After a successful first year of the Mission Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) boot camp, the organization announced last week they are continuing their boot camps after receiving a grant from the Texas Workforce Commission. During a press conference held at the Mission Center for Education and Economic Development recently, the MEDC accepted a $496,120 grant to continue providing CompTIA cybersecurity training to Rio Grande Valley residents. Launched last June, the 12-week program has three cohorts throughout the year consisting of 40 students undergoing a cybersecurity training program and a chance to become certified as cyber security analysts.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that information security analysts will be the fastest growing job by 2022 with a 37 percent overall growth. The grant will be used to pay for books, certification and class expenses as the latest round of classes began last month.
Among the public officials at the event was State Rep. Bobby Guerra, who praised the initiative taken by the MEDC to ensure the community is well versed in technology. “The Texas Workforce Commission and Mission EDC understand that technology will only grow within the next few years and we’ll be in the forefront of it,” Guerra said. “These boot camps offer IT training and certification upon completion which will allow the RGV to compete with the rest of the state for tech industry jobs.”
Julian Alvarez, TWC commissioner, agreed with Guerra. “The future is taking place right here as we sit,” he said. “We’re counting our steps on watches, we’re ordering our food online and we’re renting movies through a box. Those are conversations happening every day on how we’re evolving. Kids along the border are now able to take these kinds of courses involved in those innovations and be placed in jobs that they never imagined. Technology is changing, and we are what the solution in Texas will look like in 20 years.”
For questions related to this program, please contact Sarah Matz at smatz@comptia.org.
Sarah Matz is Director, State Government Affairs – South
