Stacy Erenberg

Stacy Erenberg is a community hero who does Chinese medicine in Chicago. She enjoys singing and writing her own music, and in her free time she plays two minute shows with one of her friends. Her mom is Black from New Orleans, and her dad is Russian and Romanian Jew. She has a husband, but she likes to refer to him as a partner so people can interpret it how they would like when she’s talking about him. Stacy also enjoys doing community work and working with kids.

She owns her own business called Sage Community Health Collective located in Logan Square. Sage Community Health Collective is a sliding skill acupuncture bodywork clinic that provides affordable healings. She does Chinese massages and has two business partners who do acupuncture. They work with needles to restore chi (energy) in your body. This is just one of the many things she does for the community.

In her work as a community organizer  she did a lot of youth work. “I love working with young people, I think it was really fun and creative.” She is an ally for Voices of Youth in Chicago Education and was a part of a big project at Senn High School. She did anti-violence work to end violence between women and girls. She also studied social justice in college, where she learned all about being a hero.

Stacy believes that a hero is someone who gets up and does their job everyday. A hero is someone who risks their lives everyday. Most importantly, she also thinks that everyone on this earth is an hero for not being killed off. She also thinks that youth are heroes because they have it so hard just  growing up in this time period because of all the injustices like the prison industrial complex and government interferences, these feeling has lead her to believe in different types of governments.  

She believes in many different types of government. She would take different things from different governments to  make her idea of a perfect government. She thinks that the government is the way that it is to keep the rich, rich. “People have this idea that money brings security, when really people just want to hurt you more... more money more problems.” She strongly believes that we need a new justice system because throwing people in jail just isn't working anymore. She thinks we should try and get to the core of the problem, and have the person doing the crime learn from their mistakes and teach others that applaud their crime that it’s wrong. She thinks guns aren't bad but she doesn't think they’re good either, but she definitely wants gun control.

Stacy help me see that the world isn't just black and white.  She taught me that money can't solve all problems in life and that sometimes money causes more problems. She helped me see just how unjust the prison industrial complex is, and inspired me to try and change it. She showed me that helping others is good and you can benefit from it as well. Stacy inspired me to help my community, that is why she is a community hero.