Business & Entrepreuner

Every year, hundreds of thousands of jailed Americans leave prison and return to society. Largely uneducated, unskilled, often without family support, and with the stigma of a prison record hanging over them, many if not most will experience serious social and psychological problems after release. Fewer than one in three prisoners receive substance abuse or mental health treatment while incarcerated, and each year fewer and fewer participate in the dwindling number of vocational or educational pre-release programs, leaving many all but unemployable. Not surprisingly, the great majority is rearrested, most within six months of their release. What happens when all those sent down the river come back up--and out?As long as there have been prisons, society has struggled with how best to help prisoners reintegrate once released. But the current situation is unprecedented. As a result of the quadrupling of the American prison population in the last quarter century, the number of returning offenders dwarfs anything in America's history. What happens when a large percentage of inner-city men, mostly Black and Hispanic, are regularly extracted, imprisoned, and then returned a few years later in worse shape and with dimmer prospects than when they committed the crime resulting in their imprisonment? What toll does this constant "churning" exact on a community? And what do these trends portend for public safety? A crisis looms, and the criminal justice and social welfare system is wholly unprepared to confront it.Drawing on dozens of interviews with inmates, former prisoners, and prison officials, Joan Petersilia convincingly shows us how the current system is failing, and failing badly. Unwilling merely to sound the alarm, Petersilia explores the harsh realities of prisoner reentry and offers specific solutions to prepare inmates for release, reduce recidivism, and restore them to full citizenship, while never losing sight of the demands of public safety. As the number of ex-convicts in America continues to grow, their systemic marginalization threatens the very society their imprisonment was meant to protect. America spent the last decade debating who should go to prison and for how long. Now it's time to decide what to do when prisoners come home.

Practical, easy-to-follow guide contains virtually everything consumers need to know about home canning: how to select, prepare, and can fruits, vegetables, poultry, red meats and sea foods; how to preserve fruit spreads, fermented foods, and pickled vegetables; how to prepare foods for special diets, and much more.

If you've already taken an expensive seminar, don't read this. It will break your heart. Best selling author and national trainer, Barbara Jennings, has written an excellent guide on how to earn up to $100,000 or more from a home staging business. Director of the Academy of Staging and Redesign (Decorate-Redecorate.Com), she takes readers step by step through the maze of starting and growing a lucrative staging business, covering virtually everything one needs to know and more. She explores, explains and illustrates top business efforts, activities and opportunities. With 37 years of experience in staging and home business development, her large format manual teaches the essential tactics and strategies so anyone can succeed who puts forth the effort. Holding nothing back, she inspires and makes readers feel and sense they can and will do extraordinary things. It's loaded with numerous check lists, a wide variety of forms, over 140 pictures, specific how-to details and much more. Comprehensive dual certification courses for the most ambitious students, including visual aids and tools, are also available from the author's website.For anyone who loves decorating and working with people, staging continues to be a fast growing industry with great profit potential no matter what the economic climate or where one lives. It combines decorating techniques with real estate strategies so stagers can effectively help owners sell their homes in record time for record profits, a vital service needed today more than ever. Written in a personable and conversational style, this guide is a must read for anyone serious (or just exploring). Photos help capture the essence of staging while giving readers a clear idea of what to expect. No degree or prior experience is needed. The manual exemplifies solid business training plus decorating and staging specifics, including:numerous candid before and after pictures of actual, recent projectsthe top mistakes and common problems sellers make what stagers must do and understandhow to identify a home's assets and faultshow to interview and bond with real estate agentshow to interview and bond with home ownersthe five ingredients for a successful staging serviceprofessional image, attitudes and ethics neededhow to do consultations, submit bids, make presentationshow to set up the business, licenses to get and so forthhow to get clients and referrals from multiple sourceshow to profit from consultations and offer full staging serviceshow to promote, maintain and sustain the business indefinitelyhow to price services with confidence and easehow to protect, organize and prioritize 47 staging tricks for instant home appeal107 questions to ask agents and homeowners to help quote servicesdetailed pricing guidelines for furnished and empty houseslegal issues readers should know aboutextensive list of stager tools needed for actual projectsextensive cleaning and painting guidelinesa 29-page detailed checklist to make consultations easylist of over 300 possible business namesdetailed information on available visual aids, promotional tools, management tools, and dual certification courses. Bonus Section includes: 15 handy reproducible forms ready to gomultiple checklists and handout examples for value added servicesBarbara Jennings is author of 13 books on home staging and redesign (including Home Staging in Tough Times, and Director of the Academy of Staging and Redesign. She also offers certification courses for both industries and has trained over ten thousand consultants globally. Readers can join her free online forum and access many exclusive business building products from her website (Decorate-Redecorate.Com).

