{"id":582,"date":"2022-05-03T19:26:28","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T19:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waterfrontsouthcamden.com\/?p=582"},"modified":"2022-11-09T17:02:05","modified_gmt":"2022-11-09T17:02:05","slug":"camdens-urban-boatworks-program-continues-to-have-positive-impact-on-hundreds-of-local-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waterfrontsouthcamden.com\/?p=582","title":{"rendered":"Camden\u2019s Urban BoatWorks Program Continues To Have Positive Impact On Hundreds Of Local Students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CBS Philly By Alecia Reid<\/a> February 20, 2022 at 7:31 pm <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) \u2014 A youth program in Camden is making an impact on hundreds of middle and high school students. Nearly all of the kids who participate go on to college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And some return to help guide future generations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s transformative in so many ways,\u201d Jim Cummings, of Urban Promise, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For over a decade, Cummings has transformed his love of the water to student projects in the Urban Promise program. Students helped build boats, kayaks, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ninth graders are making the best of experiential learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re gonna have adventures on the boat, for sure,\u201d Cummings said as groups of students built a boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the hands-on work can be challenging, but it builds character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work spans generations. Former students that have faced triumphs in life to this day continue to take advantage of the student-mentor relationship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former student Chris Williams knows first-hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChris just graduated from law school,\u201d Cummings said. \u201cThis is when he was in high school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raised by a single mother with a high school education, Urban BoatWorks took him places he\u2019d probably never see. But now, Williams is a success story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t met someone from Urban Works that wasn\u2019t a success story,\u201d Williams said.READ MORE:<\/strong>Join CBS3 For ‘Mental Reset’ During Mental Health Awareness Month<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now a carpenter and painter by trade, Luis Santana\u2019s story took a few turns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy childhood was all corrupted and I did a lot of nonsense,\u201d Santana said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Sanatana said Cummings and others running the program always came through for him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was supposed to go to juvenile prison for three years and they actually told me I could go live with him because he came to my court date and vouched for me,\u201d Santana said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In and out of prison until about two years ago, Santana said he\u2019s now focused and ready to help the next generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis summer teach kids how to paint, do simple things, go around and paint over all the graffiti,\u201d Santana said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re not just building boats inside the Camden Shipyard and Maritime Museum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe boat is our vehicle to do those things, to build those relationships, to change lives,\u201d Cummings said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 14-years-old,  Jeremiah Jones is thinking ahead. This summer, he could be a river guide, but he\u2019ll have to learn how to swim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has good money,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urban BoatWorks knows it takes a community to raise a child. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CBS Philly By Alecia Reid February 20, 2022 at 7:31 pm CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) \u2014 A youth program in Camden is making an impact on hundreds of…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/waterfrontsouthcamden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/waterfrontsouthcamden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/waterfrontsouthcamden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterfrontsouthcamden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterfrontsouthcamden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=582"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/waterfrontsouthcamden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":626,"href":"https:\/\/waterfrontsouthcamden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582\/revisions\/626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterfrontsouthcamden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/waterfrontsouthcamden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterfrontsouthcamden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterfrontsouthcamden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}