- Support for this program was provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

- Hello, this is John Harmon, founder, president, and CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.

And thank you for tuning into Pathway to Success.

Today's guest is an individual who is what we would call a servant leader.

He invests in people's lives, he helps people get a fresh start.

He founded a company in Newark called Bridge Builders.

His name is Gerald Whitaker.

He's the president and Chief Operating Officer.

Gerald, welcome to Pathway to Success.

- Hello, John.

Thank you so much for having me.

- So we're delighted to have you here.

Let's get started.

A little bit about you, where you're from, family, big family, small family, and we'll slowly walk into your journey to establishing this amazing company in in Newark, New Jersey.

- Okay.

Well start out with the fact that I was born in the Bronx, New York.

So raised in a two-parent household.

I have one brother younger than me and one sister nine years younger than me.

So I'm the oldest of three siblings.

When I was about five, we moved to Englewood, New Jersey and was brought up in Teaneck, the adjacent town to Englewood.

So I attended a parochial school, all 12 grades of my life.

But I would say I was raised in kind of a diverse background in that the parochial school I went to was 97% white, and the neighborhood that I grew up grew up in was 97% black.

So I kind of was weaned, if you will, in a very diverse environment.

So I learned how to vibe and live amongst two different distinct people groups basically at an early point in my life.

- You know what's interesting about what you just shared?

I grew up in Trenton, which was predominantly black.

I chose Fairley Dickinson University, the Rutherford campus, and the population was 3% black.

And and that helped me because I had an opportunity to really understand how the other side of society lived, you know, after high school, after that experience, one side of the tracks versus the other.

You know what, what did you do?

- My parents divorced when I was about 16, and that was a real crossroads in my life - Because - When my dad left, it's like all of the, the discipline and structure left with him.

Wow.

- And - My mom wasn't a strong mom, you know, she had issues and she really couldn't reel in two young boys and direct them as to how to live.

So I kind of gravitated to the street life, started working for my dad, who was a, a number runner, some of you might remember.

Yeah.

What that is before the legal lottery.

Street street - Lottery.

- Right.

The street lottery.

And so that's what I did for about two years after graduation every night, running up and down Harlem and Jamaica, Queens.

Wow.

Doing, doing numbers.

And that's a very precarious life.

Dangerous life.

But coming out of that, I did come outta that life.

And when I came outta that life due to me coming into a relationship with God, mm, that was the turning point of my life.

And this was at 19.

And so got married at 19.

Okay.

And my wife got pregnant at 19.

And I realize now that I gotta figure out a legitimate way to live and provide for my family.

Mm.

So I went to a business school - At - That point because I realized that computers in the early eighties, I just had this epiphany that this was the future.

Spent some time doing corporate training, and that is kind of where I really excelled.

And so all throughout New York City, fortune 500 companies like Madison Square Garden, Pfizer Pharmaceutical.

And so that provided me with a, a great career for 20 years in the field of information technology.

- And when did you and your wife start the preschool?

- We started the preschool in 1998.

And some, for some reason I've always had an entrepreneurial bug and a bent towards creating businesses to serve the community.

And so we started a preschool in the hopes of educating primarily black and brown people in our community and giving them a true head start in education.

And it's a, it's a, it's a beautiful thing.

We had the preschool for about 16 years.

- You also worked for a large church.

What, what did you do there?

- From the 20 years that I spent in the computer industry, all of this time though, I'm growing in my faith.

But during this 20 year career, I was in a very good place.

I was a IT director, very good money at a job three minutes away from my house.

But I was not - Content.

- There was something pulling me towards more full-time ministry.

So I got a call one day from a large church that was out in Montclair that they needed an office manager and an IT director.

Would I be interested?

And man, when I got that call, I said, wow, this is the call I've been waiting for.

They gave me the job.

And so I spent 10 years working for a large church.

And about five years into that, I'll tell you the story, quick story.

I went to a funeral for a member of the church that had died.

Now this is about a 3000 member church at that time.

- And - None of the ministers were available to go and support the family.

