Autumn Years Summer 2023

“I am not a bleeding-heart liberal,” she says. “If you do the crime, you do the time, but you shouldn’t be penalized for your whole life.”

an election brought in a punishment oriented sheriff who abolished programs that helped them. Ever the problem solver, she volunteered to re-establish those programs with former Sheriff Leo McGuire, who served from January 2005 to December 2010. “In 2008, when President George W. Bush signed the Second Chance Act, there was more interest in rehabilitation for people who were in prison or who had been,” Bonnie says. The law, which was designed to prevent recidivism, was renewed in 2018 by President Donald Trump and its programs were expanded in April 2022 by the Biden-Harris administration. I n 2010, the Bergen County Jail had obtained a $2 million grant to help people leaving jail, which included housing, employment and working with a mental health organization. Bonnie says, “I remain in contact with one woman to this day because I am proud of what she accomplished, moving on from a life as a drug addicted prostitute to regaining her

other agencies, and our program was flat. I decided to do things differently and put together a 13-week program in the drug recovery center for inmates to learn about resources available upon release such as how to get federally bonded, how to talk about their criminal history if asked by an employer, and about expungement. “We enrolled people in food stamps and general assistance and realized some people only had the clothing they came to jail with as their sole possessions. So we put together outfits, coats, interview clothing and got them ready for a job. It was getting bigger than I could handle, so I decided to start an organization. People said I was crazy.” Maybe crazy, she was astute about business and decided to buy an office building just as Transition Professionals was being born. “I had sold my franchises so I had money to invest,” she says. The building she settled on “was huge, came with additional building next door, and I said ‘why not?’ I turned the building into shared office space. I still had my own business, was still volunteer ing, Transition Professionals was just evolving. There was a building on other side, and I negotiated with them. Af ter a year I bought that one and turned it into Transi tion Professionals’ drop-in center in order to expand our services for referrals, add clothing closets and offer the use of computers to our clients.” Transition Professionals needed funds, although “I had a credit line, I had to pay bills and needed to staff it. People were beginning to understand that re-entry is

Chicago, she left because the company decided that instead of the normal two percent commission, she was only getting one percent. She interviewed with a company that did recruiting; however, it wanted all employees to have a college degree, which she had never completed. “They gave me a year to get it. I went to Fairleigh Dickinson University, but first took the College-Level Examination Program tests and got 30 credits. I became a cofounder of the adult learner’s club at FDU and got credits for that, as well as life experience. I did work and school full-time; and got the degree,” she says. After a year, the company was expanding and management decided that her profitable office would become a franchise. “I was disappointed, but thought, let me buy it—not realizing the cost, and I couldn’t get financing,” Bonnie says. She and Rick put a second mortgage on their Paramus home and bought the franchise office of a publicly traded staffing firm. Five years later, she opened a second office and it became a top profit center for the company. She was president of the State of New Jersey Staffing Alliance and lobbied for recruiting companies throughout the state. After selling her franchise offices back to the corporations, she started her own firm. “During that time, I was on a few boards—March of Dimes, Girl Scouts, the Bergen Technical Schools,” she says. “One day a woman approached me, saying ‘you’re so good at finding people jobs,’ and she asked if I’d like to come to the jail and help inmates get jobs after release.” She did not let the poor prospects for these individuals daunt her, even after

relationship with her children, working and becoming success ful. The next step was formation of a transition center at the jail.” The center helped inmates who were homeless, jobless, some with no money for rent nor family to rely on. Bonnie faced her own prob lems in 2011. After having been

in physical pain for years, she required spi nal surgery. “I had four vertebral fusions in 12 months and it was almost a year un til I got back,” she says. “When I returned I was disillusioned because I saw people who weren’t getting help from state and

SUMMER 2023 I AUTUMN YEARS 57