The regional organization building a local pharmaceutical manufacturing hub is kicking off the New Year with fresh federal financing to expand its workforce development initiative.
The Alliance for Building Better Medicine announced last week that it was awarded $3.9 million in federal grants to create new associate degree programs at Reynolds and Brightpoint community colleges, among other projects. The money will support its efforts to develop the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry in the Richmond-Petersburg area.
Reynolds plans to offer a chemical laboratory technician degree starting in the 2026 fall semester, and Brightpoint is expected to roll out a degree in pharmaceutical manufacturing in the fall semester of 2025. Those new two-year degrees are intended to educate technicians who will staff the region’s pharma plants and related facilities.
The plan is to educate more than 200 people over three years to take jobs in those sectors. The Community College Workforce Alliance, which is the community colleges’ joint workforce division, is also involved in the programs.
Utah-based drug manufacturer Civica Rx, which has a drug production facility in Petersburg, and Richmond-based Phlow Corp., which makes pharmaceutical ingredients on the same campus, are members of the Building Better Medicine coalition.
Sean Terrell, associate vice president of research, planning and grants at Reynolds, said the new financing would also support other workforce development initiatives, including expansion of existing programs offered by the community colleges.
“They have a pretty diverse portfolio of noncredit, short-term and associate degree programs that are directly tied to jobs in pharma and biotech. (The grant) will allow us to continue to develop the curriculum for those programs, as well as develop programs that we already know are on the horizon for need in the next couple of years,” Terrell said.
Currently offered programming includes a biotechnology lab technician associate degree at Reynolds and an advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing career studies certificate at Brightpoint. CCWA offers a pharmaceutical manufacturing technician certificate and other programs.
Other projects to be financed by the grant include hiring a person to lead and coordinate the regional group’s workforce efforts, and creating a community ambassador program to promote the educational opportunities tied to the pharmaceutical manufacturing project.
“We know we have some deep pockets of poverty, underrepresented communities in Richmond and Petersburg, and we need a real high-touch, person-to-person strategy to go into those communities and bring people into training programs that lead to jobs,” Terrell said.
Financing also will provide tuition assistance and buy instructional equipment.
The new grant builds on workforce development projects financed through the federal Build Back Better program, an initiative of the American Rescue Plan through which the alliance was awarded $52 million in 2022.
“What was funded through Build Back Better were programs at CCWA and programs at Brightpoint and Reynolds fit in certain pieces of the educational trajectory, as well as programs at VSU and VCU. It essentially gave people an education ladder, but we had missing pieces,” said Joy Polefrone, regional innovation officer at the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing. The Prince George-based public-private economic development organization is part of the alliance.
The announcement of the financing comes after Building Better Medicine was passed over last year for funding via the Tech Hubs initiative, a federal program designed to support regional-scale economic development projects across the country. Polefrone said the alliance salvaged that application and used it to help support efforts to develop the workforce initiative for the regional venture.
“Really what we were asking for in the application was to solidify all of the pieces that we have in place and strengthen them,” Polefrone said. “We’ve sort of taken a loss and turned it into a win.”
The workforce development funding was secured through the Good Jobs Challenge program run by the U.S. Economic Development Administration. In addition to the grant, $3 million in funding and in-kind contributions from some alliance members is going toward the project.
The alliance also includes the Greater Richmond Partnership, Activation Capital, VCU, VSU, Walmart and the cities of Richmond and Petersburg, among others.
The regional organization building a local pharmaceutical manufacturing hub is kicking off the New Year with fresh federal financing to expand its workforce development initiative.
The Alliance for Building Better Medicine announced last week that it was awarded $3.9 million in federal grants to create new associate degree programs at Reynolds and Brightpoint community colleges, among other projects. The money will support its efforts to develop the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry in the Richmond-Petersburg area.
Reynolds plans to offer a chemical laboratory technician degree starting in the 2026 fall semester, and Brightpoint is expected to roll out a degree in pharmaceutical manufacturing in the fall semester of 2025. Those new two-year degrees are intended to educate technicians who will staff the region’s pharma plants and related facilities.
The plan is to educate more than 200 people over three years to take jobs in those sectors. The Community College Workforce Alliance, which is the community colleges’ joint workforce division, is also involved in the programs.
Utah-based drug manufacturer Civica Rx, which has a drug production facility in Petersburg, and Richmond-based Phlow Corp., which makes pharmaceutical ingredients on the same campus, are members of the Building Better Medicine coalition.
Sean Terrell, associate vice president of research, planning and grants at Reynolds, said the new financing would also support other workforce development initiatives, including expansion of existing programs offered by the community colleges.
“They have a pretty diverse portfolio of noncredit, short-term and associate degree programs that are directly tied to jobs in pharma and biotech. (The grant) will allow us to continue to develop the curriculum for those programs, as well as develop programs that we already know are on the horizon for need in the next couple of years,” Terrell said.
Currently offered programming includes a biotechnology lab technician associate degree at Reynolds and an advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing career studies certificate at Brightpoint. CCWA offers a pharmaceutical manufacturing technician certificate and other programs.
Other projects to be financed by the grant include hiring a person to lead and coordinate the regional group’s workforce efforts, and creating a community ambassador program to promote the educational opportunities tied to the pharmaceutical manufacturing project.
“We know we have some deep pockets of poverty, underrepresented communities in Richmond and Petersburg, and we need a real high-touch, person-to-person strategy to go into those communities and bring people into training programs that lead to jobs,” Terrell said.
Financing also will provide tuition assistance and buy instructional equipment.
The new grant builds on workforce development projects financed through the federal Build Back Better program, an initiative of the American Rescue Plan through which the alliance was awarded $52 million in 2022.
“What was funded through Build Back Better were programs at CCWA and programs at Brightpoint and Reynolds fit in certain pieces of the educational trajectory, as well as programs at VSU and VCU. It essentially gave people an education ladder, but we had missing pieces,” said Joy Polefrone, regional innovation officer at the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing. The Prince George-based public-private economic development organization is part of the alliance.
The announcement of the financing comes after Building Better Medicine was passed over last year for funding via the Tech Hubs initiative, a federal program designed to support regional-scale economic development projects across the country. Polefrone said the alliance salvaged that application and used it to help support efforts to develop the workforce initiative for the regional venture.
“Really what we were asking for in the application was to solidify all of the pieces that we have in place and strengthen them,” Polefrone said. “We’ve sort of taken a loss and turned it into a win.”
The workforce development funding was secured through the Good Jobs Challenge program run by the U.S. Economic Development Administration. In addition to the grant, $3 million in funding and in-kind contributions from some alliance members is going toward the project.
The alliance also includes the Greater Richmond Partnership, Activation Capital, VCU, VSU, Walmart and the cities of Richmond and Petersburg, among others.
Great new for the region! We’re about 30 years behind the curve for pharma manufacturing workforce training, but the industry and demand are still very strong, and more technical than ever. So training offered by these programs should be cutting edge, and should sustain continued workforce numbers for years to come.