‘A National Model’: How One Program is Preparing Durham Youth for Life Sciences Careers

The Research Triangle has been a major science and technology hub for decades. In 1984, as the tobacco and textiles industries–longstanding pillars of the North Carolina economy–moved overseas, academic and business leaders saw the writing on the wall and urged legislatures to welcome a burgeoning industry to the Tar Heel state; life sciences. 

Across the state, the biotechnology sector has grown 38 percent since 2018, now home to more than 840 life sciences companies. Economic growth in life sciences and biotechnology across the state far outpaces nationwide growth. According to tThe NC Biotechnology Center (NCBiotech) , life science and biotech companies invested over $7.6 billion between 2020 and 2022 alone, adding more than 6,000 new jobs. But they had a problem: Filling the positions.

Many of the jobs created by these investments offer starting salaries at or above the living wage plus benefits, and don’t require advanced degrees. Durham Technical Community College offered the requisite degree and certificate programs in partnership with the NCBiotech, but leading up to the COVID pandemic, enrollment was stagnating.

In 2020, when most of the economy was retreating inward and folks were leaving the office, the pharmaceutical industry ramped up, heightening the need for new employees. But not enough Durham residents were taking advantage of the programs to fill the available jobs.

Made In Durham, a nonprofit founded in 2014 that focuses on strengthening the “education to career” system for Durham residents, joined forces with city and county staff, Durham Tech, the Durham Chamber of Commerce, and NCBiotech to come up with a solution for matching these high quality job opportunities with candidates at a time when jobs were scarce. Through funding from NCBiotech, Durham Tech was able to offer free tuition for anyone to enroll in its BioWorks certificate program, while Made In Durham worked with community partners to recruit students. That year, enrollment in the BioWorks program increased by 300 percent.

Durham Tech and its partners succeeded in attracting more future employees into the life sciences career pipeline, but a significant demographic of Durham residents were still being left out: About one in five young adults ages 16 to 25 were neither in school nor working. In Durham, many of those youth belonged to communities of color.

“What we saw was people that really didn’t need our help,” says Casey Steinbacher, executive director at Made In Durham, who served as president of the Durham Chamber when Made in Durham was created in response to a report conducted by MDC on disconnected youth.

In 2021, Made In Durham created the BULLS Life Sciences Academy to recruit young adults into the Bioworks program at Durham Tech, and help prepare them for careers in the industry.

The first cohort included five students. Made In Durham received a grant from the Oak Foundation for $50,000 to provide stipends for the students. At the end of the inaugural program, two out of five students passed. But where graduation rates fell short, program leadership learned a lot. Durham County, already a funding partner for Made In Durham, offered $250,000 a piece to Made In Durham and Durham Tech to beef up the BULLS initiative.

Dominique Oliver, director of strategic initiatives at Made In Durham, says BULLS was not just about increasing enrollment for Durham Tech, but about meeting the industry needs and building a pipeline for economic prosperity for Durham’s young adult residents.

“When the BULLS started, it didn’t start as a Durham Tech solution, and it’s not a Durham Tech solution,” Oliver says. “What we were looking at was an industry problem. The industry had a huge talent pool that they were missing because Durham residents were not getting those life sciences jobs.”

Figuring out the right model for the program has taken years of tinkering. At the end of every cohort, Steinbacher says the BULLS partners all met to debrief and make adjustments. A major boost came when Made In Durham received federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act and the Build Back Better Act, which the organization used to pay other local community groups to help with recruitment and become ambassadors for BULLS Academy.

But it wasn’t just about getting students in the door. They needed to get them across the stage on graduation day. On average, the first five cohorts posted a graduation rate of just 55%.

Academic coaches were already provided to the students through Durham Tech, but Made In Durham worked with the college to add “success coaches” that not only support student academics, but prepare students for life as a professional by helping with resume writing, preparing for job interviews, and learning how to navigate the life sciences industry.

In addition to free tuition, students also are granted a $10,000 stipend to provide financial support for life expenses like housing and transportation. Students receive a portion of the stipend for participation. The other half is based on academic performance throughout the program, creating incentives for the students to stay engaged and see the program through until the end.

The final step is getting students into the workforce. Made In Durham expanded its corporate partnerships staff to better connect students with professionals in the field, as well as bring businesses into the program to meet with students.

