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ETA News Release: [09/15/2004]
Contact Name: Lorette Post
Phone Number: (202) 693-3984

U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor Announces $1.4 Million Grant to Train Youth in Massachusetts for Careers in Biotechnology

Grant is Part of $17.2 Million for Biotechnology Industry Training under the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative

BOSTON—Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training Emily Stover DeRocco today announced a $1.4 million grant to attract at-risk Massachusetts high-school students to career opportunities in the high-growth biotechnology sector.

“This grant reaffirms the President’s commitment to train workers for careers in growing sectors and to reach out to our nation’s youth,” said DeRocco. “If we can spark student interest in life sciences at the high school level, we will have opened the door to a wealth of biotech industry opportunities for good jobs with career pathways.”

The grant to the Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation will launch Bio Career labs in 25 high-needs public schools in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville. The Bio Career Labs Initiative seeks to prepare young people for the jobs biotech employers need to fill, creating a pipeline of workers for the future.

The innovative labs boast new equipment, ongoing teacher training and a mobile biotech lab to encourage students to consider the life sciences for exciting career opportunities. Curricula developed with the National Science Foundation will be available, as well as school-to-work pathways through partnerships with colleges and the local public workforce investment system. About 2,000 students and 100 science teachers will benefit from the grant, which will also be used to identify and refine industry skill standards.

Among the partners in this effort are the Massachusetts Workforce Board Association, the Commonwealth Corporation, the University of Massachusetts, the Boston Private Industry Council, the Metro Northwest Regional Employment Board, the Southwest Regional Employment Board and the Boston University School of Medicine’s City Lab.

The President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative is a strategic effort to better prepare workers to take advantage of new job opportunities in high growth sectors of the American economy. Through executive forums with leaders of expanding industries, critical workforce gaps and issues are identified. Solutions are then created in cooperation with employers, educational institutions and the public workforce system. More information can be found at www.doleta.gov.

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