Camden Graduates Earn Building Trades Certificates — And A Fresh Start

At a May 21 graduation for a ten-week course in building trades, Kathleen Matczak couldn’t hold back her tears.

Upon getting her certificate from the Camden-based program—a collaboration between New Beginnings Behavioral Health and the Ideal Institute of Technology, the 53-year old said, “Besides my kids, this is the first accomplishment of my life!”

The 20 graduates, mostly referred to the program by probation and parole officers, were celebrated at the Kaighns Avenue facility for New Beginnings, a nonprofit founded by Pastor Amir Khan. The organization serves the city’s homeless, formerly incarcerated and people in recovery.

Matczak, who lives in Mount Ephraim, had served time for drug possession but hadn’t been in trouble since 2010, although she said she still owed child support arrears for her now-adult children. Being the only female in the group, Matczak said, was not a problem: “I felt like I found a family!” 

Camdenite Derrick Gannt, 50, was homeless when he got involved in New Beginnings and started the class. Though he’d held warehouse and fast food jobs, Gannt learned about “stuff I’d always seen but paid it no mind, like how to measure and use drills and saws.” He’s currently updating his resume in hopes of getting a job using his new skills. 

Lewis Roberts, 31, of Lindenwold, had gotten some experience with power tools in prison and plans to look for a construction or carpentry job. A self-described “quick learner,” Roberts said, “I came to class as early as possible to make a good impression.”

Last week’s ceremony included a keynote address by Khan’s son, Micah Khan, who talked about the obstacles facing him when he got out of prison and his ultimate success. There was the first job Khan landed at a sneaker company in Philadelphia, which he promptly lost because he couldn’t go over the bridge wearing an electronic ankle monitor, and a second one that was taken away from him because of his record.

“I was forced into entrepreneurship!” he said, eventually selling the first company he started for several million dollars. Khan, 46, is now president of New Life Health Care Agency in Merchantville, which provides support to individuals with disabilities through vocational rehabilitation. He told the graduates, “Your perseverance is really inspiring to me.”

Amir Khan had initially intended the graduation to be an unassuming affair, but it got a bit bigger, with a celebratory cake, red carpet, and comments from from Camden City Council president Angel Fuentes, who called the pastor “the light at the end of the tunnel” and told the graduates he envied them because “I don’t have the skills you have and when I have a household problem, I have to call someone!”

For Ren Parikh, who founded the Ideal Institute of Technology in 2016, joining forces with New Beginnings made sense. An undocumented 20-year old who spoke no English when he emigrated to the US from India in 2000, Parikh launched a second chance vocational school in Absecon back in 2016. 

He became a citizen, “but had no clue how many things in America were challenging.”

Parikh said he saw people teaching job readiness and how to get a GED, “but that doesn’t pay the bills.” He also learned that “nobody gets paid to go to school in America” and how to apply for grants for at-risk youths to help fund his mission.

The $10,000 cost to educate each student in the building trades program was covered by a state Department of Labor grant and each graduate also received $1,000 from New Beginnings for completing the program. Parikh and Khan said that an employer who hires one of the graduates can get a cost reimbursement at 50% of the position’s salary up to $10,000 in the first six months of employment through job training funding from the county or state. The employer will also receive an insurance bond for $25,000 to address any concern about hiring someone who was justice-involved. 

“Camden rocks!” Parikh told the graduates. “Not because of the city, because of you guys. The group graduating today beat all these challenges. You all are 100% employable because you showed up!”