If we choose to trust unconditionally, how many lives could we change? When Pastor Bruce Deel took over the Mission Church in the 30314 zip code of Atlanta, he had orders to shut it down. The church was old and decrepit, and its neighborhood--known as "Better Leave, You Effing Fool," or "the Bluff," for short--had the highest rates of crime, homelessness, and incarceration in Georgia. Expecting his time there to only last six months, Deel was not prepared for what happened next. One Sunday, he was approached by a woman he didn't know. "I've been hooking and stripping for fourteen years," she said. "Can you help me?" Soon after, Bruce founded an organization called City of Refuge rooted in the principle of radical trust. Other nonprofits might drug test before offering housing, lock up valuables, or veto a program giving job skills and character references to felons as "a liability." But Bruce believed the best way to improve outcomes for the marginalized and impoverished was to extend them trust, even if that trust was violated multiple times--and even if someone didn't yet trust themselves. Since then, City of Refuge has helped over 20,000 people in Atlanta's toughest neighborhood escape the cycles of homelessness, joblessness, and drug abuse. Of course, trust alone can't overcome a broken system that perpetuates inequality. Presenting an unvarnished window into the lives of ex-cons, drug addicts, human trafficking survivors, and displaced souls who have come through City of Refuge, Trust First examines the context in which Bruce's Atlanta neighborhood went downhill--and what City of Refuge chose to do about it. They've become a one-stop-shop for transitional housing, on-site medical and mental health care, childcare, and vocational training, including accredited intensives in auto tech, culinary arts, and coding. While most social services focus on one pain point and leave the burden on the poor to find the crosstown bus that'll serve their other needs, Bruce argues that bringing someone out of homelessness requires treating all of their needs simultaneously. This model has proven so effective that a dozen new chapters of City of Refuge have opened in the US, including in California, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, Texas, and Georgia. More than a narrative about a single place in time, this radical primer for behavioral change belongs on every leader's shelf. Heartfelt, deeply personal, and inspiring, Trust First will break down your assumptions about whether anyone is ever truly a lost cause. Bruce will donate a portion of his proceeds from Trust First to the charitable organization City of Refuge.

In this fast-paced murder mystery, Detective Joe Zuma returns from his vacation with his wife, Claudia, a landscape painter, and is met with the murder of two women, one of whom was a teacher at a private high school. Claudia lands a part-time job in the same school teaching art while continuing to paint landscapes of Santa Monica, a city adjacent to Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean. A parent where Claudia teaches is eager to have her work with her child who is depressed because of the loss of her teacher (the victim) and her father. Zuma recognizes the parent as the suspect from an earlier crime whom Zuma believed had murdered her husband. Claudia’s painting interests are captured by the hobos who live on the bluffs in Santa Monica, an area adjacent to the Pacific Ocean. Her painting of a hobo is stolen, and its investigation leads to the uncovering of drug-selling connections between the hobo, his very rich and successful brother, the victim and her German-speaking parents, a principal and students, a homeless woman, as well as the murders of three of these characters. Interspersed between the solving of these murders is the romantic bantering of Claudia and the Bob Dylan–loving Zuma and their genuine love. The resolution to the previously unsolved murder involves the transformation of Zuma from a single-minded pursuit of justice to a delicate balancing of justice and mercy.

A certified career counselor provides practical tips and strategies to help midlife career changers identify the best career-change options, update their resumes, interview with confidence, and successfully find jobs. As the definition of work and retirement continues to evolve, those at midlife have more opportunity than ever to design the jobs they have always wanted. Second Chance: How Career Changers Can Find a Great Job shows how it's done. Starting with an overview of midlife, retirement trends, and the benefits of older employees, the book details both the issues involved in making a career change and the career options available to career changers. Expert career counselor Mary E. Ghilani helps readers analyze why they want to change their career, develop a change plan, and explore the best career options for their particular circumstances. Readers will discover how to find a new job using the latest technology, how to effectively market oneself to potential employers, how to upgrade a resume, and how to improve interviewing skills. Self-reflective exercises; tips on finding a job in a tight economy; and helpful career, educational, and employment resources round out this comprehensive guide.

