Equitech Growth Fund Award for Developing Infrastructure to Enable Workforce Development Efforts
Baltimore, MD (12/19/24) – The Maryland Association of Community Colleges (MACC), the advocate and unified voice for Maryland’s 16 community colleges, and BCR Cyber, a leading provider of comprehensive cybersecurity training and job placement services, have received a $935,680 grant for their Cyber Workforce Accelerator (CWA) through the new Equitech Growth Fund from TEDCO (Maryland Technology Development Corporation).
Developed by MACC and BCR Cyber, the CWA provides all 16 of Maryland’s community colleges with access to BCR Cyber Series 3000 cyber ranges that deliver advanced experiential training and education technology to train and certify thousands of entry level IT and cyber practitioners. The Equitech Growth Fund award will facilitate procurement, configuration, and deployment of three BCR Cyber Series 3000 cyber ranges. The CWA will now have 13 cyber ranges available to all Maryland community colleges.
“The Equitech Growth Fund was created to provide additional funding and resources to entities supporting Maryland’s growth through infrastructure and workforce development efforts,” said Troy LeMaile-Stovall, TEDCO CEO. “And with a highly competitive round of applications, we are anticipating the 14 awarded projects, including the one submitted by the Maryland Association of Community Colleges and BCR Cyber, to be a steppingstone in creating a competitive and sustainable Maryland ecosystem.”
TEDCO’s Equitech Growth Fund, managed by TEDCO and the Equitech Growth Commission, provides grants for infrastructure and workforce development initiatives that support Maryland’s economic competitiveness and inclusive growth of emerging and advanced industries in the State. The Equitech Growth Commission is tasked with developing an inclusive, comprehensive, long-term strategic plan and 10-year goals for growing the State’s innovation economy to be highly competitive with other states and regions relative to growing, attracting, and retaining a skilled workforce and high-growth businesses.
“This latest grant substantially impacts Maryland’s cybersecurity training and job placement capabilities by providing the capacity to serve thousands of community college cyber students and trainees in Maryland,” says Michael Spector, President of BCR Cyber. “We are extremely grateful to TEDCO for selecting the Cyber Workforce Accelerator program not only to help fill a significant technology job gap in our state, but also to create life-changing career opportunities for Marylanders.”
For more than seven years, BCR Cyber has worked with the Maryland Department of Labor Employment Advancement Right Now (EARN) program and Maryland community colleges to establish an IT and cyber workforce development pipeline. More than 2,000 Maryland residents have been trained, certified, and 83 percent placed through the pipeline. Participants are drawn from across the state, are generally unemployed or under-employed, and come from varied backgrounds and demographics; persons of color represented 68 percent of the program participants, 47 percent were women.
“Maryland continues to lead the nation in the use of cyber ranges at community colleges for workforce development and career advancement for underserved citizens. The Cyber Workforce Accelerator is a model that can be replicated in every state in the U.S.,” adds Spector.
As a function of this effort, a public-private consortium created by BCR Cyber of 35+ cybersecurity companies and government agencies will steer course content development and recruit entry-level employees trained at the community college cyber ranges. Each of these entities have pledged significant leveraged resources to this project.
BCR Cyber has also established a wide range of strategic relationships with state and federal IT departments, allowing them to deliver cutting-edge cybersecurity training to their employees. Collaborating closely with these government entities, BCR Cyber is enabling them to strengthen their cybersecurity posture while fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
Additionally, BCR Cyber holds exclusive responsibility for conducting technical proficiency testing for third-party assessment organizations (3PAOs), as required by the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). BCR Cyber testing ensures these organizations meet the standards necessary to assess and authorize cloud service providers for federal agencies.
This latest grant from TEDCO brings the total amount awarded year to date for the Cyber Workforce Accelerator to $6.4 million.
