By Rebecca Everett/NJ.com/September 2016

CAMDEN -- City leaders told a packed room at the Waterfront Technology Center Thursday that a new initiative will finally do what residents have been asking for: give Camdenites the opportunity to benefit from the new development in the city.

The Camden Construction Career Initiative will help over 100 residents take the first steps to start their careers in the industry so they can have a role in the rebuilding of Camden, officials from the city and the Cooper Foundation announced.

And amongst the suits and dresses at the announcement were a few workers who had already benefitted from the training model that the Cooper Foundation has tried out in the past years.

Charles Little said that his job with a subcontractor at the Holtec Technology Campus in the city has helped him help his family, including sending a child to college.

"They've taken me from unskilled to skilled," he said of the construction training program. "I seized the moment, came in on time, passed the screening and was off running — with a hard hat and safety glasses," he added with a grin.

The Cooper Foundation, the Union Organization for Social Service and the city are partnering to create a similar training program in Camden. It will make available for free the union's pre-apprenticeship training program in Pennsauken. The first class is nearly done with the 10-week course.

Cooper Foundation President Susan Bass Levin said the 260-hour course trains residents in the basic skills needed in the construction industry, and also teaches them OSHA safety regulations, first aid and computer literacy. At the end of the course, residents will be able to test for an OSHA Outreach Training card and then be placed in an apprenticeship position.

Read more on the construction initiative at: http://www.nj.com/camden/