Accelerate NC: Empowering underserved populations to pursue careers in NC life sciences

In the spirit of the holiday season, I’d like to reflect upon my time as the Regional Economic Competitiveness Officer (RECO) for North Carolina’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC), offer my thanks to our entire coalition and the Economic Development Administration (EDA), and speak to the “Magic” of Accelerate NC. 

When we learned about the BBBRC in 2021, North Carolina’s life sciences manufacturing was at a critical point. More than 7,000 new jobs and over $7 billion in investment have been announced in N.C. since January 2020. Existing training programs were straining to keep up with such growth.

We decided to go for it and make a proposal to the BBBRC. We formed a diverse coalition of education and training institutions, industry leaders, and other ecosystem and community partners. Leveraging our foundation of trust built over decades of collaboration, we proposed to work together to strengthen North Carolina's life sciences manufacturing sector.

Our coalition focused on expanding awareness and capacity of the existing and new training programs and community support programs for all North Carolinians, with the strategic intention of engaging underserved and distressed communities, including historically excluded populations. Our programs would link two critical needs in our state: available life sciences manufacturing jobs and the people who need them.

The EDA awarded our Accelerate NC coalition the Phase 2 award, $25 million for community engagement and workforce development programs. The North Carolina Community College System was funded to expand capacity and bring new training programming with 10 of its community colleges offering the BioWork certificate program. BRITE at North Carolina Central University was funded to create and lead a new network of training programs at five HBCUs and North Carolina’s sole HAIU (Historically American Indian University). And NCBiotech was funded to create and deliver Community Engagement programming and coordinate and connect efforts across the entire Coalition. For a full explanation of Accelerate NC, please see this breakdown.

Additionally, given the EDA’s interest in connecting the BBBRC with the military and veterans, and to leverage other federal support for NCBiotech programming, Accelerate NC aligned with NCBiotech’s Military Outreach & Veterans Engagement (MOVE) efforts.

While Accelerate NC is only at its midpoint, its early successes are due in large part to the fact that we built upon “Legacy” programs tested and validated over decades. 

Additionally, our new HBCU/HAIU network and community engagement efforts are bringing great “Hope” to North Carolinians of all stripes, ages, and geographies looking for fulfilling career opportunities they were previously unaware of.

Finally, the “Impact” we are having on the lives of our fellow citizens is most important to me and the EDA. 

Tina Blue read about life sciences job opportunities in her area and enrolled in BioWork, a training course designed to prepare participants for entry-stage careers in biomanufacturing. She got her certificate and is now a quality control sample coordinator at a life sciences manufacturer in Sanford, N.C. Tina feels blessed that Accelerate NC helped bring her economic stability as she has moved from lower to middle class. It also brought generational opportunities for her family, as now her high school-aged daughter, Adrienne, is also going through the BioWork certificate program and contemplating a life sciences manufacturing career when she graduates. 

Damon Sanders was a young man who dropped out of college during the pandemic, was in an unfulfilling job, and fell on hard times with a major car accident. If not for Accelerate NC and the BULLS program in Durham, he would not be serving as a Manufacturing Operator at a major manufacturer in Durham. Damon is also an ambassador championing the program to other youths looking for direction, community support, and training and career pathways into the life sciences. 

Because of Accelerate NC, Tina, Damon, and many others enjoy higher-than-average wages in a career with upward mobility, and personal fulfillment because they are now essential contributors to an industry that helps heal, feed, and fuel the world with critical life sciences products and medicines.

I love hearing stories like Tina’s and Damon’s, and they just scratch the surface of the impact of Accelerate NC.

Has Accelerate NC moved the needle on expanding access and inclusivity to the life sciences and bringing economic impact to our fellow North Carolinians and the state, overall?

Definitely, yes!

Has our more robust, inclusive and expanded talent pipeline shown its value to life sciences manufacturers? 

Absolutely, yes! 

In 2024, life sciences manufacturers invested $10B and announced 3,900 new jobs across North Carolina. Oft cited by these local expansions and new company recruits to North Carolina is our tested and interconnected workforce training infrastructure, which Accelerate NC has boosted. 

Congratulations to all coalition partners who have worked tirelessly for two years to create this amazing and transformative effort across our state. Together, Accelerate NC is well on its way to building one of the fastest growing, most accessible and diverse life sciences manufacturing bioeconomies in the nation!

Sara Imhof is a vice president in the Focused Initiatives Team at NCBiotech and is the Regional Economic Competitiveness Officer (RECO) for North Carolina’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC). View bio here.