— Founder, Rebound on the Road
Jayson Williams is a former NBA All‑Star and New Jersey Nets standout whose life beyond basketball has been defined by accountability, recovery, and a commitment to creating real second chances for others. After an eleven‑season professional career that ended prematurely due to injury, Williams faced highly public personal struggles, including addiction and incarceration. Those experiences became the catalyst for his life’s work: helping people rebuild with dignity, structure, and purpose.Drawing on his own recovery journey, Williams founded REBOUND, an innovative rehabilitation and reentry model built around physical challenge, discipline, and personal responsibility. Through that work, he saw a critical gap: people leaving treatment programs or incarceration often lacked one essential element needed to stay on track—a clear, attainable path to stable employment.That realization led to the creation of Rebound on the Road, an eight‑week workforce and rehabilitation program that helps individuals recovering from substance use and those recently released from prison earn commercial driver’s licenses and secure well‑paying jobs in the trucking industry. Partnering with Nassau County and Nassau Community College, the program combines job training, mental health support, accountability, and mentorship to reduce recidivism and restore self‑worth. Williams’ motivation for launching Rebound on the Road is deeply personal. He has spoken publicly about growing up around trucking through his father and about how meaningful work, structure, and self‑esteem are essential to lasting recovery. His belief is simple but uncompromising: if you give someone a real job, you give them hope—and hope changes everything. Today, Williams is hands‑on with the program he founded, working directly with participants and advocating for second‑chance workforce models that prioritize both public safety and human potential. For him, Rebound on the Road is not about redemption narratives—it is about results, responsibility, and giving people the tools to build a future they can sustain.
