Using about $1.7 million of the $89 million in federal grant money that the state awarded to the city through the federal CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act, the program aims to train and help find employment for IT professionals who lost a job or had their wages reduced as a result of the recession stemming from the pandemic. The grant funds are intended to cover such costs as training, workforce development or retraining.
The application deadline has been extended to Oct. 31.
The Career Accelerator program was created by Carmen Marsh, chief executive officer and managing partner of Inteligenca, a Roseville consultancy. The program is being overseen by the Greater Sacramento Urban League.
Marsh credited Louis Stewart, Sacramento’s former chief innovation officer, with alerting her to the opportunity to fund a program like this while he was with the city. (Stewart joined the private sector last month, taking a position as head of strategic initiatives and developer ecosystem for Nvidia.)
Marsh teamed up with the Greater Sacramento Urban League, CompTIA, Square Root Academy, Code for Hood and Animation Intern, forming what they call Collective6 “to fast-track programs to create new job opportunities for Sacramento Valley residents,” she said in an announcement on LinkedIn.
The CARES Act funding has to be spent by Dec. 31, she said.
In an online explainer about the program, Marsh states: “Our SacCARES Cybersecurity Career Accelerator is the only free all-inclusive cybersecurity workforce development program with desired industry-standard certification training by CompTIA, AI-based cybersecurity concept-driven projects, Cyber Battle Rooms games, real-world scenarios, small group hands-on workshops with industry experts, including mentorship and study groups, as well as internship & apprenticeship opportunities. …”
She noted that the 12-week program will train students for a job in the cybersecurity field in much less time — 70 percent faster than most training programs.
“This is a very unique type of program where we accelerate the education and skilling-up of cybersecurity professionals,” Marsh told Techwire in an interview.
“This field is in dire need of an additional skilled workforce,” she notes on the program website. “We are tech professionals. We’ve hired trainers. We’ve designed training workshops. Perhaps most important, already hundreds of students have gone through the training and are already enjoying their new jobs … and now, we are ready for even more people to join us.”
The program asks students to choose a track — administrative or technical — and to complete an online technical knowledge evaluation to assess their skill level and help with placement into the appropriate curriculum. The program has coaches and mentors to help students determine whether they want to study the tech side (coding, software and other “hard” cybersecurity skills) or into the administrative side (sales or account executive positions).
“Sacramento wants to put these (displaced) workers back to work,” Marsh said. “That’s the goal — that’s why they issued this grant.”
Marsh said that even though the program is open to displaced workers in the greater Sacramento area, she’s heard from would-be applicants from around the world. For those applicants who aren’t eligible for the city-funded program, Marsh refers them to CompTIA and other organizations that provide training.
Marsh, whose career has included roles in the public and private sectors, has been involved with other job-training programs, including “100 Women in 100 Days” as well as a program that recruits high school students into the cybersecurity field.
