Sierra College and Regional Partners Awarded $7.3 Million to Grow Biomanufacturing Sector
Sierra College will receive $1.4 million to lead the workforce development strategy, aligning employer hiring needs with technician training
ROCKLIN, Calif. — Sierra College has been selected to lead the Capital Biomanufacturing Alliance (CAPBIO) Workforce Development Project, a workforce development and training initiative to grow biomanufacturing jobs in the Sacramento region. The Sierra-led workforce effort is one of three key strategies deployed by the “We Prosper Together” regional partnership, which today was awarded $7.3 million in state funding to grow the Sacramento region’s biomanufacturing industry.
Governor Gavin Newsom announced the award today through the State of California’s Regional Investment Initiative, a component of the California Jobs First initiative. Of the region’s $7.3 million, $1,386,160 is designated for the CAPBIO Workforce Project. The CAPBIO Workforce partners are Sierra College, Los Rios Community College District, Capitol Impact and Valley Vision.
“We are grateful to Governor Newsom, GO-Biz and the California Jobs First Council for this investment, and to the partners who built this strategy together,” said Willy Duncan, Superintendent/President for Sierra College. “Sierra College has spent decades building the kind of hands-on technical training that employers trust, and this funding puts that experience to work for an industry that is expanding and hiring right now. Together, our region is leveraging the potential of putting workforce training and talent development right at the heart of our economic development strategy.”
California Jobs First is a first-of-its-kind, region-led economic development strategy in which each of California’s 13 economic regions built its own plan for growth and good-paying jobs. In the Sacramento region, the “We Prosper Together” plan identified precision manufacturing and life sciences among the region’s highest-potential sectors. CAPBIO will help implement those priorities.
The Sierra College-led CAPBIO Workforce effort is focused on people and talent. The broader regional CAPBIO strategy also includes CAPBIO Ecosystem and CAPBIO Infrastructure, parallel efforts that also received state funding today. Together they are designed to strengthen the conditions biomanufacturing companies need to start, grow and locate in the region: industry connections, facilities and infrastructure, and a skilled workforce.
According to the state, the project will create a cohesive biomanufacturing talent pipeline by expanding career awareness, credential instruction and paid internships. Over 24 months, the partners expect to credential 50 to 75 learners and support more than 150 pathway-aligned jobs.
Workforce as a Condition for Growth
Biomanufacturing includes products ranging from cell therapies to food ingredients and industrial materials. California’s life sciences industry employs approximately 452,000 workers and generates an estimated $396 billion in annual economic output, with average biomanufacturing compensation of roughly $135,000 per year and entry-level technician wages reaching $30.91 per hour, including jobs that are accessible with a certificate or associate degree rather than a four-year credential.
The Capital Region has strong academic research and base to capture a significant share of future industry and job growth. UC Davis ranks first in the nation for agriculture and first in California for biotechnology; companies including Orca Bio, Jackson Laboratory, CPC Scientific, GeminiBio and Bayer Crop Science have expanded here in recent years; and the region sits on the Interstate 80 Innovation Corridor, a federal priority area for biomanufacturing. What has been missing is workforce at scale — a gap that is an economic development problem as much as an education one. A deeper bench of trained technicians gives companies already here the capacity to expand, and makes the region more competitive when companies decide where to locate future operations.
Sierra College to Leverage Mechatronics Foundation
Sierra College will serve as fiscal lead for CAPBIO Workforce and will anchor the technician training that gives the pipeline its common foundation, built on its nationally recognized Mechatronics program, which consistently places 100 percent of its graduates into jobs. Sierra College’s $1.4 million share will retrofit the college’s 60 mechatronics training stations with current industry platforms.
From that foundation, students can stack specialized credentials in areas such as cell therapy manufacturing, precision fermentation and food-grade bioprocessing. Sierra College also leads the state’s North Far North Regional Consortium, and will share what the partnership learns with 15 community colleges across 22 counties. Los Rios Community College District will develop a new Clinical Research Coordinator pathway at American River College, and Capitol Impact will lead the employer engagement that keeps training aligned to hiring needs.
“Mechatronics is the on-ramp. A student who can keep an automated production line running can keep a bioreactor running — and that is exactly the technician our biomanufacturers cannot hire fast enough,” said Dr. Amy Schulz, Executive Dean of Workforce and Strategic Initiatives at Sierra College. “We are not building this from scratch. We are pointing something that already works at an industry that needs it.”
About Sierra College
Sierra College serves 3,200 square miles of Northern California with campuses in Rocklin, Nevada County and Tahoe-Truckee. With approximately 125 degree and certificate programs, Sierra College is ranked first in Northern California (Sacramento north) for transfers to four-year universities, and offers career/technical training and classes for upgrading job skills. Sierra graduates can be found in businesses and industries throughout the region. More information at www.sierracollege.edu.