Workforce development, cuts to bureaucracy on the agenda
AVALON — Calling Cape May County an “economic powerhouse,” Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell said he and Gov. Mikie Sherrill are looking to expand New Jersey’s tax base and make the state attractive to business by providing a high-quality workforce and cutting bureaucracy.
“The better our businesses do, the better the state does,” he told the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce on Feb. 19 at Icona Avalon.
Caldwell, the state’s fourth lieutenant governor, also serves as Secretary of State. He said many people do not understand how important chambers of commerce are to the state, noting the 150 plus attendees at the event represent a diversity of businesses, nonprofits, education institutions, “that this is a microcosm of the state.”
He said the State Department is focused on connecting chambers to make sure that “this important part of the state of New Jersey is incredibly, incredibly supported.”
“We’re here because we’re recognizing the economic growth, the cultural vibrance and state pride that Cape May County Chamber of Commerce really helps to make possible,” Caldwell said. “We know that the county is beautiful, but it’s also an economic powerhouse.”
He said he really was surprised to learn “how much of a powerhouse you are in New Jersey.”
Caldwell shared what everyone in the room already knew, that the county has a thriving tourism industry that attracts more than 12 million visitors a year.
— Second in New Jersey in tourist revenue, with $8.1 billion generated in 2024, representing a 5 percent growth over 2023;
— Almost 42,000 tourism jobs;
— More than 700 events each year;
— Nature tourism, birding, local wineries and breweries;
— Arts experiences including theater and musical performances;
— Fine dining;
— Historical sites, including the Black Heritage Trail that starts in Cape May, the Harriet Tubman Museum, Cold Spring Village and Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum.
“The small business and local institutions of Cape May County offer really so much to this area and the entire state,” Caldwell said.
“I’m so excited about it; it’s so important,” he added, noting his father, the Rev. Gilbert Caldwell, “marched literally arm in arm with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
He said that state slogan historically has been “Little State, Lotta Wow.”
“That really explains Cape May County. What you do, you really do have a lot of wow,” Caldwell said. “One of the things we’re trying to do at the state Department of State is really let more of, not only just New Jersey, not only just the region, but more of the world know about what’s here in this state. It really is extraordinary.”
The World Cup coming up this summer and events surrounding America’s 250th anniversary will attract more visitors to the Garden State.
“We’re really trying to make sure that every part, every quarter of New Jersey benefits from all the people that are going to be coming to the state,” Caldwell said.
While head of the Rothman Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Caldwell appeared in a series of videos highlighting family businesses.
“They are among the best places to work and they’re the backbone of most economies,” he said.
Plans call for collaborating with chambers of commerce to “celebrate and bring together those family businesses, because you are economic engines in every aspect, every corner of New Jersey.”
Faith communities
Caldwell, who is pastor of Covenant United Methodist Church in Plainfield, said he and Sherrill are hoping to bring members of the state’s faith communities together to share resources among its members but also with the general public.
“I understand the power of faith communities,” he said.
The idea is to bring faith institutions from everywhere across the state together, “whether they are Muslim or Hindu or Jewish or Baptist or Methodist or Catholic.”
That way, he said, another network can be created to help people learn what’s happening in other parts of the state.
Sharing facilities with the public can support programs such as workforce development. Caldwell noted his church serves about 500 people but sits empty most days.
“It’s a facility that could be used for job training, for language training, for other things,” Caldwell said.
He said one of the things that’s critical to making New Jersey more affordable is making sure that there are more jobs available and that “we have the best-trained, highest-quality workforce in the United States of America.”
“By doing that, we will attract more businesses here. We’ll be able to make New Jersey more affordable. We’ll be able to keep taxes down or maybe even doing more than that,” Caldwell said.
The administration will be looking to chambers of commerce, as well as professionals in historic preservation and the arts, for ideas on boosting the workforce.
“The governor and I are really trying to empower you and encourage you to come up with some ideas to do things differently that can create a greater workforce here, but also create more revenue, and also make this much more affordable,” he said.
Noting New Jersey has a GDP equivalent to the 20th largest country in the world, Caldwell said the state is special and deserves more than its place between Philadelphia and New York.
“We are a special place. We as business folks, as innovators, need to begin to think differently to take control of our destiny in this state,” he said.
Highlighting more of what makes Cape May County a unique destination, Caldwell said he plans to visit often.
“So I’m here, and you’ll see more of me, because I want you to know that this administration understands how important you are to the state, that this administration understands how important small, medium and large businesses are, how important the arts are, how important nonprofits are, how important faith institutions are,” he said.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Cape May Star and Wave
