The West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology is expanding a cybersecurity training program with an additional focus on cloud security engineering and increased enrollment after the diverse inaugural cohort graduated earlier this year.
Last year, WMCAT launched a new technology-focused pathway as part of its Adult Career Training Program, which provides Kent County adults experiencing under- and unemployment with tuition-free career training.
The new cybersecurity pathway debuted with learning tracks focused on governance, risk and compliance (GRC) in partnership with national provider GRC for Intelligent Ecosystems, or GRCIE. The pathway offers virtual reality-based technical training, industry-aligned certifications, employer apprenticeship connections and job search assistance for graduates.
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“Our vision for the region is equitable access to opportunity, and one of the ways that we pursue that vision is through our best-practice Adult Career Training model, which combines technical career pathway learning with holistic supports to meet emerging needs,” said Jamon Alexander, president and CEO of WMCAT.
For the cybersecurity pathway, 126 individuals expressed interest in the inaugural cohort, which executives say was a record for the organization. Twelve adults began the program in December 2022, and 11 graduated at the end of June this year.
WMCAT now is adding a new learning track focused on cloud security engineering and is increasing enrollment to 15 adults for the next cohort. The goal is to increase enrollment to 30 adults in 2024.
“The interest for this pathway was very high,” Alexander said. “We had 126 people submit applications to join (the first cohort), so that tells us that people have a hunger to connect into this field.”
The addition of the cloud security engineering track aims to align with industry demand and help meet talent needs from local employers.
“There is broad appeal and growing demand for cloud security engineers, with a number of positions in the field available now in West Michigan,” Scott Dresen, senior vice president and chief information security officer for Corewell Health and WMCAT board member, said in a statement. “This is a field that will continue to grow.”
The decision to launch a cybersecurity program as an additional career training offering — which builds on WMCAT’s existing health information and pharmacy technician pathways within the Adult Career Training Program — came from a desire to contribute to and diversify the region’s growing tech talent pipeline, according to Alexander.
“We wanted to find another pathway to complement the health information and pharmacy technician work we’ve been doing that is in-demand, that offers the possibility of thriving wages, (and) that meets not only today’s demands, but what we project will be high-growth careers for the future. So, we landed on cybersecurity,” Alexander said.
‘Game-changing wages’
The 11 graduates in the first cohort are all Black, indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC). Within two months of graduation, six of the graduates became employed as GRC analysts or security analysts at local companies, or doing work on a national scale while working remotely here. The six graduates’ annual salaries range from $60,000 to $115,000.
“Those are game-changing wages for families here locally,” Alexander said.
Stacia Mason, one of the graduates, now works as a GRC analyst at Acrisure LLC. The Grand Rapids-based insurance brokerage and fintech is one of several local employers lending financial support and engagement with the graduates of the program.
“Now that I’ve completed the program, I can’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of pride, excitement, and accomplishment,” Mason said in a statement. “I’m grateful for the fortunate chain of events that led me here, proving that you don’t need a college degree to succeed in tech.”
Other local employers who lent financial support and employee engagement include Corewell Health, Amway Corp., Consumers Energy, Varnum LLP and Farmers Insurance. The cybersecurity pathway also has received grant funding from Google and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Going forward, Alexander said WMCAT will continue to meet and seek out local businesses to partner with and embed into the curriculum. He said Acrisure and Corewell Health in particular have supported the program thus far.
“They’ve supported learning along the way,” Alexander said. “They’ve done panel discussions, they’ve done interview practice with students, they’ve done networking events with students — all with the goal of hiring folks.”
WMCAT also will continue to pursue additional funding to sustain the pathway, which provides participants with a stipend and equipment as well as access to an emergency fund for income stability while working through the program.
“When we look at Kent County, 60% of Black households are at the ALICE (asset limited, income constrained, employed) threshold and 30% of Hispanic households are at that threshold,” Alexander said. “Our belief is that by connecting families to career pathways in the tech economy, they can pursue income stability now and security for the future. And we can move from survival to thriving.”
WMCAT also will continue to partner with GRCIE and conduct both the GRC track and the new cloud engineering security track in a virtual learning format. With this format, Alexander said participants have the virtual-reality based training three days a week and one day each week of in-person professional and personal development.
“If we look at the signals around us and the direction everything is headed, from how we learn to how we work to how we pay for things to how we store information, it’s all moving,” Alexander said. “We want the learning to mirror what the work is to look like.”
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