New Jersey Contractors and Unions Showing Their "Aces" in Mentoring Program

As the building trades hustle to gather enough new recruits to keep pace with the growing number of retiring tradesmen, it seems that demand for able recruits continues to outpace the supply, especially in large cities. Industry leaders are working to remove barriers that seem to prevent young people from seeking construction jobs. Perhaps the greatest roadblock has been an almost universal lack of awareness of opportunities in construction among teenagers.

Watching his oldest daughter finish high school, A. Michael Candido, a New Jersey mechanical contractor, realized that high schools showed little or no interest in kids who are not college bound. "When I talked to counselors about our industry and showed them how much money kids could make on the trades side, they were shocked," explained Candido.

Are high schools focusing exclusively on preparing students to go on to college? What about students who aren't interested in college? Should more attention be given to their future career choices? The construction industry seems to think so, and is taking the reins into its own hands relaying the message to young people directly.

In New Jersey, a pilot program is underway to give young people a broad, sustained look at mechanical construction, by introducing high-school-age kids to the people, tools, equipment and training involved in the trades. Students and industry members meet one afternoon every week after school. One meeting they might hear a contractor describe his company's service division; the next time an apprentice coordinator talks about the types of training given to new plumbers. The get-togethers take place at the student's high school, the local apprentice training center or out on a job site. The topic and location can vary each time they meet.

This "pre-apprentice program" was modeled heavily on an existing construction mentoring program designed to attract architectural and engineering students into construction companies. The program is called ACE, which stands for Architecture Construction & Engineering.

The New Jersey version uses the same concepts and applies them to the trades side of the contracting business. One of the catalysts behind it was Candido, president of J. Moore & Company, in Livingston. He takes no credit for inventing the ACE program. He just happened to know one of the men who did.

Ed Rytter, Candido's friend and business contact with Prudential Insurance Co., a couple of years ago invited him to attend an ACE breakfast meeting. The invitation came after Candido had first heard about the ACE program; he found it very interesting. Candido invited Alan O'Shea, Executive Director of the Mechanical Contractors Association of New Jersey (MCANJ), to accompany him.

The ACE program was born a decade ago following a discussion about the shortage of new talent in the engineering field that Rytter and a few other alumnae of New York City's Manhattan College had with a dean of the college.

Their determination to present their profession to young people led them first to an affiliation with a Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Explorer troop. As the idea evolved, the mentors spread from only engineers to include architects, owners and contractors. "That led to the formation of a group of mentors that moved around to different locations," Rytter explained.

The group undertook its own fundraising, broke its ties with the Boy Scouts and formed its own board of directors. Somebody came up with the idea of naming the group ACE (for Architecture Construction & Engineering). In 1995 the ACE program was incorporated.

"The first year we had about 3 or 4 teams, all in New York City," Rytter recalled. "After 4 or 5 years, we decided to have these satellite operations. It just grew like crazy."

Nationally, there are about 1,900 kids currently enrolled in ACE Mentoring Programs in several cities and states, according to Rytter. Most of them are on the professional track.

Not Only for College Kids

The idea of eventually using the ACE program to attract trades people also had occurred to Rytter. However, it was not until his meeting with the two MCANJ leaders that it materialized.

After the breakfast meeting, Candido and O'Shea stayed a while longer and listened to Rytter go into more detail about the ACE mentoring program. Up to this point, the program had mentored college-bound students. Candido and O'Shea wondered if the same program could also work for trades people.

"We talked to people in ACE then brought the idea back to our board," Candido said. "It seemed to have lot of potential. Our board liked it."

One year later, MCANJ was proving the program could also work on the trades side of the business. They had more than 40 young people enrolled in three ACE chapters. In 2003 the effort grew to six New Jersey Cities, Newark, Elizabeth & Paterson, involving Plumbers Local No. 24 and Steamfitters Local No. 475; another in Jersey City, working with Plumbers Local 14 and Steamfitters Local 274; and finally in Perth Amboy & Piscataway, where Plumbers and Steamfitters Local No. 9 is actively involved.

John Woodman, a retired teacher who now serves as Executive Director of ACE in New Jersey, said that the same style program that was developed for engineers has been successfully modeled for plumbers, pipe fitters, and HVAC service mechanics. "It's pretty hands-on. We bring a plumber into the classroom to discuss what they do and show samples of elbows and other basic materials," he said. "We might follow this up with a visit to the training school where kids in the program can do some real hands-on things," he added.

The whole point is to introduce these kids to career opportunities in plumbing, pipefitting, HVAC, and refrigeration.

Candido, who recently became president of MCANJ, still finds time for direct involvement in the ACE chapter near him. For a meeting of the Newark chapter, he brought along his service manager, Bruce Auriemma, and an apprentice, Joel Rivera, to describe his company's service operation. While the two executives explained the nuts and bolts of service work, it was the apprentice, Rivera, who stole the show. "Joel went to school in the same system as the kids in the room. He knew not only the teachers but several of the kids," Candido said. "The kids identified right away with the success Joel, a local kid, now had as an apprentice service technician with Local No. 475. That day was a big win for the kids and for Joel who came home as somewhat of a neighborhood hero," he said. "It paid off much better than we could have imagined," Candido said.

Mentor Multiplication

What started as 20-30 hours of volunteer work for Woodman has grown into 120-130 hours each month as Executive Director of the New Jersey program. Chapters in other cities and states have their own executive director.

How has news of the ACE program spread so quickly? It was helped by a cover story in Engineering News Record (ENR) in the recent past. "This got a lot of attention and response," Woodman said. It also spurred the formation of new ACE chapters in other parts of the country. Woodman added that ENR honored Charles Thornton, a structural engineer and one of ACE's founders, with its Award of Excellence.

People also learn about the ACE Mentoring Program from the organization's website (www.acementor.org), where they can request a basic information kit and be put in touch with various ACE chapters.

While the ACE mentoring for the trades offspring is so far limited to a few cities in New Jersey, chapters for aspiring architects, engineers and contractors have spread to other states including Connecticut, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, Illinois, Washington, and Hawaii. Besides growing new chapters, ACE is also adroit at raising funds. Through breakfasts, luncheons, golf outings and other fund raisers, the organization has been able to award up to $500,000 in scholarships to students.

All this growth is leading to the formation of a national board of directors of ACE. Among them are leaders from some of the biggest names in construction. In addition, the group, which until now has been headquartered in New York City, is planning a move to Washington, DC.

Get the Word Out

The construction industry has a great and growing need for new people, Candido believes. "If high schools aren't aware of our industry, they certainly can't push it to students as a good career path. As an industry, we have an image and marketing problem when it comes to making young people aware of who we are and what we do. And that construction is a lucrative career path for many young people," he said.