The South Jersey Summer Institute for Educators — a unique and influential program that connects leaders in business and education — wrapped up last week.

Its impact will resonate in the region for years to come.

The program, which began back in 1991 to help the education community keep pace with the changes that have occurred in the regional business community, has developed into a regional force, one that gives educators an inside look at how businesses operate today — thus enabling them to better prepare their students for the workforce they will enter.

The Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey, which has long played a leading role in the region, runs the three-week program. Its CEO, Christina Renna, said the Summer Institute is as important as any of the hundreds of programs the chamber organizes.

“The goal of the institute is to build a link between the business and education communities,” she said. “It’s truly a win-win-win situation as both groups learn from each other — allowing them to better serve the students in the region.

“This is a grassroots approach to workforce development.”

The program aims to:

• Familiarize teachers with key economic, business and public policy issues that impact business and industry.
• Provide teachers with a better understanding of the skills and characteristics their students will need to be successful in the workforce.
• Involve participants in team projects to develop curriculum that incorporates the lessons of the Institute in the classroom.

Renna said 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.

In its 30-year history, the institute has graduated 725 teachers from dozens of schools throughout southern New Jersey, who the CCSNJ estimates have reached more than 70,000 students with the messages they learned in the Institute.

This year’s class featured 17 educators — most of whom were high school STEM teachers, but the cohort also included a handful of grade school and middle school teachers, as well as an educator from the Bancroft School.

The teachers selected to participate receive a $2,000 stipend at the conclusion of the program. In addition, some are awarded up to 100 professional development hours.

The biggest gain, however, is knowledge.

The program included three important panel discussions:

• “The Changing Workplace” on what HR people are seeing, and not seeing, coming through the door in the future workforce.
• “Atlantic City’s History & the Region’s Evolving Economic Landscape.”
• “South Jersey’s Utility & Communications Companies.”

And this year’s cohort visited more than 20 area businesses/trades and heard from 100 of the region’s top executives/business leaders, including:

• Acenda Integrated Health
• Atlantic City Electric
• Bancroft
• Campbell Soup Co.
• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
• Coperion K-Tron Pitman Inc.
• Engineers Labor-Employer Cooperative 825
• Five Below
• Holman
• IPAK
• Jefferson Health – New Jersey
• Lockheed Martin MS2
• M&T Bank/Wilmington Trust
• Mannington Mills Inc.
• NJM Insurance Group
• NJ STEM Pathways Network
• PhRMA
• New Jersey American Water
• Paulsboro Refining Company LLC
• PNC Bank
• PSEG Nuclear LLC
• Radwell International
• Ravitz Family Markets
• Rizzieri Aveda School
• Rowan University
• South Jersey Glass and Door Co.
• South Jersey Industries
• Subaru of America Inc.
• Worldwide Glass Resources Inc.

Renna said the program was a big hit for all involved.

“We are so proud of how this program has evolved over the years,” she said. “We can’t wait for 2025.”