So they asked me to go, I wasn't an ordained minister, just someone on staff.

And you could tell that these people that attended the funeral had hard lives.

People were broken up.

And after that day at the funeral, I realized that there was a call of God upon my life to teach people the hope that comes with knowing God for real.

- Mm.

- And I went home that weekend and actually cried.

It was on a Friday.

And I can just remember my heart was touched and I couldn't shake it.

And so I told my pastor about it.

He told me that I should start a church.

- Oh wow.

- And so five years later, we were sent out properly by that church to plant a church in Newark.

And so we planted that church in 2009.

And as a result of planting that church, many things began to transpire.

One significant thing transpired in searching to find out what were the greatest needs of the city.

And in asking people that question, then politicians and and so forth, the answer was always the same.

The needs were the two greatest needs were public safety and jobs.

And so I realize that those two things are not mutually exclusive.

The more people that have gainful employment, that would naturally cut down on some of the crime.

And so I set out to be a job creator to create jobs for people who have what I would call barriers to employment.

And so through some networking, I was referred to a small foundation called the Propheta Foundation.

What they did was provide a contact for me of a large project management firm at the time, to get in there and ask them if they would hire us to do just basic labor - On - Construction sites.

And after one year of pursuing the of that company, he finally answered me.

And so once he responded, they were willing to give us a shot.

We had no experience in the construction field, so just basic labor going with brooms and mops, cleaning up the construction sites.

So I went myself with my hard hat and boots and a few other guys and took the job and began to clean up the sites and we kind of hit a home run.

And so, because I believe that anything you do, you have to do it with excellence.

So if it's pushing a broom, it's, if it's mopping floors, you know, you do it the best you can.

And so that went well.

And they referred us to another site.

Another site that is 10 years ago, 2014 we started.

And the train has never stopped since.

- Wow.

- We began providing just basic labor, but we've graduated to finish carpentry, rough carpentry.

We actually have our general contractor license now.

So we've done some schools, malls, retail stores.

And so at any given time we maintain a staff of anywhere between 25 and 35 people.

We have a back office staff of about five people.

And so the company has grown actually beyond what I thought it would in the last 10 years.

- Social entrepreneurship.

How does that connect to all that you're seeking to do and have done in, in the city of Newark?

- Well, I came across the term social entrepreneurship, which actually fits perfectly what we set out to do.

And that is to help people from a holistic perspective, meaning that there is more to life than a paycheck.

And so we kind of set out to build sort of a social net for the folks that come into our company.

They quickly find out, you know, if they stay, that is sort of a family.

And the things we do in the approach we take to mentoring people, to bringing people along, to growing people up and, and bringing them from a place of dissatisfaction in their lives to a place where they're now living productive lives as citizens in society because we provide whatever they may have been lacking, which was preventing them from living productive lives.

And a lot of people, sometimes I have to correct their notion of Bridge Builders because it seems like we are a non-profit by the way we approach our business model.

But we are a for-profit organization with that has kind of a nonprofit business model, if you will.

Gotcha.

- Gotcha.

How did you derive at the name Bridge Builders?

- Bridge Builders from the Torah and the Tenah?

Some of you might refer to it as the Bible, but in Isaiah chapter 58, it talks about being repairers of the breach.

And so, to me, being a repairer of the breach is building a bridge for those that may have not and connecting them with kind of those that have.

And so making life better for people who desire to have better lives.

- It'd be great to hear from some of the employees of Bridge Builders tell their stories and their experience.

So we have a, a short video clip on that.

- I've been with Bridge Builders about for two years now.

And you know, I've been incarcerated for about three Bridge Builder never asked me what I was incarcerated for.

They just gave me the chance and the opportunity to work with 'em - Was in the unemployment one day.

And I ran into Mr. Whitaker and he gave me an opportunity that a lot of other companies wouldn't because of my criminal record.

- Once you get to the part about are you a convicted felon?

And I put yes, I probably didn't get called back, but what Bridge Builders?

It wasn't even a factor.

Later on down the road, I found out this was a felony friendly job.

