Donors

Biotech Partners has long been recognized as a pioneer school-to-career program. It is now featured in a U.S. Department of Labor study as an exemplary model of consistently successful school-to-career partnerships. 

Biotech Partners is committed to the principles of youth development and supporting disadvantaged students, some of whom were on the verge of dropping out of high school when they applied for or were recommended for acceptance in the Program.

We’ve learned that an interest in science can be sparked and maintained by innovative teaching and hands-on science instruction, and that an interest in science-related work can change the course of a young person’s life.

Whom We Serve

• Approximately 150-200 students per year
• More than 900 job training placements since 1992
• Most students come from low income families
• Many students use the income from their summer internships and year-long co-op jobs to help support their families
• Many students are the first in their families to graduate from high school
• Most are the first generation to enroll in a post-secondary education program

On average, participant demographics are:

• 97% minorities
• 54% female

Program Outcomes

• Approximately 98% of students (100% over the past 5 years) who complete the high school component, including the summer internship, graduate from high school, which is dramatically higher than the overall estimate of 71% in California, and, approximately 49% in the Oakland Unified School District
• 97% of Biotech Partners students pursue post-secondary education
• Upon completion of the program, graduates are qualified for skilled entry-level positions in the biotech field, with entry-level salaries between $35,000-$45,000/year
• Nearly all graduates seeking jobs in the bioscience arena have found employment within three months after graduation
• To date, 59% of Biotech Partners students who have enrolled in the community college component have earned a Certificate of Achievement in Bioscience, which is more than twice the national average for similar certificate level training programs for high school graduates.

Industry employers say Biotech Partners graduates “outperformed their peers at work,” and were “…significantly better than their co-workers on the vast majority of technical skills, including familiarity with laboratory equipment and processes…computer applications and instrumentation, ability to learn how to use new equipment and to learn new processes.”* 

*Second-Year Evaluation of BBEI (now Biotech Partners), MPR Associates, Inc., August 2002

Foundation Partners

• Amgen Foundation
• Bayer USA Foundation
• Berkeley Community Fund
• Crescent Porter Hale Foundation
• Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Foundation
• East Bay Community Foundation
• Genentech Foundation for Biomedical Sciences
• The James Irvine Foundation
• The Rogers Family Foundation
• Y & H Soda Foundation
• Toyota USA Foundation
• Wayne & Gladys Valley Foundation
• Wells Fargo Foundation

Corporate, Public and Government Funding Partners

• American Chemical Society – Project SEED
• Bayer HealthCare
• City of Berkeley
• City of Berkeley YouthWorks
• Contra Costa & Alameda County Regional Occupational Programs (ROP)
• Illumina, Inc.
• JBEI-Joint Bioenergy Institute
• Novartis AG
• Oakland Unified School District – School-to-Career Dept.
• Sartorius Stedim Biotech
• SynBERC
• Tethys Bioscience
• Wareham Development

In-Kind Partners

• Alameda County Department of Public Health
• Bayer HealthCare
• Berkeley Public Library
• Bio-Link
• Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.
• BOSS/Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency
• Building Diversity in Science
• Citigroup Smith Barney
• INOVA Federal Credit Union
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Mark Estes Photography
• Palate Pleasures Catering
• Ryals & Associates
• WilloToons.com
• Wardrobe for Opportunity
• WorldCentric Biocompostables

For more information on developing a partnership with our future scientists, please contact Debbi Bellush, Executive Director at 510-705-5192.