Cooper University Health Care Announces Unprecedented Joint Venture to Create Jobs, Economic Opportunity for Camden Residents

Cooper to Build on Its Commitment to Camden and its Residents as It Moves Forward With $3 Billion Expansion

(CAMDEN, NJ) Chairman George E. Norcross III and Cooper University Health Care, South Jersey's leading academic health system, today announced Cooper will partner with the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters and its construction manager, Torcon Inc. / P. Agnes Inc., to create unprecedented economic opportunity for the residents of Camden across South Jersey as it begins a $3 billion expansion of its main campus.

Cooper's new investment, Project Imagine - the largest in Camden County's history and one of the largest in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey - will dramatically expand the academic health system's main campus to meet the current and future projected demand at Cooper University Hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper. The expansion, first announced in September 2022, is expected to break ground on its first tower later this month.

"For over 138 years, Cooper and Camden have been united: what's good for the city is good for the hospital and vice versa and that's why we are committed to ensuring that as Cooper grows, so does the opportunity for our community," said George E. Norcross III, the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Cooper Health System, Cooper University Hospital, and MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper. "We are excited and proud to partner with the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, who are stepping up in a big way to set a new paradigm for how large-scale projects can and should be run."

As part of the unprecedented joint venture, the Carpenters will serve as the lead construction partner on Cooper's expansion, working to help establish specific plans to ensure a hiring preference for Camden residents, overall workforce inclusion, hiring and recruitment for apprentice programs.

"Cooper has long been an anchor institution supporting and serving the City of Camden and the residents of the southern seven counties of New Jersey," said Kevin O'Dowd, JD, co-CEO of Cooper University Health Care. "This first-of-its-kind agreement will provide broad based economic opportunities and marks a significant milestone in our longstanding commitment to serving our region."

The union, working with the construction manager, will also help to ensure the broader community in the City of Camden and the Southern New Jersey Region benefit. Among the priorities for these community benefits will be support of youth and community programs including, but not limited to, the Camden Health & Athletic Association (CHAA) and the Camden Works Program, the area's premier job training and placement program. Camden Works disseminates a weekly listing of all job openings for every public and private city employer.

"For the thousands of hardworking men and women who make up the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, this new joint venture is more than a job - it's an opportunity for us to show what we can do to make the community, our community, better and stronger and create real opportunity," said William C. Sproule, the union's Executive Secretary-Treasurer. "We are looking forward to working with Cooper and thank them for the trust they are placing in our team - we won't let Cooper or Camden down."

The agreement continues Cooper's commitment to Camden, its hometown since its founding in the city more than 135 years ago. In recent years, Cooper has made significant investments to expand the services it provides the South Jersey region, including creating a new accelerated BSN educational program with BAYADA and Thomas Edison University, opening the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU), and partnering with MD Anderson Cancer Center to bring advanced cancer care to the region. Cooper currently employs more than 940 Camden residents and sponsors the Cooper Health Careers Initiative (CHCI), an education and job training program leading to employment in medical coding, offered free of cost to Camden City residents. Cooper was recently named one of New Jersey's "Best Employers" by Forbes for the fourth year in a row.

"This innovative agreement with the Carpenters Union and our construction manager will result in tangible benefits and jobs for residents in the City of Camden," said Anthony J. Mazzarelli, MD, MD, MBE, co-CEO of Cooper University Health Care. "As Cooper continues to grow, we will continue to ensure opportunities for Camden residents."

The new Cooper-Carpenter Joint Venture will also include significant disclosure of the effort's success including regular reports on the number of participants in job training and apprenticeship programs and the number of Camden city residents and from historically underrepresented groups hired. The details of commitments to local civic and other organizations, including youth and community programs, in the City of Camden and Southern New Jersey Region will also be disclosed quarterly.

"We want people to hold us accountable for results because we know that what matters isn't making promises, it's delivering on those promises," closed Cooper Chairman Norcross. "The investment Cooper is making in Camden is part of our commitment that as Cooper grows, the people of Camden benefit."

About Cooper University Health Care

Cooper University Health Care, with its MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper and affiliation with Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, is a leading academic health system. Cooper has more than 11,000 team members, including nearly 1,600 nurses, more than 1,000 employed physicians, and more than 550 advanced practice providers.

Cooper University Hospital has been recognized as a top-performing regional hospital by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals annual survey for six years.

Cooper has revenues of more than $2 billion and, along with its new upgraded "A" rating from S&P, recently received an A+ credit rating from Fitch Ratings. Cooper University Hospital is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in South Jersey and the busiest in the region. More than two million patients are served annually at Cooper's 663-bed flagship hospital in Camden and the 229-bed Cooper University Hospital Cape Regional in Cape May Court House.

Cooper's ambulatory network encompasses three outpatient surgery centers, several urgent care centers, a wound care center, and more than 130 physician, physical therapy and radiology offices extending from the Delaware River to the New Jersey shore. Cooper has been named as one of America's Best Employers by Forbes for four consecutive years.

The Cooper Health Sciences campus in Camden, New Jersey, is home to Cooper University Hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper, Children's Regional Hospital at Cooper, and Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.

Visit CooperHealth.org to learn more.

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