About our founder
- Sharrieff Bugg was born in Paterson, New Jersey on March 25, 1973. He is one of twelve siblings and the product of a single-parent household. While growing up in Paterson, he never experienced ‘being poor’. “We ate every day, three times a day on many days, and wanted for nothing” says Mr. Bugg, “the community was your family.” As a child, he learned community ownership through his family and various resources and organizations within the community.
- While in high school, he was given the Floyd “Tookie” Hinton Award, which is the highest prestigious award given by the Paterson Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He served diligently as Political Action Chair for the Paterson NAACP Youth Chapter. During his last two years of high school, he won a Bronze and Silver Award for the ACT-SO Competition in the category of Architecture, hosted by the NAACP. He also was honored to receive the Make A Difference Award from former Paterson Mayor William Pascrell. He graduated from Passaic County Technical High School, located in Wayne, New Jersey in June 1992. He has earned his Child Development Associate from Kean University. The desire to further his education motivated him to enroll in Passaic County Community College in Paterson, New Jersey. After completing junior college, Mr. Bugg transferred to Somerset College and earned a Bachelor degree in Family Counseling. Also, he earned a Certificate of Completion for 40 hours of hands-on training in Crisis Intervention provided by the Passaic County Police Academy. He is currently the Director of Growing In Grace Counseling Group, Paterson Stigma Free-Zone Ambassador, Vice-President of the Bugg Foundation, member of the Paterson Community Health Center Inc Board and NJ State Resource/Foster Parents.
- As an Associate Minister of Community Baptist Church of Love, he served as the Assistant Director of the Family Life Center, a member of the Paterson Pastor’s Workshop, member of the Paterson Pastor’s Chaplain Committee. After over ten years of serving at Church of Love, Mr. Bugg moved his membership and accepted the position of Assistant Pastor of Koinonia Christian Ministries. Mr. Bugg has dedicated his life to community service, from starting a food pantry, to leading various youth groups, to serving the homeless and advocating for the disabled. In his efforts to contribute effective service to the mental health platform, Mr. Bugg completed his Mental Health First Aid Training in 2017. He utilized his training to conduct three major city-wide mental health awareness events that attracted over eleven hundred individuals. Mr. Bugg, established Grassroots Organizations Network to assist those organizations increase their community engagement by having the necessary tools to register their organization, establish its board and apply for grants.
- Working with children has been a great experience for Mr. Bugg. In 1998, he worked for United Methodist Church of Christ Day Care as a Teacher. Three years later, he accepted a position as a Teacher Assistant for the Paterson Urban Leadership Charter School. The Charter School became an entity of the Paterson Public School District in 2003, and Mr. Bugg has remained an employee of the District for close to 21 years. He has served as a mentor for Inspire the Youth for three years and worked as a spiritual & youth counselor for various churches; Community Baptist Church of Love, Koinonia Christian Ministries, and Madison Avenue Christian Reform Church. Mr. Bugg was licensed as a minister in 1995 and became an ordained Elder in 201I.
- September 2001, Mr. Bugg married his wife Faith Campbell Bugg and they cherish their three beautiful children Nandi, Eboni and Jeremiah Bugg