- Hopefully y'all can just stay with Bridge Builders for the rest of the duration.

I'm just glad I hooked up with them.

Appreciate, you know, the people that gave me the chance to work.

- Everyone's lives.

Life has value and sometimes it takes people like you to really show people that they have something to offer.

They have value and you've done that.

So we're gonna take a break.

I'm talking to Mr. Joe Whitaker.

He is the President and Chief Operating Officer.

A Bridge Builders Newark will be back in a moment.

- The African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey is your pathway to success.

We encourage you to visit our website at www.aaccnj.com or call us at (609) 571-1620.

We are your strategic partner for success.

- Welcome back to Pathway to Success.

I'm your host, John Harmon, founder, president, and CEO.

We're having a great conversation with Gerald Whitaker.

He's the President and Chief Operating Officer of Bridge Builders Newark.

Talk a little bit about, you know, your training and apprenticeship offerings.

- We are a certified apprenticeship company by the Department of Labor.

Okay.

And so we have taken guys from laborer to Carpenter through a certified apprenticeship programs.

We are also a signatory with two unions, a carpenters union, laborers union.

And so we actually do have a career track.

We are kind of proud of the fact that people do earn a living wage.

We have a 401k plan where we contribute a matching 401k.

They probably would never have even thought of a retirement account.

But this is again, the holistic approach that we are blessed by the grace of God to have built and is really helping to change people's lives.

- So Mr. Whitaker, a number of your guys are ex-offenders.

Speak to that.

How did that come to fruition?

- People who are ex-offenders have a very tough time finding gainful employment.

As one of my staff guys that has been with me for about eight years, put it, he said, you might not get a life sentence, but it's a life sentence.

- Hmm.

- And so we set out to hire guys that are in that category, and I would say that probably 80 to 85% of the people that work for us are ex-offenders.

Wow.

And you would never know it though if they didn't tell you.

So we could, we teach because we teach them how to conduct themselves in the professional business world.

A sad commentary would be that it actually takes me to go through about 11 people to find one that sticks - Well.

But that also speaks to your commitment.

- There's definitely a commitment to it.

Because again, you have to be patient with folks that come that maybe don't have the work ethic, maybe don't have the simple things that professional people would know.

Like if you're going to be late call, if you're going to be late, if you're not coming to work, call - Yeah.

- Go to sleep at night.

Don't hang out all night because construction work starts 7:00 AM every morning.

So it's these things that you have to groom people into so that you know, you don't set them up to fail, you set them up to succeed.

- So how does de and I play in your business model?

- Well, I would say that we are, we might be even a poster child for de and I because we don't discriminate none of that.

My question to them is, do you want to work - In addition to providing them an opportunity to work, you also have other programming that you extend to the employees of Bridge Builders.

Can you speak to that?

- We have these workshops.

So we have classes where we teach them how to budget your money.

There's a workshop about life, whether that's relationships, your children.

So it's these things that you have to groom people into so that, you know, you don't set them up to fail, you set them up to succeed.

- So we have a, a short video clip on that.

- BBN has taught me how to manage my funds.

'cause before that I, I was pretty bad with the funds.

A lot of responsibilities now, you know, work with people here.

I I know how to work with people now, you know, talk to 'em and, you know, follow rules and direct and instructions.

Something I never did before, but now I can, life is pretty much good for me since working for BBM before BBM.

Ouch.

It hurts.

It hurts.

- And I'm grateful.

I'm very grateful for that because if it hadn't been for them, I'd probably still be in the streets doing something I ain't got no business doing to survive, to eat, to make ends meet.

And I'm just glad I hooked up with them.

- And you have afforded them an opportunity to have a better life.

And, and, and based on their testimony, it agrees with them.

How does that make you feel?

- Oh my goodness.

It is tremendously rewarding.

It's very fulfilling.

And I, I'm just, I'm just content.

- I'm gonna take it a step further.

Blacks helping blacks, how does that make you feel?

- It's a tremendous reward.

