This isn’t your typical back to school week… Walking through the aisles of Target has been a different experience for the past several months (it was feeling like low-stakes Hunger Games for a minute) but what has been most eye-opening lately is how different back to school shopping has felt…

I used to be quick to label a year with challenges as a “lonnnnng year” and I can imagine many of you nodding along with me in regards to 2020. But, recently I’ve had a shift of perspective. Maybe it’s the gift of hindsight, but I reflect back on those “long years” and instead label that time as it truly was – transformative. Which brings me to this moment, the one-year anniversary of leaving my home state of Michigan to become the President & CEO of this great, historic agency…

As we celebrate this Juneteenth holiday that has been proceeded by social unrest and cries for equality, justice, and freedom, it cannot be lost that all the hopes and promise Juneteenth celebrates has not come to pass.  One hundred years after, Martin Luther King, Jr told the world about his dream of fulfilling that promise…

“Remember, you don’t have to be perfect.” It’s what I tell myself when I fall short on a run, and it is what I have to tell most prospective foster parents when they worry they lack what it takes to parent a child in need. Unfortunately, it is that expectation of perfection that keeps so many loving people from opening their homes to the hundreds and thousands of children in the foster care system…

During a time when there has been so much disruption to our way of life I ask myself daily, “what has remained steady?” Maybe it’s not our travel plans or our hairstyle, but where I do see continuity is where it matters most. Maintained family support at Vista Del Mar. Throughout our agency, families continue to receive the highest level of care and support during this worldwide crisis…

The ripple effect of millions of schools closing due to a health crisis has created a sub crisis: “what do I do with my kids all day?” As a parent of two, I know that would have probably been my first question. To help ease your concerns, here are some suggestions to keep your little…

Here’s a bold but true statement. Women and their leadership forged Vista into the progressive and dynamic agency it is today. While it’s true women comprise 73% of the workforce in most nonprofits, only 21% are in leadership roles. Compare those numbers to Vista Del Mar where women in leadership positions represent eight out of…