Cooper University Health Care is offering Camden residents the chance to sign up for job-training opportunities in connection with the provider's $3 billion campus expansion.
In September, Cooper Health announced a joint venture with the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters and its construction manager, Torcon Inc./P. Agnes Inc., to establish a program to recruit area residents for training and apprenticeship jobs for the construction project.
Other unions - including the Electricians, Sheet Metal Workers, Plumbers and Pipe Fitters, Painters, Laborers, Tile Setters, Drywall Finishers, Operating Engineers, Roofers, Iron Workers, Masons and Glazers - will also participate in the initiative.
The program is open to all men and women, 18 years or older with a high school degree.
"When Camden's renaissance began just over a decade ago, it was clear there were three things that needed to be done for the city's future: dramatically improve public safety, expand access to high-quality education options and create economic opportunity for city's residents," George Norcross III, chairman of Cooper Health's board of trustees, said in an Oct. 15 statement.
"Programs like this unprecedented partnership with the Carpenters, as well as Camden Works, which disseminates a weekly listing of all job openings for every public and private city employer, are an important part of ensuring that Camden once again becomes a place where people not only want to live, but where they can start a well-paying career," he added.
Dubbed Project Imagine, Cooper Health's expansion project now expects to break ground on its first tower in November, the network announced Sept. 27.
When the project was announced in September 2022, plans called for three new clinical towers with more than 100 private rooms.
Cooper Health is mailing information about the program to all Camden residents. Interested individuals may also call 856-356-4899 or email [email protected] and include the subject line "Construction Trade Apprenticeship Program."