And I realize that this is incredibly important work and so much so that I had to come to grips with just how vital this is in an inner city like Newark.

It literally saves lives, not figuratively, literally, because I can tell you sadly that we had an incident where we had to look for a former employee for something and come to find out, in trying to find him, we discovered that he passed away.

- Hmm.

- And these, you know, these are guys that, that are in the streets and sometimes when they come out of of prison and they get a good job, but sometimes they can't maintain the discipline to, to keep the job and stay with Bridge builders.

And sometimes they gravitate back to the street life what they know.

And it's sad to say that several of them we found out have passed away since leaving Bridge Builders.

They kind of devolve into their past life.

My assistant began to go down alphabetically, and by the time she got to the seas, she found like eight guys that worked for Bridge Builders have passed away.

- Wow.

- And that was shocking to me.

And so it even hit me kind of getting full now, thinking about it to a greater degree of, of how important it is for people that have resources to care.

- No, I, I definitely not only hear you, but I can appreciate the empathy.

What are some of the other initiatives that has taken place in Newark?

- We are excited about a particular initiative.

The, and I would applaud Mayor RAs Baraka for his initiative to develop over 6,000 affordable housing units.

Because a lot of times developers these days are coming in and they're putting up apartment buildings and they're slapping the luxury tag on these apartment buildings, which makes them not affordable to the grassroots people.

And recently they put out an RFP for developers to put in a plan as to how they would develop parcels of land for affordable housing.

So we put in a bid for that and we actually won.

- Oh, great.

- And so we are going to be building six single family homes in the westward of Newark.

And this is underway right now.

What I envision is some of the guys that work for Bridge Builders will actually help build the homes that we will help them buy.

- Let's talk about what does the next five years look like?

- Again, we are excited to enter into the development arena after you get a job.

The second most important thing is a decent place to live.

And so I see that as, again, a very important aspect of construction is the development industry and people who are in it, not just for the bottom line because all it takes to transform a community is people who are not greedy, who can share in the wealth, if you will.

So we are looking forward to developing maybe 80 unit buildings, a hundred unit buildings, all in the affordable housing space.

- Your relationship with the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, what has that been like?

- Our relationship with the Chamber has been wonderful.

What I've found with the Chamber is that they actually produce results.

So two big things that I would point out as a benefit of us being a part of the chamber.

Number one is networking and doing a lot of reading.

I'm an avid reader and one of the books that I read about money would say that networking is the language of the rich.

We do business with other members of the chamber, now we have procured operating financing.

That's a tangible result.

You know, something real money, real money coming as a result of my relationship with the chamber.

And one thing I will say is it's helped me develop my ability to 'cause the warmth of the climate, if you will.

When I go to the meetings and I know people, they come up to me, I meet new people.

So thank you so much for what you do.

It is important work and I commend you hats off to you.

- Well, we truly appreciate having Bridge Builders of Newark as a member of the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.

And, and Gerald, I wanna just thank you for joining us today.

- Well, it's been a pleasure and thank you for letting us share our story - Until the next time on your Pathway to success.

This is John Harmon, founder, president and CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.

Thank you for tuning in.

Have a wonderful day.

Hello.

Today's message is, the struggle continues.

The data related to blacks in New Jersey is abysmal.

And it didn't just start.

We are, we're being constantly ignored.

More people need to know that there's taxation and no representation for blacks in an equitable way.

This needs to be changed.

And so when many of our elected officials took office, they were aware of these data points and many of them took an oath to, to serve and to work within the state to mitigate these challenges.

We have the executive branch, which is run by the governor.

He sets the vision and then you have the legislative branch who adopts laws and policies with the hope of making the state more competitive.

They have come way short of making sure that black people can coexist in this state equitably.

And we cannot exclude the Black caucus who's been absent.

We miss Senator Rice in his leadership, in his efforts to, to make blacks more a part of the mainstream in terms of when policies and laws of passed that the needs of of black people are put forward.

We need more inclusion.

We need more of the needs of blacks as a priority.

As I said, the struggle continues.

- Support for this program was provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.