Unleashing America’s Cyber Talent: National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy

By collaborating with a range of stakeholders, promoting skills-based workforce development, communicating the benefits of public service careers, and lowering barriers in hiring, the NCWES seeks to:

• Expand the national cyber workforce and strengthen cyber capabilities within the Federal workforce.
• Transform cyber education to equip every American with foundational cyber skills.

More than two dozen businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies have already demonstrated their commitment to NCWES goals through partnerships and independent endeavors. Among those joining the effort are Google, Microsoft, Mastercard, American University, the Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the National Security Agency, and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

Activities will include funding, apprenticeships, internships, occupational studies, tech job fairs, public information campaigns, talent recruitment, education and upskilling opportunities, educator training, scholarships, curriculum design, diversity programs, and other workforce development measures. A few examples:

• $65 million in DOL formula and competitive grants have been awarded for states and territories to develop and scale Registered Apprenticeship (RA) programs in cybersecurity and other critical sectors.
• A new RA industry intermediary, Safal Partners LLC, that will focus on launching, promoting, and expanding RA programs in cybersecurity.
• A developmental RA program for veterans within the VA Cybersecurity Operations Center (CSOC) to provide leading-edge training for careers in Federal cybersecurity.
• A commitment from NPower to train more than 6,000 individuals over the next three years, offering multiple ramps to employment, including apprenticeships.
• A multi-pronged plan by CrowdStrike that combines internships, scholarship funding, an expansion of its successful SkillBridge apprenticeship program, and its “return-to-work” program focused on caregivers.

This ambitious and highly promising initiative will be of major importance to YARG grantees and all workforce development professionals. Learn more by reading the White House Fact Sheet and the complete National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy document.

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2023
• Posted by: Damon Jones
• Posted in: Youth Apprenticeship Readiness Grants