Stanislaus County’s $9.24 Million Investment Signals Circular Bioeconomy Momentum
On behalf of the dozens of organizations in BEAM Circular’s public-private partnership collaborative, we’re grateful for Stanislaus County’s continued commitment to unlocking the potential of the circular bioeconomy for our local community.
On Tuesday August 13, the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors approved a cumulative $9.24 million contract with BEAM Circular to support a broad portfolio of local projects and activities that create quality jobs, strengthen the regional economy, and deliver environmental benefits. This investment by the County brings total aligned public and private funding commitments to regional circular bioeconomy development efforts to over $55 million since BEAM Circular’s launch in January 2023. This combination of local, state, federal, and private investment in our region will enable long-term impact through local innovation, sustainable industry scale-up, and workforce readiness.
The county’s investment is the result of three years of planning, research, and collaboration — beginning with the Stanislaus 2030 public-private planning initiative launched in 2021. That initiative created a shared vision for our community’s economic future, including a specific strategy for establishing our region as a global leader in the growing bioeconomy.
Over the past 18 months since BEAM Circular’s launch, we’ve received invaluable input from hundreds of community members and partners across industry, labor, education, environmental advocacy, community development, and local government to further refine that strategy. These inputs shaped the specific investment recommendations approved by Stanislaus County (detailed below).
Stanislaus County Investment Summary
The $9.24 million from Stanislaus County includes $500K previously awarded in June 2024. Adding to $760,000 previously awarded to BEAM Circular, this brings the County’s total investment of American Rescue Plan Act funding for regional bioeconomy development to $10 million, in alignment with a spending plan for Stanislaus 2030 strategy implementation approved by the County in January 2023.
The funding allocation includes:
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$4.6 million for Cross-Cutting Initiatives that enable overall sector growth, community engagement, innovation, local capacity-building, and collaboration activities, including through BEAM Circular Initiative Leadership & Program Delivery ($2,894,889), Innovation Engine development via CBIO Collaborative ($332,611), a new BEAM Fellows Program ($250,000), and planning and design for a Circular Bioeconomy Innovation Campus that will support R&D, technology scale-up, community education, and workforce training ($1,200,000). Site selection for the Innovation Campus will begin later this year.
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$2.2 million for Capital Connections to support local job creation, including an Anchor Firms Development Fund to support new projects that create large numbers of quality jobs ($2,000,000), and Matching Grants for Research & Commercialization Funds for local small businesses ($200,000).
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$1.56 million for enabling Infrastructure, including Grants for Job Training Facilities & Equipment ($1,500,000) and Manufacturing Site Portfolio research and advancement ($62,500).
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$800K for Talent strategies via a Workforce Development Fund that provides grants and technical assistance to local education and training institutions to deploy new industry-aligned programs, internships, and inclusive career training pathways ($800,000).