Programs & Services

Industry-Driven Regional Collaborative

California Community College Chancellor's Office Awards Skyline College Over $700K to Enhance Bay Area Bio-Manufacturing Education.

The California Community College Chancellor's Office announced today that Skyline College has been awarded over $700k to enhance bio-manufacturing education throughout the Bay Area through 2006. The award represents the California Community College system-wide commitment to economic development through the support of regionally designed initiatives called Industry Driven Regional Collaboratives.

Located just south of San Francisco, Skyline College serves primarily the northern portion of San Mateo County, which includes South San Francisco, the birthplace of biotechnology. The life sciences industry has grown steadily in South San Francisco with over 80 biotech firms in a two-square mile industrial zone making the area arguably the highest concentration of biotechnology firms in the world.

The unprecedented number of FDA approvals for new Bay Area Bio-manufacturing products creates the need for more than 1800 workers in bio-manufacturing over the next two years. To meet the Bay Area's regional bio-manufacturing workforce training needs, this Bay Area Community College Bio-manufacturing Training Collaborative will work with industry, education, workforce development agencies, labor, government partners and community based organizations to:

• Collaborate with leading Bay Area bio-manufacturing firms to create an expansive and well-coordinated industry driven regional collaborative;
• Work with Northern California Biotechnology Center and community to build a regional career ladders approach to bio-manufacturing that is articulated with and recognized by industry;
• Facilitate bio-manufacturing workforce certificate programs throughout the region;
• Work with Bio-link to provide training to community college faculty to deliver skill-based certificate programs for dislocated and underemployed workers;
• Collaborate with Career Ladders Project to inform statewide policy that fosters the development and sustainability of career ladders programs.

In the spirit of innovation and commitment to regional economic development, The Center for Workforce Development at Skyline College has partnered with the San Mateo County Workforce Investment Board, Genentech and others to deliver an intense bio-manufacturing certificate program for dislocated workers from a variety of industries. Since the advent of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, workforce investment boards and community colleges throughout the nation have blazed new trails to create these collaborations without clear and effective policy to guide them. The Skyline/San Mateo WIB collaboration has proved so successful for Genentech, that the model is being studied and replicated throughout California and the United States. Colleges in California like Ohlone College, Mira Costa College, and the College of the Canyons report success in replicating the model. Key features of this model include WIB and college coordination to create college-credit programs in manageable time frames for high demand jobs with career ladder opportunities. Skyline College Vice-President of Instruction, Regina Stanback-Stroud, board member of the national policy group, Workforce Alliance, said, "The model demonstrates how California Community Colleges serve the California economy."

William Watson, director of the Center for Workforce Development said, "This award will ultimately lead to great jobs for Bay Area workers and support a phenomenal industry that is saving lives." The successful collaboration that led to this award had been featured at 2004 annual conferences including: The California Workforce Association, California Community College Association of Occupational Educators, the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges, the League for Innovation in the Community College and featured in the Journal of the American Association of Community Colleges and on CNN.

For Information

For information regarding the Industry-Driven Regional Collaborative, please email Adolfo Leiva or call 650-738-7035.