$5M grant aims to boost life sciences workforce

The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded a four-year $5 million grant to grow and maintain the greater Boston area’s life sciences workforce.

The Metro Boston Skilled Careers in Life Sciences initiative will provide industry specific job training for 360 residents, support an additional 300 post-secondary students in internships, and provide career counseling and outreach services to more than 3,000 people.

SCILS is being implemented in collaboration with the City of Boston’s Jobs and Community Services, and the MetroNorth, Metro Southwest and South Coastal workforce regions.  Training partners will include Boston University, Quincy College and the Waltham-based Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.  The program will serve more than 80 cities and towns.

“Our state’s talented workforce is the number one reason why life sciences companies choose to locate and grow in Massachusetts,” said Susan Windham-Bannister, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.  “That is why I am so pleased to join with Mayor (Thomas) Menino in partnering in this initiative.  We will put to good use the portion of these funds that will go toward supporting and expanding the Life Sciences Center’s Internship Challenge Program.”

SCILS will draw on the strength and expertise of the Boston Healthcare Careers Consortium, a collaboration of healthcare organizations, educational institutions, labor organizations, and the public workforce system.  Affliliates include Partners Health Care, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and SEIU 1199 Training Fund. SCILS will add new employer partners like Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Biogen Idec.

Over the next four years, the SCILS Initiative will provide customized occupational training, contextualized learning, program development and the recruitment, case management and placement of eligible participants. SCILS programs will focus on training for careers as biological technicians, medical lab technicians and technologists.

The funding for the grant comes from the fees paid for H1B visas, which allow companies to import temporary labor from foreign countries. 

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