Companies and community colleges are partnering to train future STEM-field workers like Bianca Wilson, shown at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
“There is [a] significant shortage of cybersecurity professionals,” says Dr. Dionne Miller, associate dean for academic affairs at LaGuardia Community College (LCC), a City University of New York institution that is launching a cybersecurity training program with Mastercard. “New York labor statistics forecast that there will be 33% growth in this area between 2020 and 2030,” she says, adding, “Collaborations with [companies] enable us to make sure that we are actually preparing students for the careers that they’re aspiring to have.”
Women currently comprise only 13% of registered apprentices. The grants seek to increase the number of women in apprenticeships and are designed to help meet workforce needs in STEM occupations. Registered apprenticeship programs are intended to increase opportunities for workers and to widen the talent pools for employers.
Cybersecurity
LCC works with the New York Jobs CEO Council, a coalition of CEOs, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations in the New York area. The goal of the council is to prepare New Yorkers in diverse, low-income communities for jobs that have high growth potential and pay wages that can move them into the middle class while meeting employer needs.
The New York Jobs CEO Council connected LCC with Mastercard to launch a cybersecurity training program that 20 students will participate in this summer. Following completion of the training program, 10 students will be selected for paid part-time apprenticeships (20 hours per week for two semesters) with Mastercard, during which they will have direct experience in addressing cybersecurity threats as well as receive professional and peer mentoring. Following successful completion, Mastercard may invite apprentices to apply for full-time positions.
“Faculty from our cybersecurity degree program, which is called Network Administration & Information Security (launched in 2016), as well as faculty from our adult and continuing education division, which have expertise in workforce training and development … worked with Mastercard technical professionals in designing the curriculum that would meet the job roles that they identified for the apprentices,” says Miller.
