Genencor

Genencor’s culture empowers its employees to reach out to the community to share their love for and mission in the life sciences. Driven by recognition that schools and colleges need to provide “real-world” experience to students, Genencor provides an internship program for Bay Area high school and college students. This program was expanded in 2010 to include the Ohlone College. Genencor provided internship opportunities to seven students and provided them with more than 150 hours of work experience. Impressed with the quality of the first seven trainees, Genencor has pledged to expand the program to other community colleges.

Amgen

Amgen is a member of the Biotechnology Education and Training Alliance (BETA) Advisory Committee at Ohlone College. They have donated equipment and supplies to local high schools and colleges, as well as providing tours of its plant. Many Amgen employees volunteer as guest instructors, making presentations to students, or judging bioscience contests. Amgen Fremont annually donates cash to the Biotechnology Summer Bridge program for high school junior and seniors.

The Amgen Scholars program is open to undergraduate students, sophomores (with four quarters or three semesters of college experience) and more. After acceptance, the student has the opportunity to engage in a 10-week, hands-on summer research experience with researchers at UC Berkeley, Stanford and UC San Francisco. Amgen hopes to see community college graduates participating in this program. Amgen also recognizes the role that well-trained, enthusiastic teachers play in students’ interest and love for science. The Amgen Award for Science Teacher Excellence (AASTE) is a program for K-12 science instructors. Every year, six awards are given and winning teachers receive $5,000 and $5,000 goes to the instructor’s school.

Biogen-Idec

Biogen-Idec Pharmaceuticals hosts a two-week Life Sciences Summer Institute Teacher program in its community lab, sponsored by the Southern California Biotechnology Center at Miramar College. This program provides extensive hands-on training for teachers and assistance in implementing and sustaining contemporary laboratory-based biotechnology curricula in their classrooms.

Pasadena Bioscience Collaborative

Pasadena Bioscience Collaborative operates a 10,000-square-foot Wet Lab Incubator that’s directed by the Los Angeles/Orange County Biotechnology Center, which has allowed entrepreneurs to develop proof-of-principle for their particular applications. Intellectual Property developed is solely owned by the companies. The incubator has 10 tenant companies and six graduates. The board includes the president of California State University, Los Angeles, the president of Pasadena City College and chief executive officers from industry and research institutes. This project received the Economic and Workforce Development Program’s 2005 Creative Partnership Award.

Neumedicines

Neumedicines, Inc. is a pre-clinical biopharmaceutical company focused on research and development of novel protein therapeutics that treat patients suffering from serious illnesses of blood-forming tissues. Neumedicines received a three-year, $13 million Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority grant from the United States Department of Health and Human Services in 2008 and hired technicians from the Pasadena City College biotechnology program. Neumedicine continues to grow.

EWD Biotechnology Initiative

The Economic and Workforce Development Biotechnology Initiative is working in partnership with California biotechnology trade associations BayBio and Biocom, as well as the CSU CSUPERB program, to better characterize workforce trends in California's biotechnology industry. The focus is on the growing industrial biotechnology/biofuels sector. The analysis is done in partnership with Radford Associates, a private consulting firm that works closely with the biotechnology industry to survey and provide data on employee compensation. The initiative was a major driving force in completing this survey, including being a major party in survey design and in completing the final analysis.

Industrial Fasteners Institute

The Industrial Fasteners Institute is pleased to be a partner in the Aerospace Manufacturing Training Center Alliance. The institute is committed to the vision and mission of the alliance and welcomes the opportunity to assist in the development of a skilled workforce for Aerospace Fastener Manufacturers in Southern California. The program is a model for similar programs throughout the United States.

Workplace Learning Resource Center

In partnership with the South Bay Workforce Investment Board the El Camino College Workplace Learning Resource Center conducted a 40-hour job readiness curriculum designed for people uncertain about their employment options to take responsibility for their future. The curriculum is provided as part of the Gateway to Green Building Project, a pre-apprenticeship training program for weatherization, energy efficiency and related green construction and retrofit Careers. Program partners include Build it Green, the Association of Energy Engineers, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Century Center for Economic Opportunity.

City of Palm Desert Ambulance

Through its Advanced Transportation Technology and Energy (ATTE) Center, College of the Desert trained 19 technicians on the application of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fuel in an ambulance built on a Ford F 450 platform. The city of Palm Desert acquired the CNG-fueled ambulance for its fleet and approached the ATTE Center through the regional Clean Cities program coordinator to conduct the training. Funding for the training was provided by the Miramar Community College ATTE/Region Hub.

Southland Motor Car Dealers Association

One of the hottest growing emerging industries is green conversation for cars — and clean cars equate to green jobs. Auto dealers invested in a $5.1 million facility to ensure there will be technicians trained to fix the hybrid and all-electric cars they sell. Hosted at Cerritos College, the 10,642- square-foot facility is the only one on the West Coast. Donors included the Southland Motor Car Dealers Association and the Greater Los Angeles New Car Dealers Association, who contributed $500,000 each, with the Conant Auto Retail Group and Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe contributing $100,000 each.

Designed to resemble a dealer showroom, the facility trains both students and industry mechanics, and houses the college’s Advanced Transportation Technology & Energy (ATTE) program. That program offers training in alternative fuels and other advanced transportation careers.

Next Skills Prep

Next Skills Prep, an employability skills curriculum for high school students, has just become a Careers and Technical Education student graduation requirement for Sacramento Academic & Vocational Academy, a charter school. Piloted through a partnership among the Los Rios Workplace Learning Resource Center, the Sacramento Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Linking Education and Economic Development and the SAVA, Next Skills Prep has become a major school initiative.

Small Business Development Center

Long Beach Community College District (LBCCD) manages the Los Angeles Regional Small Business Development Center (SBDCs) Network for the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) for the region covering Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. As the highest-funded network in the state, the Los Angeles Regional SBDC Network provides no-cost one-on-one business advising to entrepreneurs and also conducts low-cost workshops. By providing strategic advice and coaching, SBDCs help small business owners grow their businesses. LBCCD manages eight SBDCs, including those located at College of the Canyons, El Camino College, Long Beach City College and Santa Monica College.

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses initiative is a program designed for entrepreneurs to unlock the growth and job creation potential of small businesses in the United States by giving select entrepreneurs greater access to business education, financial capital and business support services. Cohorts of entrepreneurs are carefully selected and go through an 80-hour business education course conducted via partner community colleges. Long Beach Community College District is Goldman Sachs’ West Coast Partner.