Thank You Alliance Members

The NEW Digital Alliance would like to thank Stellar Blue for their support as an Executive Level Investor, and Krueger International, Inc (KI) for their support as a General Level investor. To learn more about Stellar Blue or KI, click on their names. 

Alliance News:

Happy Ground Hog Day! As Punxsutawney Phil climbs out of his den to check for his shadow, we can all be certain that no matter his prediction, spring will ultimately arrive here in Wisconsin. We can be equally certain that digital skills will continue to be in high demand, and it’s just a matter of time before you’ve been hacked.

That’s why the NEW Digital Alliance continues to work on increasing digital talent and to promote cybersecurity initiatives. Last year we introduced UW Oshkosh’s Information Systems department to WICTRA. The IS department was working to launch a cybersecurity emphasis as part of there is degree and was looking for community partners. The relationship with WICTRA grew, and earlier in January they announced the launch of their new Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (CCOE). Check out their website to learn more about how this new Center of Excellence will benefit our community.

On February 22 the NEW Digital Alliance and CSTEY will be bringing the 14 teachers who are participating in the CS Licensure Cohort program to the new CCOE. Teachers will spend the day on campus to learn about the CCOE and how they can partner, spend some time gaining hands-on experience in the cyber range, and attend a cybersecurity lecture. The goal is to help them increase their cyber knowledge, as well as connect them with resources, so they can bring what they learn back to their classrooms. Ultimately, we hope they are able to add cybersecurity courses to the CS pathways in their districts.

The Cybersecurity Roundtable will gather on February 17 to discuss security frameworks. We will be welcoming Che Bhatia, Vice President of Cyber Resilience at Stroz Freidberg who will be presenting on the frameworks and discussing the “must haves” based on organization size and risk profile. Roundtable members will have the opportunity to ask questions and share their thoughts based on where their organizations are on their cyber journey.

On the digital talent front, we’ve had some exciting discussions with the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) about their registered apprenticeships for IT. They currently have five approved programs available:

• IT Service Desk Technician
• Software Analyst
• Broadband Service Technician
• Data Analyst
• Cyber Security /AI Associate

The first three are currently up and running with companies across the state employing adult apprentices in these areas. They are looking to connect with additional employers who are interested in learning more about this pathway for connect with talent. We will be inviting them to present at our March Quarterly meeting. Look for more information , as well as registration links on our website soon.

Bay Area Workforce Development Board has put out a request for proposals for a DIGITAL LITERACY/EQUITY SKILLS PREPARATION & TRAINING PROGRAM. Recipients will be awarded one or more awards totaling an estimated amount of between $200,000.00 – $400,000.00 for the grant period (April 1, 2022 through September 30, 2023) to serve a minimum of sixty (60) participants. Interested parties can review the information below, or click here to review the RFP.

We are excited to announce that we are working with Alliance investor, Stellar Blue, on some updates to our website! Timelines are still being determined, but we will be upgrading the back end of the website over the next couple of months. With the upgrade will come some new functionality which will make it easier for us to maintain and update the front end. Please bear with us as we make the changes, and correct any bugs that may occur.

In January the Alliance started our strategy discussions for our 2022-23 fiscal year. We will be continuing discussions in early February and look forward to sharing with you where we will be headed moving forward.

Unemployment Updates

We are not including unemployment numbers this month as CompTia does not yet have the tech unemployment data published. We hope to bring this back next month.