The South Jersey Summer Institute for Educators was started in 1991 to help the education community keep pace with the changes that have occurred in the regional business community, and to give educators the tools to better prepare the future workforce – their students. After having to skip the program in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the South Jersey Chamber Foundation, which is the nonprofit entity of the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey (CCSNJ), is excited to return the program to its traditional, 3-week format after conducting a hybrid program last year. The 2022 Summer Institute will mark the program’s 30th Anniversary!

The goal of the Institute is to build a link between the business and education communities by: familiarizing teachers with key economic, business and public policy issues that impact business and industry; providing teachers with a better understanding of the skills and characteristics their students will need to be successful in the workforce; and, involving participants in team projects to develop curriculum that incorporates the lessons of the Institute in the classroom.

The Institute takes a truly unique approach to better preparing the future workforce by targeting educators, who can reach hundreds of students each year, with the lessons necessary to make their students successful in the workplace. This year, upwards of 20 educators who teach grades 7 – 12 in schools from throughout Southern New Jersey will participate in the Summer Institute. In its 30 year history, the Institute has graduated 638 teachers from dozens of schools throughout southern New Jersey, who we estimate have reached more than sixty thousand students with the messages they learned in the Institute. The business community ultimately benefits by having a pool of better prepared workers.