The Cybersecurity Apprenticeship Sprint, a national campaign to promote Registered Apprenticeships to develop the cybersecurity workforce, ended this week during National Apprenticeship Week. Over the past few months, the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the U.S. Department of Commerce, partnered with the U.S Department of Labor's Office of Apprenticeship on recruiting employers, industry associations, labor unions, educational providers, community-based organizations, and others to establish Registered Apprenticeship programs or to join existing programs to ensure the nation's economic sectors have greater numbers of qualified cybersecurity workers.
US Department of Labor
The formal end to the Sprint was celebrated on Tuesday, November 15, 2022, with an event held at the White House that featured remarks from senior White House and agency officials, a panel, apprentice spotlight, and a signing ceremony of representatives from new programs involving several employers and educational organizations. At the event, key achievements of the Sprint were also announced:
- 194 new cybersecurity Registered Apprenticeship Programs were approved or are in development
- 120 cybersecurity-related occupations were added to pre-existing and new Registered Apprenticeship programs
- 7,000 apprentices enrolled in new or expanded private sector and military cybersecurity Registered Apprenticeship Programs
- 42% of new cybersecurity apprentices are people of color, 32% are female (up from 27% and 28% respectively in cybersecurity apprenticeship programs prior to the Sprint)
