Apprenticeships and Internships
Business Case for Paying Your Interns, Fast Company
Consider which students can afford to not make any money and, instead, spend $6,800 working? Typically, it’s people who come from money. What this means is that there is an entire group of internships that are essentially designed only for students who come from financially advantaged backgrounds. And in the U.S., “financially advantaged” likely means you’re white.
Employer Guide to Hosting Life Science Interns
This guide is a detailed blueprint for implementing a successful internship program. We hope you’ll download it, read it, modify it – and implement a life science internship program of your own.
How to Empower the Next, Diverse Generation of Inventors, Sustainable Brands
For those who cultivate innovation and invention, it is our responsibility to provide opportunity for those historically marginalized. Our society must take the harsh realizations uncovered by the pandemic and use them to fuel ambition and drive, to ensure access and opportunity for every student.
Inclusive Internship Programs: A How-to-Guide for Employers, U.S. Department of Labor
Well-structured internship programs benefit both interns and employers. By participating in these valuable on-the-job learning opportunities, interns augment their work experience, hone important work skills, develop their career goals, and establish connections that may prove useful throughout the span of their careers.
Tools for Promoting & Sourcing Diverse Talent
BIO Boardlist
This database provides detailed profiles of talented, board-eligible individuals from a diverse pool with extensive experience in the biotech industry.
Building an Inclusive Workforce: A Four-Step Reference Guide to Recruiting, Hiring, and Retaining Employees with Disabilities, U.S. Department of Labor
Today more than ever, businesses need people with the ability to adapt to different situations and circumstances. And perhaps more than any other group, people with disabilities possess precisely these attributes. On a daily basis, people with disabilities must think creatively about how to solve problems and accomplish tasks. In the workplace, this translates into innovative thinking and fresh ideas.
Preparing Students of Color for the Future Workforce, Center for American Progress
When it comes to readying students for the jobs of the future, America’s K-12 education system too often does not sufficiently prepare Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students. Research has shown that this negatively affects these students’ life outcomes, specifically in terms of their long-term career prospects and economic security. To change this dynamic, K-12 schools and districts need to do much better at preparing Black, Latinx, and Indigenous for the future workforce. How can the life sciences industry assist with changing this dynamic?
Organizations Supporting Underrepresented Students with Opportunities in Life Sciences & STEM
Bay Area
Bay Area Bioscience Education Community (BABEC): BABEC, Bay Area Bioscience Education Community, a non-profit that provides bioscience resources and curricula to high school and community college teachers. BABEC’s Mission is to Inspire ALL Students to Engage in Science by Empowering Teachers
BioLink Depot: Bio-Link Depot is a unique organization that provides millions of dollars worth of donated laboratory equipment and supplies for free to educators and researchers, to promote scientific training for students.
Biotech Partners: Established in 1993 as part of a development agreement between Bayer HealthCare and the City of Berkeley, Biotech Partners is an independent non- profit organization which focuses on helping students underrepresented in the field of biotechnology attain personal, academic, and professional development experiences through in-classroom instruction and paid internships within the biotech and health industries.
Life Science Cares Bay Area: Life Science Cares Bay Area is a collective effort of the life science industry to address the impact of poverty and inequality on our neighbors in the Bay Area.
Los Angeles
Bioscience LA Biofutures Internship Program: The BioFutures Program is a competitive program to connect students from under-represented backgrounds with subsidized internships and career development programming, designed to increase opportunities for students and companies year-round.
Bio-Flex: Bio-Flex is a New Innovative Project to Develop Pre-Apprenticeship and Registered Apprenticeship Career Pathways for the Bioscience Industry. The vision for Bio-Flex is to deliver an effective and proven employer-directed career development tool, which can be used to attract new talent to the Bioscience industry. The program will provide an important resource to employers and increase job seekers’ access to well-paid careers in this exciting industry.
DIY Girls: DIY Girls mission is to increase girls’ interest and success in technology, engineering and making through innovative educational experiences and mentor relationships. DIY Girls serves girls in under-resourced communities. DIY Girls offers programs for girls in 5th-12th grade, predominantly in the Northeast San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles.
Girls Inc. Of Greater Los Angeles: Girls Inc. of Greater Los Angeles provides hundreds of girls with life-changing support and real solutions to the unique issues they face. Girls Inc. of Greater Los Angeles provides support and programming for schools in South Los Angeles, Compton, and Watts California.This is through our education enrichment program that focuses on STEM Education, Literacy, and Math.
Pathways to Stem Cell Science: Founded in 2016, Pathways to Stem Cell Science is a unique biotech-based, non-profit research and education company located in Los Angeles, California. Their mission is to support the advancement of stem cell science and create real-world pathways to bioscience careers. They achieve these goals by providing a unique combination of laboratory facilities, contract research services and K-college education programs.
Thrive Scholars: Thrive Scholars provides high-achieving students of color from low-income communities the opportunities they need to thrive at top colleges and in meaningful careers.
San Diego
DETOUR: DETOUR (Depositing Empowerment Through Outreach & Urban Redevelopment) is a mentoring program for girls of color. Our mission is to increase access to education and employment opportunities for girls through our Focused And Naturally Confident Youth (F.A.N.C.Y.) Leadership programs (Expo, Leadership Academy, and Ambassador Internships.)
Boz Research and Training Institute: Boz Research and Teaching Institute is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that enables diverse, curious scholars to experience research, pursue careers in life sciences, and improve communities locally and globally.
Ocean Discovery Institute: Ocean Discovery Institute is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that uses science to empower young people from underserved urban communities to transform their lives, their community, and our world as scientific and conservation leaders.
San Diego Squared (SD2): SD2 is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) focused non-profit community organization established to connect underrepresented San Diego students to the power of STEM by providing access to education, mentorship, and the resources they need to lead the talent pipeline.
First Gen Scholars: First Gen Scholars is providing authentic support from college prep to career success.
KIPP Through College: The KIPP Through College (KTC) team supports KIPP SoCal students and alumni with individual, personalized counseling on their journeys to and through high school and college. KIPP Through College is sustained by philanthropy, and committed to ensuring students receive the customized support services needed to thrive in high school, college, and the competitive job market.
MANA De San Diego: The mission of MANA de San Diego is to empower Latinas through education, leadership development, community service, and advocacy. MANA de San Diego has several successful programs, including the Hermanitas program – A one-on-one youth leadership mentor program that matches middle and high school girls with local professional women for a year to encourage higher education and leadership development.
San Diego Regional EDC’s Advancing San Diego: Advancing San Diego is a collaborative effort to better prepare San Diegans for quality jobs via locally-serving education institutions and expand access to diverse, qualified talent for San Diego companies.
Life Science Cares San Diego: Life Science Cares is a collective effort of the local life sciences industry to reduce the impact of poverty in the San Diego community. Life Science Cares unites the Life Science community providing human and financial resources to the most impactful partner organizations throughout San Diego that address three fundamental gaps: survival, education and sustainability.
UCSD PATHS: The PATHways to STEM through Enhanced Access and Mentorship (PATHS) Program’s mission is to increase the number, persistence, and success of underrepresented students in science, technology, engineering, math (STEM) and medicine. The PATHS Program is a four-year undergraduate scholarship and student support program that provides an up to $10,000 scholarship/year, enhanced access to stratified mentorship, campus support, hands-on training, and academic preparation support.