Twenty-eight-year-old protagonist Tommy Lee Tyson steps off the Greyhound bus in his hometown of Swamp Creek, Arkansas--a place he left when he was eighteen, vowing never to return. Yet fate and a Ph.D. in black studies force him back to his rural origins as he seeks to understand himself and the black community that produced him. A cold, nonchalant father and an emotionally indifferent mother make his return, after a ten-year hiatus, practically unbearable, and the discovery of his baby sister's death and her burial in the backyard almost consumes him. His mother watches his agony when he discovers his sister's tombstone, but neither she nor other family members is willing to disclose the secret of her death. Only after being prodded incessantly does his older brother, Willie James, relent and provide Tommy Lee with enough knowledge to figure out exactly what happened and why. Meanwhile, Tommy's seventy-year-old teacher--lying on her deathbed--asks him to remain in Swamp Creek and assume her position as the headmaster of the one-room schoolhouse. He refuses vehemently and she dies having bequeathed him her five thousand-book collection in the hopes that he will change his mind. Over the course of a one-week visit, riddled with tension, heartache, and revelation, Tommy Lee Tyson discovers truths about his family, his community, and his undeniable connection to rural Southern black folk and their ways.

How do cats know when it's time to go to the vet, even before the cat carrier comes out? How do dogs know when their owners are returning home at unexpected times? How can horses find their way back to the stable over completely unfamiliar terrain?With a scientist's mind and an animal lover's compassion, world-renowned biologist Rupert Sheldrake presents a groundbreaking exploration of animal behavior that will profoundly change the way we think about animals -- and ourselves. After five years of extensive research involving thousands of people who have pets and work with animals, Dr. Sheldrake proves conclusively what many pet owners already know: there is a strong connection between humans and animals that defies present-day scientific understanding. This remarkable book deserves a place next to the most beloved and valuable books on animals, including When Elephants Weep, Dogs Never Lie About Love, and The Hidden Life of Dogs.

Over the past several years church leaders have seen one report after another stating that over 50% of evangelical kids walk away from Christianity as adults. Believing the best strategy for turning the tide is to strengthen families, the authors seek to challenge leaders to restore their homes as the proving ground of meaningful success. It Starts at Home upholds marriage and family as the proving ground for lasting success. It helps recalibrate a leader’s priorities by asking them to evaluate their leadership where it counts most. Experienced leaders, speakers, and pastors Kurt Bruner and Steve Stroope provide a clear purpose, an effective strategy, and a simple plan for couples, parents, grandparents, and church leaders in this movement toward intentionality in the home. It isn't too late.  

Stouts, ales, lagers, porters, bitters, pilseners, specialtybeers, and meads. . .they're all remarkably easy to make! WithThe New Complete Joy of Home Brewing -- acclaimed by criticsand amateur brewmeisters alike as the best and most authoritative guide on the market -- you can learn to make beer just the way you like it! And it's fun! Whether you prefer a richer, creamier head, a more flavorsome, full-bodied brew, or a sparkling, sweeter ale -- from the lightest lager to the darkest stout -- as a home brewer you can make them all and even keg your own like the beer masters of old!Simple, Easy-to-Follow Sections on: Getting your home brewery together: the basics -- malt, hops, yeast and water 10 easy lessons to making your first bubbling batch of beerBrewing exciting world-class styles of beer that will impress and delight your friends Using fruit, honey and herbs for a spicier, feistier brewBrewing with malt extracts for an unlimited range of strengths and flavors. . .and much, much more!Plus: A complete home brewer's glossary; a fascinating look at the history of beer; details about the advanced world of all-grain and mash extract brewing; growing your own hops; more than 50 fantastic recipes-from Cherry Fever Stout to Monkey's Paw Brown Ale.Over 80 Illustrations -- Contains New Up-to-Date Information!

In the spring of 1972, Joyce Maynard, a freshman at Yale, published a cover story in The New York Times Magazine about life in the sixties. Among the many letters of praise, offers for writing assignments, and request for interviews was a one-page letter from the famously reclusive author, J.D. Salinger.Don't Go Away Sad is the story of a girl who loved and lived with J.D. Salinger, and the woman she became. A crucial turning point in Joyce Maynard's life occurred when her own daughter turned eighteen--the age Maynard was when Salinger first approached her. Breaking a twenty-five year silence, Joyce Maynard addresses her relationship with Salinger for the first time, as well as the complicated , troubled and yet creative nature of her youth and family. She vividly describes the details of the times and her life with the finesse of a natural storyteller.Courageously written by a women determined to allow her life to unfold with authenticity, Don't Go Away Sad is a testament to the resiliency of the spirit and the honesty of an unwavering eye.

From America to the Middle East and back again- the sparkling story of one girl's childhood, by an exciting new voice in literary fiction In this fresh, funny, and fearless debut novel, Randa Jarrar chronicles the coming-of-age of Nidali, one of the most unique and irrepressible narrators in contemporary fiction. Born in 1970s Boston to an Egyptian-Greek mother and a Palestinian father, the rebellious Nidali-whose name is a feminization of the word "struggle"-soon moves to a very different life in Kuwait. There the family leads a mildly eccentric middle-class existence until the Iraqi invasion drives them first to Egypt and then to Texas. This critically acclaimed debut novel is set to capture the hearts of everyone who has ever wondered what their own map of home might look like.