Life Science Cares San Diego Deploys More than $2 Million Locally to Advance Its Mission to Disrupt the Cycle of Poverty in 2026

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Life Science Cares San Diego (LSC), a nonprofit organization activating the financial, human and social capital of the life sciences industry and partnering with local nonprofits to disrupt the cycle of poverty and inequity throughout its communities, today announced the deployment of over $2 million to support San Diego County-based programs in 2026. The funding, awarded at the end of 2025, will help the organization’s local nonprofit partners deliver essential services that address urgent basic needs, expand access to education and create pathways to long‑term economic prosperity. The organization also announced the publication of its annual Impact Report, highlighting how its programs positively impacted the community in 2025.

Since its San Diego founding in 2020, LSC has provided upwards of $5.6 million to 20 nonprofit partners who are making a measurable difference to LSC’s mission across San Diego. In 2025, that commitment deepened as local organizations faced the sudden loss of federal funding and simultaneous increase in community need. Through its Meet the Moment campaign, LSC mobilized the region’s life sciences community to help nonprofit partners maintain key initiatives, providing $320,000+ in emergency funding.

“As more and more San Diegans face food and housing insecurity, the life sciences community has once again demonstrated how powerful our collective impact can be, both in terms of meeting immediate basic needs in the community and breaking the cycle of poverty for the future,” said Alicia Kitagawa, Executive Director of Life Science Cares San Diego. "We are grateful to the life science companies and industry leaders who are supporting our ongoing programs and who stepped up to meet the moment in 2025 with additional financial support and human capital when headwinds erupted and threatened to leave even more people in need.”

Apart from activities connected to its Meet the Moment campaign in 2025, LSC San Diego achieved the following in 2025:

• Deployed more than $1.6 million in grants to its nonprofit partners and scholarships to Project Onramp interns.
• Increased the number of Project Onramp interns placed in local life science companies from 40 in 2024 to 62 in 2025.
• Coordinated thousands of volunteer hours, including over 2,000 hours of skilled volunteerism, delivering an estimated $305,000 in value.

Grants were awarded to nonprofit organizations advancing work across LSC San Diego’s three priority pillars: Basic Needs, Education and Economic Opportunity. These partners deliver services that stabilize households, aid students along their academic journeys and create pathways to long‑term financial mobility. The 2026 nonprofit partners include:

• Access Youth Academy
• Barrio Logan College Institute
• Community Resource Center
• Feeding San Diego
• Home Start
• HOPE through HOUSING Foundation
• Horizons San Diego
• Junior Achievement of San Diego County
• Just in Time for Foster Youth
• Make Projects
• Mama’s Kitchen
• Mana de San Diego
• Monarch School
• Partners in College & Career Success (PICS)
• Reality Changers
• SD2
• Serving Seniors
• The Links, Incorporated – San Diego Chapter
• Wesley House Student Residence
• Words Alive

“We are incredibly grateful for our nonprofit partners, whose dedication ensures that critical offerings that bolster access and opportunity remain accessible and operational for those who depend on them,” added Ms. Kitagawa. “In addition, we are collaborating closely with our board and life science industry leaders to identify and engage additional nonprofits as our partners, further expanding Life Science Cares' local impact.”

About Life Science Cares

Life Science Cares (LSC) activates the financial and human capital of the life sciences industry and partners with nonprofits to disrupt the cycle of poverty and inequality in our communities. Now operating in five US life science hubs (Boston, Philadelphia, San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area and New York), LSC has invested $16 million and tens of thousands of volunteer hours in community organizations providing access to basic needs, access to education or access to opportunity. Life Science Cares Switzerland, the first international LSC effort, launched in April 2024. Learn more at https://lifesciencecares.org/.

About Project Onramp

Project Onramp creates paid summer internships for college students who are under-resourced and underrepresented, helping to bridge the opportunity gap for these promising young people. Companies commit or create internship positions and, working with student support partners & select universities, Project Onramp provides candidates who have the required coursework and unmatched energy for the opportunity. The Onramp team provides additional support and professional development for students, to ensure they make the most of their summer and leverage their opportunities well beyond. Learn more at https://lifesciencecares.org/project-onramp/.