Alameda Education Foundation awards Teacher Mini-Grant for student podcast at Love Elementary
We can learn a lot from our children. A perfect example comes from Ms. Ryan Brazil’s fourth graders at Love Elementary School.
Students have created a podcast called “Little Minds Big Talks” which aims to educate and inspire elementary school students nationwide. The podcast addresses critical topics such as racism, gender identity, empathy, and more with fresh and youthful perspectives.
Through heartfelt conversations with experts and community members, the podcast aims to promote inclusivity, empathy, and understanding in elementary schools across the country. In fact, the first two podcasts focus on neurodiversity.
In addition, students are empowered to run every aspect of the podcast, nurturing skills in communication, research, and leadership. Something this extraordinary does not have regular school funding, so Ms. Brazil looked to the Alameda Education Foundation (AEF) for help.
AEF was able to provide a Teacher Mini-Grant to fund purchases of microphones, headphones, USB audio interface, TRS pro balanced interconnect cables, a room divider, soundproofing panels, and a headphone amplifier. These resources enhance production quality, expand the podcast’s reach, and provide resources for students, enabling the empowerment of young voices and fostering a more informed and empathetic generation—something our world certainly needs.
The teacher wrote: “My class and I have been diving into our new products that we got from your generous grant. We have recorded a trailer and two full podcast episodes so far. We even had the mayor of Alameda in our class yesterday for an interview! …Thank you so much for helping to make this a reality!”
Check out the podcast trailer. And listen to “Little Minds Big Talk” podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Overcast, Castro, Castbox, Goodpods, Podfriend, or the podcast app of your choice.
Thank you to our children for leading the way in addressing difficult subjects and fostering empathy, to Ms. Brazil for recognizing the power of youth voices, and to all who make such extraordinary work possible through generous support of AEF.
This story was provided by AEF Staff and Ryan Brazil.
