staceybooks

The nonprofit world is facing one of its toughest seasons yet. Across the country, organizations are being stretched thin as the need for services grows while resources become harder to secure. At Persevere, we see this reality every single day. We work alongside men, women, and youth who are rebuilding their lives after incarceration or…

Nothing. That’s it. That’s the blog. But if I stop here, you’ll feel shortchanged, so let’s take a moment to truly explore…nothing. Nothing is the space between words, the pause in a conversation, the gap between one thought and the next. Nothing is the quiet hum of life when everything else gets still. It’s the…

It’s 11:00, and I’m staring at my house like it’s a battlefield. Today is supposed to be the day – the day I finally purge everything we haven’t used in the last 3 – 6 months. Sounds simple, right? Wrong. This isn’t just cleaning. This is a mission. A solo mission. And I’m dreading it…

Change doesn’t always announce itself with fanfare. Sometimes it comes as a quiet tug at your heart, a heaviness you can’t shake, or the sense that life is moving forward and you’re still stuck in the same place. Other times, it shows up as a storm – forcing you to confront what you’ve been trying…

On August 28th, I turn 50. That number feels big, not because I’m afraid of getting older, but because it carries weight. It’s half a century of surviving, stumbling, rebuilding, and growing. It’s five decades of living through struggles I never imagined I’d face and blessings I never thought I deserved. The Year I Was…

I’m talking to you…the one who walks into a family room and braces. The one whose past, pain, or private life gets dragged out like a prop. You’re not overreacting. You’re being weaponized, and you don’t have to live like that. This isn’t theory. This is a practical, say-it-tonight moment to stop the damage and…

When we talk about reducing crime, the conversation too often centers around longer sentences and bigger prisons. But what if the most cost-effective way to reduce crime is not by locking more people up, but by educating them? I read a groundbreaking study by Audrey Bazos and Jessica Hausman at UCLA (Correctional Education as a…

Today I lost a friend. He came into my life when I was just 17. My daughter grew up calling him “Uncle,” not by blood, but by the kind of loyalty and history that runs deeper than DNA. He was her dad’s best friend since kindergarten. Always around. Always part of the story. Always in…