Cybersecurity Pathways Initiative

There are over 1 million unfilled openings in the cybersecurity industry in the United States currently – a number projected to grow to 3.5 million in three years. Cybersecurity is a computer science (CS) profession and inequity is a significant problem in the industry. Only 1% of the CS workforce is Black, 5% is Latino and 21% are women, while the overall U.S workforce is 11% Black, 16% Latino and 50% women. To address this growing demand and need for increased representation, the Center for Inclusive Innovation and Paradigm Cyber Ventures have co-created a national initiative across nine different states to bring a proven cybersecurity program to schools in partnership with their communities that will create pathways to gainful employment for historically excluded high school youth, including women, students of color, students with disabilities, and English Language Learners.

This journey map offers a visual overview of the Inclusive Innovation process for this project. The project story follows below.

The Cybersecurity Pathways Initiative cohort is engaging 11 districts in the intentional design and implementation of a three-year Cybersecurity Pathway that creates opportunities for all students, with support for diverse student populations. The implementation of the Inclusive Innovation process in this project is a unique approach, because the teams are adapting an established cybersecurity program through an equity lens to ensure that the courses are intentionally inclusive and equitable to ensure access and participation for opportunity youth.

To start the process, the teams focused on developing teams that brought together a diverse range of students, community members, and educators to build an inclusive Cybersecurity Pathways program for their district. The teams began by creating a community charter to drive their work. Some of the challenges they identified to guide the design of their program included:

After grounding the work in their challenge statements, the teams created equity commitments to both inform how they would work collaboratively and center opportunity youth in the course design. Across the board, districts demonstrated commitment to building inclusive programs that supported opportunity youth in not only seeing themselves in a lucrative and rewarding career field, but also becoming leaders in their community beyond the school walls.

By employing elements from each phase of Inclusive Innovation, the district leaders expanded their course development process to include fully integrating community, industry, and student voice. Bringing in a variety of voices in the research, design, and implementation of the cybersecurity course ensured that historically and systematically marginalized students were accounted for in the enrollment strategy and course design to ensure access. Teams participated in monthly cohort calls, teacher training, and site visits. Through the ongoing development of the program, teams shifted their recruitment process to be more student-driven, removed unnecessary barriers to access for traditional STEM courses, and created innovative communication plans that leveraged industry relationships. As the program develops, teams will continue to work on centering equity in their design of internship opportunities, access to competitions, mentorships, and pathway opportunities by collaborating with their teams and advisory boards.

The teams analyzed data from listening tours with educators and families in their communities to build outcomes that would guide the implementation of their cybersecurity program. Applying the Center for Inclusive Innovation’s four pillars of equity including, agency, access, identity, and belonging, helped districts create program outcomes such as the following:

Working closely with Paradigm Cyber Ventures, teams began teacher training and adapted the program for their specific community and student population. Leveraging industry partnerships, district teams brought business leaders to the table to build relationships and pathways for internships and mentorships for students as the program grows. In Fall 2023, each district will launch their cybersecurity course, enrolling over 800 students across the country.

Of the Districts that applied, 11 were chosen to be a part of the inaugural cybersecurity cohort. Each of these District leaders have committed to the following:

• Enrolling students into the Cybersecurity Pathways program.
• Providing access to the program to opportunity youth, which includes students from diverse populations that are not enrolled in STEM programs.
• Participating in the Inclusive Innovation process to adapt the cybersecurity program.
• Assembling a team that included district staff, students, partners, community leaders, and industry partners, representative of the diverse targeted population of students.
• Sharing data and feedback to Digital Promise researchers and partners.

The eleven Districts include:

The Center for Inclusive Innovation, in partnership with Paradigm Cyber Ventures, has launched a comprehensive three-year Cybersecurity Pathways program in 11 Districts across the nation. This program not only provides students with cybersecurity skills and certifications, it also has a strong emphasis on providing access for students to see diverse representation in the field. The programming includes opportunities to build student confidence and sense of belonging.

The 11 districts selected to participate in the inaugural Cybersecurity Pathways program receive an extensive curriculum, which includes detailed teacher training. They will explore resources that will assist them in making cybersecurity industry connections. The districts will also receive ongoing support to prepare opportunity youth for immediate entry into the cybersecurity industry.

Thank you to IBM for the funding support and for providing our districts with access to the IBM SkillsBuild platform which is being fully integrated in the Cybersecurity Pathways curriculum.

• Paradigm Cyber Ventures
• Learning and Employment Innovations
• White House National Cybersecurity Strategy