Gates Open To ​“BioCity”

Fifteen public school students are now able to earn college credits by heading to one of the city’s newest labs — to witness and participate in cutting-edge research happening right here in New Haven.

That’s thanks to BioCity, a bioscience program made possible by a partnership between the city and BioLabs, which operates a co-working biotech laboratory on the second floor of the newly built lab-office building at 101 College St. That ​“collaborative wet lab and office coworking facility” form part of a bioscience pathway, where students can then use their skills to find work or continue studying.

BioCity launched Aug. 26 and was celebrated by Mayor Justin Elicker and Supt. Madeline Negrón last Friday, during a press conference held at 101 College. New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) now has 18 industry certification program offerings within the district, and the new bioscience pathway is the school district’s fifth work-based career pathway, with the others being manufacturing, healthcare, business, and education.

The BioLabs facility and incubator space is the home for the high school program and will allow students to study college-level science and math and STEM courses taught by faculty from Southern Connecticut State University. Program leads are working on next bringing in Gateway Community College faculty to teach as well.

The inaugural class is made up of a total of 15 juniors from Hill Regional Career High School, James Hillhouse High School, and Wilbur Cross High School.

Students will earn 11 college credits over the course of the first year of the program (eight in science and three in math), and they’ll receive college and career counseling. There will also be tutoring in chemistry and math available from Yale students. The students leave their respective schools at around 12:30 p.m. and head to 101 College, where they remain until 4 p.m. learning chemistry and pre-calculus. 

The announcement came the same week that NHPS received a five-year, $15 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to enhance their magnet programs. It also came as Mayor Elicker proposed allocating $8.5 million towards school building maintenance and operations thanks to a budget surplus from the last fiscal year.

Local leaders described the new BioCity program as a collaborative project that has been four years in the making.

“It’s an example of what can be created in a place where oftentimes our young people aren’t shown what their future could be,” Elicker said at Friday’s presser. ​“We need to make sure that New Haven residents have access to this kind of growth.” 

According to Elicker, NHPS and the city have been working on a larger initiative to offer career pathways to New Haven youth — both in vocational opportunities and other modern growing industries that offer livable wages.

“We’ve put out $2.5 million in grants over the last two years to 23 partner organizations that supported around 2,000 young people in job training and career pathways training, to ensure that they have more opportunities to capture jobs in the growing industries of today,” he said. 

Supt. Madeline Negrón thanked city staff, program partners, and NHPS leaders for having the vision for the BioCity Lab. She added that NHPS is working to develop a culinary career pathway this year. 

Wilbur Cross junior Bryana Sarango said the welcoming and passionate team of educators and program leads ​“brings me the motivation that I need to try my hardest to excel in these rigorous courses.” 

The students discussed the excitement of having doors opened to take college-level math and science courses.

The BioCity Lab is the product of a collaboration among NHPS; the City of New Haven; the developer of the property at 101 College Street, Carter Winstanley; and local universities. A Board of Alders committee reviewed and unanimously recommended approval of a handful of funding and licensing authorizations to enable the new program back in June; the full Board of Alders unanimously approved the program in early August.

The contract between BioLabs and the city spans ten years, though NHPS will have the option to end the collaboration after the third year of the program. For funding, the city is allocating up to $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan State and Local Recovery Fund money, as well as another $1.5 million from a federal discretionary grant administered by the Department of Education.

Hill Alder Carmen Rodriguez and Edgewood Alder Evette Hamilton thanked 101 College developer Carter Winstanley for expanding and enhancing his bioscience dream to now include New Haven’s students. 

After congratulating the inaugural NHPS bioscience cohort, Rodriguez concluded, ​“My only ask of you is to tap on the shoulder of one of your classmates in the school and say, ​‘This is possible.’ ”

“This building is yours,” Winstanley said to the students. ​“This is where your job of the future should be. You should feel comfortable in this building. This should feel like home to you. And we’re fortunate to have you here.”