in the place where we are absolute love - be in the place where we are absolute joy" - Zaid Ga...
2020-07-0341 min
Belly of the Beast Life Stories & Beyond with David AllShattering the Spiritual Glass with Zaid GayleLet me introduce you to Zaid Gayle. Zaid was born in South Los Angeles. He was the son to social workers, a family that was instrumental in the early days of the Black Panther Party. Zaid's journey started out in the entertainment industry making films, but now he's back building peace in Compton as a leading youth advocate. Zaid is co-founder and executive director of Peace4Kids, a nonprofit that provides a safe space for youth in foster care to build meaningful relationships with each other and adults. As a volunteer there, I've spent time alone with Zaid listening...
2020-01-2000 min