Assistant Secretary of Labor Announces $4.5 Million in Grants to Train
California Biotechnology Workers
Grants are Part Of $17.2 Million for Biotechnology Industry Solutions As Part Of President's High Growth Job Training Initiative
SAN FRANCISCO - Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training Emily Stover DeRocco today announced two grants totaling $4.5 million to train biotechnology workers in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Greater San Diego Area. The grants are part of a $17.2 million national effort, developed under the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative, to address workforce challenges facing the biotechnology industry.
"American workers - both entry level and transitioning - will have new and exciting career opportunities in this fast-growing field, which has more than quadrupled since 1992," said DeRocco. "These two grants will respond to employer demand for biotech workers in California by preparing individuals for good jobs with career pathways."
A $2 million grant to the Alameda Workforce Investment Board (WIB) will allow collaboration with the San Mateo WIB to expand and refine a successful pilot conducted in San Mateo County, to train entry-level biotech manufacturing technicians. The project will prepare 150 of these entry-level workers and will retrain 40 dislocated engineers from the airline, aerospace, and IT sectors for positions in facilities management, quality control, and project engineering.
In addition to the two workforce investment boards, key partners in the project include Genentech, Alza, Baxter, Chiron, Abgenix, Skyline Community College, Ohlone Community College, Opportunities Industrialization Center West (CBO), Adecco and Gruber and Pereira Associates.
The San Diego Workforce Partnership and its partner, BIOCOM, will use a $2.5 million grant from the Labor Department to pursue two strategies. First, the two organizations will collaborate to serve as a clearinghouse for state, local, and national labor market research, analysis and reports focused on this industry. Their second goal will be to coordinate internships for students from high school through the doctoral level, so workers can gain workplace skills all along the career ladder.
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, like today's grant, are then created in cooperation with employers, educational institutions and the public workforce system.
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