All of these adjustments led to improvements in student achievement.

“The students needed to understand that this wasn’t an activity to get a job. This was an activity to start a career,” Steinbacher says.

Constant iteration allowed the program to finally catch its wind. The next six cohorts graduated 93% of its students, who were also having better success in the job market. 

In the first couple of cohorts, Steinbacher says, about one in seven students got a job within the first three months. After deepening corporate partnerships, and expanding the number of success coaches, one in three students met that same benchmark.

Since the program started, over 200 students have graduated from BULLS, with 77 in the field of life sciences across 22 different companies. The BULLS Life Sciences Academy is currently recruiting for its 14th cohort. 

Students that join BULLS are enrolled as students at Durham Tech for a five-month certification program in life sciences. Students must be 18 to 25 years old, have a high school diploma or equivalent certification, reside in Durham County, and pass a drug test and background check. Interested students have to attend an orientation on life sciences before they can apply, giving them a better understanding for what to expect in the field once they complete the program.

Compared to other industries, the certification for life sciences is more universally accepted by businesses.

“One of the big things about life science that is different from a lot of other jobs is there’s one certification that all companies recognize,” Oliver says. “So when we’re looking at the way that we structure BULLS, and the reason why we chose the classes that we did, it really gives our students the best opportunity to create a full pipeline for all of the life science companies.”

Students who finish the program can take their newfound talents into the job market. Others return to pursue further education by completing the associate’s degree in biotechnology, or transferring to a four-year university.

Participants have gone on to work at Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical company that produces popular weight loss and diabetes drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, which opened a new facility in Durham in 2019 after already investing more than $2 billion in nearby Clayton, And Novartis, a global pharmaceutical company, which announced last November it was constructing two new facilities in Durham as part of a $23 billion U.S.-based infrastructure investment. Other multinational pharmaceutical companies like Merck and Lilly have also hired BULLS graduates.

Landing a job in life sciences for BULLS graduates can be a gamechanger. Starting salaries for some positions go as high as $80,000, far above the poverty line in Durham, and higher than the minimum living wage. And the opportunities don’t stop there. Employees in the life sciences industry are well-positioned for upward mobility.

“Life science companies are one of the most well-known industry sectors to invest in your personal education,” Steinbacher says. “They have dedicated funding for each position to keep them growing in the industry. That’s why we tell everybody it’s not just a job.”

The Research Triangle, with its acclaimed education system and healthcare institutions, as well as investments from local and state governments, has the ideal conditions to support the continued growth of the life science and biotechnology industries that have made a home in the region.

Unlike jobs at tech companies, many of which are remote and can employ people from around the world, life science companies are choosing Durham because of the local talent and training infrastructure already available, making Durham competitive in attracting other life science companies to the region, even though building facilities may be cheaper elsewhere.

And now, thanks to programs like Made In Durham, the workforce pipeline is stronger than ever, especially for residents in Durham’s disadvantaged communities. Over the past four years, Durham County has invested $2 million in the BULLS program, while BULLS graduates are bringing in over $3 million in salaries, a significant return on the taxpayer’s investment.

“I believe that the BULLS program is a national model, and is one of the most important things that the county is doing,” says county commissioner Wendy Jacobs. 

The Durham County Board of Commissioners proclaimed January 12 “BULLS Academy Life Sciences Day” in honor of the program’s accomplishments.

“This is about structural systems change,” Jacobs says. “This is the kind of program we have to keep investing in to really transform economic mobility in Durham and make sure that young people, especially young people of color, are directly connected and prepared for the good paying jobs that we have in Durham.”

BULLS Academy now gets twice as many applications as they can accept, Steinbacher says. The program hopes to take its model and grow workforce training in other sectors, too.

Steinbacher says parents are some of the biggest cheerleaders of the program. At a graduation last year, an enthusiastic mother who had already sent two kids through the program, told Steinbacher she was sad not to have more kids to enroll in the BULLS Academy. Twenty minutes later, Steinbacher says the mother came back beaming. She had convinced her niece to give the program a shot.

“Parents are very, very supportive of it,” Steinbacher says. “They come to the graduation, they yell and they scream and they have a good time. And just about every kid in this program would tell you, once their parents found out about [BULLS], they were taking it, whether they wanted to or not.”

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