The Alternative Cyber Career Education (ACE) Grant Program will provide a total of $150,000 to as many as three non-academic training programs in its first year. Cybersecurity talent remains highly sought, and Massachusetts has only filled 85 percent of open cyber positions, according to Cyberseek. That’s just a touch better than the national average supply-to-demand ratio.
Companies that examine the cyber workforce report that for every 100 entry-level cyber job opening in Massachusetts there are 113 applicants, said John Petrozzelli, director of the MassCyberCenter. But once employers start looking for hires with two or more years of experience, the picture changes. For every 100 such jobs, there tend to be only 84 applicants.
This new grant program comes in the wake of an earlier academic degree-focused program that kicked off in 2022. That initiative began creating security operations centers (SOCs) and cyber ranges at community colleges and state universities to give students hands-on training. Students reaching certain skill levels next intern at the SOCs, getting up to two years of job training. They may move on to intern with or work for companies partnered with CyberTrust Massachusetts, a membership nonprofit that funds the SOC and range program. The program is still fairly new, but one intern was already hired for a compliance job, Petrozzelli said.
Now the ACE program aims to “expand the tent” and help support more kinds of students. These alternative training programs could also choose to become part of CyberTrust Massachusetts and have students intern at the SOCs, joining that career pipeline.
A wide range of training programs are eligible for the ACE grants, ranging from those catering to high school students to those serving returning veterans. Programs can be full or part time and offered by nonprofit or for-profit training organizations, municipal or state workforce training programs, high schools and vocational high schools, or MassHire’s Workforce Board or Career Center.
One requirement, however, is that programs must provide on-the-job or experiential training.
And the state is particularly seeking programs that serve women, minorities and other demographics underrepresented in cybersecurity; socio-economically disadvantaged populations; veterans; under- and unemployed people; young adults and those seeking to transition into cyber from a different career.
The money could help programs with areas like paying for more staff time, recruitment outreach, curriculum development, supporting students’ child care and transportation so they can attend, paying for students’ testing and credentialing, and more.
Interested parties can read the notice of funding opportunity hereand plan to attend a webinar Nov. 6 ahead of the Dec. 31 deadline.
