With the Domenica Foundation’s help, young adults are picking up saws and hammers to build storage sheds, picnic tables and park benches out of hard pine.
About 100 students, many of them Camden residents, have completed the eight-week, professionally supervised classes since the Pre-Apprenticeship Carpentry Training Program launched three years ago in the city’s Waterfront South neighborhood.
“This program provides real hands-on experience that can open up a world of possibilities for these young people,” Domenica Foundation director Elena Piperno says. “We’re proud to support it!”
Domenica contributed to the recent carpentry training project to construct a building that will provide storage as well as a sorting location for the ‘Clothes to the Heart’ used apparel program of Heart of Camden.
HOC is the nonprofit powerhouse that for decades has been the engine for residential, commercial, and institutional development projects in Waterfront South. Echoing HOC executive director Carlos Morales, Piperno calls the collaboration “truly what building Camden with Camden looks like!”
Tom and Lisa Kulp are the executive director and administrative director, respectively, of the Henson Heritage & Training Center, which is located in a 19th-century church at 1910 South Broadway.
The high-ceilinged former sanctuary provides the work space; a lower level houses BoatWorks. That separate youth development program by the Urban Promise ministry engages Camden youngsters in building small watercraft, such as kayaks.
“The mission of Pre-Apprenticeship Carpentry Training is to provide students with work and life skills, and help them develop their own path toward meaningful employment,” Lisa says.
“We help them with interview and resume writing skills, as well as financial literacy,” says Tom. “The goal is a living wage job with career possibilities. That’s what we consider success.”
Ba’Sil Bingham completed the program in 2024. “It’s been a stepping stone for me. I’m in the second year of my apprenticeship with Piledrivers and Divers Local 474 in Philadelphia,” says Bingham, 27, who lives in Camden’s Whitman Park neighborhood.
“I love anything that’s a challenge. I love working with my hands,” says Bingham, who’s also busy remodeling his home. “Someday I hope to build an entire house from the ground up,” he says.
Jamol Franco, 26, of Waterfront South is in the cohort of students who started training on February 2. “I saw friends going in and out of here, and then getting jobs. That gave me motivation” he says. “I did a little bit of carpentry when I was in high school, and I like to get my hands dirty. I see this program as a foundation to give me options.”
A longtime union carpenter from Delaware County, Pa. named Cornelius ‘Con’ Duffy is the instructor. His manner is affable, patient, and no-nonsense; safety and teamwork are top priorities on every job site.
“The students have to be on time and ready to work,” says Duffy. “They have to be able to work with people they don’t know. They have to learn that some parts of a job may not be all that interesting to them.”
Students are not simply assembling furniture or storage sheds according to instructions from a kit. Instead, they learn to read blueprints, use tape measures, cut lengths of wood, and solve problems.
“Con takes his time teaching us,” says Lyayshia Stevens, 28, of East Camden, who had vocational training in high school but is new to actually building things, which she loves.
“I tell them, ‘don’t be worried about messing up,” Duffy says. “That’s how you learn!”
“We’re quickly realizing the importance of workforce development programs like these in Camden,” said Elena. “The value here is more than the structures themselves – it’s young people learning real skills while contributing something the neighborhood needs.”