Associated Builders and Contractors New Jersey (ABC-NJ) meets the need for employees in trades head-on through its U.S. DOL Registered Gold-Standard apprenticeship program.

MOUNT LAUREL, NJ / ACCESS Newswire / October 23, 2025 / "Why come out of college hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt when you can have a free education for a career that pays well, sets you up as an entrepreneur, and gives you valuable life skills," asks Samantah DeAlmeida Roman.

Her question is easy to answer for the growing number of New Jersey students learning a trade. In fact, her role as Associated Builders and Contractors New Jersey (ABC-NJ) President and CEO is to train as many members of the rising workforce in trades as she can by connecting them with employers in need of workers.

"The construction industry is very much in need of young talent right now because so many people from older generations have retired or are planning to retire in just a few years," says Roman. "My goal is to help form the next generation of professionals through comprehensive class work, hands-on training, and workforce development."

Helping to bolster young talent, especially within minority groups, in the trades is the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey (AACCNJ). "The AACCNJ works in collaboration with ABC-NJ on various programs and initiatives to strengthen the competitiveness of New Jersey. Pursuing a career in the trades is one of those initiatives", said John E. Harmon Sr., IOM, Founder, President, and CEO of AACCNJ.

Those who pursue a career in the trades through ABC-NJ's Apprenticeship Education & Training Fund will build careers that bring financial stability, fulfillment, and success. Roman notes, "It's a great opportunity for young people to cash in where there's presently a deficit in jobs. The opportunities are plentiful."

Modern Day Apprenticeships

Registered as a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Apprenticeship Program since 2019, ABC-NJ offers training in 26 different crafts. The DOL is the gold standard of registered apprenticeship programs throughout the United States. Apprentices are either sponsored by their ABC-member employers, or they enter the program independently and get matched with a sponsor shortly after enrollment. Either way, sponsors pay students' tuition and give them extensive on-the-job training. This allows students to end the program with zero student debt.

The groundbreaking apprenticeship program, which includes bookwork and hands-on testing as well as real work experience, and its pre-apprenticeship program exposes students to multiple trades before they choose which to pursue. Students earn while they learn.

Not Just a Fallback Option

As the largest ABC chapter in the country, ABC-NJ has over 1,600 members and offers apprenticeships in more trades than any other chapter. It also offers members access to continuing education classes, assistance with preparing for professional licensing exams, entrepreneurial classes, workforce development programs, safety classes, government affairs education, business development, and mentoring programs, too.

"By investing in a student's education, companies have a pathway to create employees who are safe and well-trained," says Roman. And when students graduate from an ABC-NJ apprenticeship program they remain in the ABC family with access to the organization's programming.

The chapter is proactive in its recruiting, educating students as young as middle school through weeklong summer camps on the benefits of a career in the trades. "We start early because students haven't been pushed on a path to college yet," says Roman, "and because we can talk to their parents to educate them on the benefits of a career in the trades."

Once parents understand what starting salaries in the trades look like and how rigorous ABC-NJ's program is, "they realize it's not just a fallback career," she says. "It takes a special person to work in construction, someone who is willing to complete an apprenticeship program, but also someone who is smart, hardworking, and driven. Those are the type of people we want to have leading the industry."

SOURCE: Associated Builders and Contractors New Jersey