Employers realize several benefits from the BTI model, including a positive impact on their bottom-line. Hiring BTI graduates results in measurable cost-savings resulting from the lower salaries and lower turnover costs of non-degreed but specially-skilled workers. This model has been proven through an initial pilot program with Baltimore City’s Chesapeake Biological Labs, Inc., where Dr. Penno was a consultant, and again with Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. In both projects, the employers participated in the development and delivery of a client-specific curriculum. From these initial successful efforts, BTI has expanded its content delivery to include Lab Associate classes, customized training to address client-specific needs and workshops to provide current lab technicians (many are BTI graduates) with the continuing education important for career advancement.
In February 2010, CNN featured BTI as an outstanding example of both a skills-based training program critically needed to prepare adults for career-oriented jobs requiring more than a high school diploma and an effective provider of job-ready employees for the growing bio-pharma industry.