City of Berkeley and Bayer Corporation - Bayer Healthcare ...

CommunIty suppoRt
education—thirty years of support for Berkeley public schools
“ The education program is designed to achieve the highest feasible graduation rate of trained
skilled technical workers for the positions that will become available at [Bayer], at other
biotechnology companies, and in the health care field.”
BIoteCh pARtneRs
—Development Agreement, pAge g-1-1
exhibit g-1, biotechnology eDucAtion trAining progrAm
The Development Agreement was forged when California was near the nation’s bottom
in public school funding. Cuts made by Sacramento in the budget crisis of 2009 have
dropped the state, unbelievably, to dead last for the coming school year. In these
decades, science education has seen some of the most appalling shortfalls.
Yet over these 17 years more than 1,000 students at Berkeley High School, and more
recently at Oakland Technical High School, have had available to them a focused,
effective curriculum that has introduced them to careers in the high-paying biotech
industry, and has changed the lives of many.
Biotech Partners is one of the most innovative and far-reaching achievements to come
out of the Development Agreement. The award-winning program is a unique response
to the twin concerns of a City looking to provide its diverse youth population—
particularly those from economically disadvantaged families who are not on track to
attend a four-year college—with career opportunities in the face of a waning industrial
base, and a high-tech corporation in fierce competition for qualified employees in fields
including research, manufacturing, and product distribution.
Bayer committed to providing $1.1 million over the first five years for program
development and implementation. The company guaranteed an additional $25,000
(with Consumer Price Index adjustment) annually for the next five years and in 1999,
in the first Amendment to the Development Agreement, agreed to continue funding
through 2021. The company also agreed to place a priority on hiring program graduates,
and to date has hired 48.
Biotech Partners serves approximately 130 students each academic year. Originally
a partnership with Berkeley High School and Laney College, additional corporate
and foundation support has expanded the program into the Oakland Unified School
District. (Bayer funds are not allocated to the Oakland Unified School District, with
the exception of costs including transportation for the annual Career Awareness
Conference.) Students now also go to other Peralta Community College District
schools besides Laney College to meet scheduling needs.
The successes of Biotech Partners have far exceeded initial expectations, and Bayer’s
commitment has grown as a result.
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