For fans of Angie Thomas, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Jenny Torres Sanchez Juana's life has taken a dark turn. Accused of her husband’s death, she's now a seventeen-year-old mother, alone and undocumented in a prison cell. No one believes her when she claims she's innocent, not even the prison staff or the gang leader in her block who torments her relentlessly. Her only solace is in her baby, but as Juana struggles to survive the dangers lurking in prison, the threat outside grows even more terrifying. Her husband's furious family wants to take the child away. With no hope in sight, Juana discovers a glimmer of light in a small patch of earth in the prison yard. As she nurtures the plants, memories of her mother's strength and resilience surface, pushing Juana to fight for her freedom and her daughter's future. This is a story of courage, hope, and determination in the face of impossible odds.

Named a Best Business Book of 2021 by Soundview Magazine Reclaim the power of genuine human connection Networking is often considered a necessary evil for all working professionals. With social media platforms like Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at our disposal, reaching potential investors or employers is much easier. Yet, these connections often feel transactional, agenda-driven, and dehumanizing, leaving professionals feeling burnt out and stressed out. Instead, we should connect on a human level and build authentic relationships beyond securing a new job or a new investor for your next big idea. To build real and meaningful networking contacts, we need to go back to basics, remembering that technology is a tool and more than just a means to an end. We need to tap into our humanity and learn to be more intentional and authentic. As a “serial connector” and communications expert, Susan McPherson has a lifetime of experience building genuine connections in and out of work. Her methodology is broken down into three simple steps: Gather: Instead of waiting for the perfect networking opportunity to come to you, think outside the box and create your own opportunity. Host your own dinner party, join a local meet-up group, or volunteer at your neighborhood food pantry. Ask: Instead of leading with our own rehearsed elevator pitches asking for help, ask to help, opening the door to share resources, experience, contacts, and perspectives that add diversity to your own vision. Do: Turn new connections into meaningful relationships by taking these newly formed relationships deeper. Follow through on the promises you made and keep in touch. Woven together with helpful tips and useful advice on making the most out of every step, this book draws on McPherson’s own experience as a renowned “serial connector,” as well as the real life success stories of friends and clients. Filled with humor, humility, and wisdom, The Lost Art of Connecting is the handbook we all need to foster personal and professional relationships that blur the lines between work and play—and enrich our lives in every way.

Navy SEAL Damon Hamblin’s life is in turmoil after he’s served with divorce papers during his last deployment. He crashes into a sleepy Florida Gulf Coast town to drown his sorrows and just fade into the background, where no one knows him and he can drink, surf and lay out on the beach until his insides heal. The last thing he wants is to rebound into another relationship. Martel Long came to Sunset Beach five years ago to visit a friend, and never left. She’s tried to forget the man who broke her heart back home, and had been doing a good job of it, until she comes face to face with him at a Bachelorette party for her best friend at a local beach bar. As sparks fly and old wounds are torn open, the sands at Sunset Beach help to heal a beautiful love story that could have been, and will be again.

A powerful exploration of the human capacity for renewal, as seen through Shakespeare and Freud In this fresh investigation, Stephen Greenblatt and Adam Phillips explore how the second chance has been an essential feature of the literary imagination and a promise so central to our existence that we try to reproduce it again and again. Innumerable stories, from the Homeric epics to the New Testament, and from Oedipus Rex to Hamlet, explore the realization or failure of second chances—outcomes that depend on accident, acts of will, or fate. Such stories let us repeatedly rehearse the experience of loss and recovery: to know the joy that comes with a renewal of love and pleasure and to face the pain that comes with realizing that some damage can never be undone. Through a series of illuminating readings, the authors show how Shakespeare was the supreme virtuoso of the second chance and Freud was its supreme interpreter. Both Shakespeare and Freud believed that we can narrate our life stories as tales of transformation, of momentous shifts, constrained by time and place but often still possible. Ranging from The Comedy of Errors to The Winter’s Tale, and from D. W. Winnicott to Marcel Proust, the authors challenge readers to imagine how, as Phillips writes, “it is the mending that matters.&rdquo