LG Caldwell Honors Pathways to Apprenticeship Graduates

Twenty-four North Jersey residents picked up certificates at Elmwood United Presbyterian Church in East Orange this week, completing an intensive six-week program designed to move working-class men and women from the margins of the labor market into the building trades.

Lieutenant Governor Dale Caldwell was on hand to mark the occasion, addressing graduates from East Orange, Newark, Irvington, and Orange who completed the Pathways to Apprenticeship New Jersey program, known as P2ANJ.

“Jobs are a priority for us in this administration,” Caldwell told the crowd. “Jobs are the best social program. A job transforms a community. I want to congratulate each of you. We celebrate all these celebrities, but they don’t do as much as what you’re going to do for your community, and so I want you to be very proud of what you’re doing.”

The program, funded through a New Jersey Department of Labor grant, operates as a nonprofit committed to helping people from underrepresented communities gain entry into registered building trades apprenticeship programs. Graduates prepared for careers in construction, bricklaying, carpentry, and elevator and highway repair. The curriculum covered the history of labor, work skills, banking fundamentals, and the mechanics of union membership. Math and reading comprehension received particular emphasis, as participants need to pass a work keys assessment to move forward in the union application process.

P2ANJ grew out of the Laborers union under the leadership of Wayne Richardson, the program’s founder and president. Richardson kept his remarks focused on what the day meant for the graduates themselves.

“We are so happy the Laborers saw fit to support this program, which is so important to give people that opportunity,” Richardson said before the certificate presentations and a celebratory luncheon.

Bernard Callegari, assistant eastern region manager for the Laborers, also addressed the graduates, speaking to the dignity of union work. Callegari drew on his own experience, describing how union membership allowed him to escape difficult circumstances and build a life he once considered out of reach.

The class keynote came from graduate Jihad Bey, who framed the completion of the program as a beginning rather than an endpoint.

“This training represents the beginning of a journey to learn a trade and create opportunities for our families and our future,” Bey said. “We were taught the value of hard work. It’s about skill, showing up, staying committed, and pushing through the challenges. Along the way we learned respect for each other and math, math, math.”

That emphasis on math was no accident. Apprenticeship programs in the building trades require applicants to demonstrate basic proficiency before they ever set foot on a job site. P2ANJ builds that preparation directly into its six-week model, giving graduates from communities that have historically been shut out of construction careers a real shot at clearing the entry bar.

This matters in North Jersey for reasons that should be obvious to anyone paying attention. Essex County communities like Newark, East Orange, Irvington, and Orange carry high unemployment rates against a backdrop of major construction activity. Projects across the region continue to demand skilled labor, and the trades have long offered stable, well-compensated careers that don’t require a four-year degree. The gap between available work and community access to that work has never been a skills problem. It has been an access problem.

Programs like P2ANJ exist to close that gap. Six weeks is not a long time, but the structure the program provides, connecting participants to union pathways, equipping them with financial basics, and preparing them for assessments they would otherwise face cold, can be the difference between a door opening or staying shut.

Twenty-four people walked out of Elmwood United Presbyterian Church this week with certificates and a clearer path forward. Their families were in the room. The lieutenant governor was in the room. That kind of visibility for workforce development programs in Essex County communities does not happen by accident, and it should not be taken for granted.

Richardson and the Laborers built something real here. The question now is whether the state keeps funding it at a scale that matches the need.