bdpatoday®

BDPA-DC Welcomes new Training Scholarships for HBCU Seniors and Graduates Earning Industry Certifications with HOPE Project Online

WASHINGTON—The H.O.P.E. Project DMV (HOPE) is accepting applications for next semester’s online STEM certification offering of its renowned and award winning community information technology (IT) training and workforce development program. Since 2009, HOPE has successfully launched exciting technology careers through programs uniquely designed to prepare students from ages 16-24 for mission-critical entry-level positions such as Helpdesk, Desktop, Service Management, and Application support.

BDPA of Greater Washington, D.C. (BDPA-DC) in direct support of National BDPA’s mission and the association’s HBCU student member objectives, is partnering with HOPE to provide training and certification scholarships directly to HBCU students or recent HBCU graduates who are accepted into HOPE’s online training programs.

BDPA-DC extends its “Industry 4.0” Student Information Technology Education and Scholarship (SITES IV) portfolio to include HOPE’s CompTIA A+, Network+, and Security+ training, certification test preparation to compliment next summer’s STEM internship applications or college degrees for immediate entry-level opportunities across the (ICT) industry with BDPA’s mission-partners

About H.O.P.E. Project DMV

The H.O.P.E. Project (HOPE) mission is to empower students to reach their potential by providing a comprehensive information technology training program, designed for students out of high school and at least 18 years old. Since 2009 HOPE Project has trained, coached, and mentored nearly 2,000 IT students that have an average salary of nearly $65,000 a year. HOPE has helped students earn over 2,200 CompTIA A+, Network+ and Security+ certifications. These credentials have helped HOPE alumni build IT careers working as Cyber Security Engineers, Systems Administrators, Mobile Device Engineers, and IT Project Managers. Visit: hopeprojectonline.com.

About BDPA-DC

The association’s global mission as outlined by National BDPA is to bridge digital divides across cyber security, information technology (IT) and telecommunications competency gaps while broadening outreach and awareness campaigns for computer, data science, and technical careers. Since 1978, BDPA of Greater Washington, D.C. (BDPA-DC) has successfully presented Student Information Technology Education and Scholarship (SITES) projects across the National Capital Region support career development and economic development through well blended and tailored series of student programs, industry outreach, community relations, and legislative affairs primarily for urban and underserved communities. Visit: bdpadc.org.

_{— Photo courtesy: HOPE Project DMV}

_{A D V E R T I S E M E N T}

Free and Low Cost Online Cybersecurity Learning Content — Get Started Now

Data Science Opportunities — ADVERTISEMENT

GAITHERSBURG, MD — During this unusual time in our lives, many of us find we want to improve our knowledge, skills or even prepare for new career opportunities. If you are interested in cybersecurity careers, need to change careers or close technical gaps in your current resume, there are numerous online education providers to choose from. Many online courses are available from your local community college, four-year universities, even the prestigious Centers of Academic Excellence (CAE) programs – please review all options.

The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) is a partnership between government, academia, and the private sector focused supporting the country’s ability to address current and future cybersecurity education and workforce challenges through standards and best practices. The following links from NICE’s site are not endorsements, but list free and low-cost online educational content on topics such as information technology and cybersecurity. Some, not all, may contribute towards professional learning objectives or lead to industry certifications and online degrees. Please note that their site will continue to be updated as new information is gathered and edited for clarity and accuracy for your family, school, or business.

Name and Hyperlink to your Materials*	Description**
CompTIA	Free online training for CompTIA IT Fundamentals and other resources.
CLARK Center Plan C	Free cybersecurity curriculum that is primarily video-based or provide online assignments that can be easily integrated into a virtual learning environments.
Culture of Cybersecurity	Free, downloadable kids activities to help your family learn basic cybersecurity concepts and defense strategies.
Cybrary	Free information technology and cybersecurity training portal.
EC-Council	Free resources for the information security community in the form of webinars, blogs, online video training, and much more.
Elastic	Free on-demand Elastic Stack, observability, and security courses.
Federal Virtual Training Environment (FedVTE)	Free online cybersecurity training for federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government employees, federal contractors, and US military veterans.
Fortinet	Free access to the FortiGate Essentials Training Course and Network Security Expert courses 1 and 2.
IBM (hosted by Coursera)	Free (7-day trial) suite of courses on IT Fundamentals for Cybersecurity Specialization.
IBM Security Learning Academy	Free technical training for IBM Security products.
(ISC)2 Webinars and Courses	Free technical webinars and courses to earn Continuing Professional Education (CPEs).
(ISC)2 Utilizing Big Data	Free course for (ISC)2 members (low cost for non-members) that provides an overview of Big Data components, architectures and applications.
NICCS Education and Training Catalog	Database of free and for pay, online and in person courses.
Open P-TECH	Free digital learning on the tech skills of tomorrow.
Pluralsight	Free access to 7,000+ expert-led video courses and more during the month of April.
SANS	Free cybersecurity community resources and programs.
SANS Cyber Aces Online	Free online course that teaches the core concepts needed to assess and protect information security systems.
TestOut’s 2020 K12 Grant	Free TestOut courses for K12 teachers. Application process required.
Udemy	Heavily discounted online courses for various certifications.

*Materials are related to coding, product training, certification preparation or general IT and cybersecurity skills development, and teacher training and curriculum.
**Some of these materials may only be free or low cost (less than $100) for a limited time.

For more information on how to add additional information or to correct an error, please email NICE.
→ nice.nist@nist.gov.

Source:

NICE Program Office
nist.nice@nist.gov
(301) 975-5048
100 Bureau Dr.
Gaithersburg, MD 20899

National BDPA and local BDPA Chapters have broadened outreach to Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions (HBCU/MSI) to include establishing BDPA chapters with HBCU/MSIs, CAE schools, and community colleges already certified by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in research (CAE-R), cyber defense (CAE-CD), or cyber operations (CAE-CO).

=====

BDPA-DC/HOPE Project Tech Partnership initiative is to assist HBCU students and graduates with earning CompTIA technical certifications. In addition to assisting with technical certification HOPE Project will assist HBCU grads with career coaching and access to our employer network.

The program is open to any HBCU STEM Major or recent HBCU Stem Graduate. We anticipate awarding 40 scholarships in 2021. Candidates can select from any one of the three CompTIA certifications, A+, Network+ or Security+ • Apply now and before January 7th, 2022 with your latest resume by visiting: https://www.hopeprojectonline.com/hbcu

=====

To launch a new BDPA Chapter on campus, email: info@bdpa.org today and partner with us during #BDPACon22 in Atlanta, GA August 18-20, 2022. Visit BDPA.org to discover more . . .

Start-Ups. Small Businesses. HBCU/MIs.
Take flight from “Grants-to-Contracts!” The United States Air Force plans to grow its venture investment substantially this year. To that end, Air Force, in partnership with National BDPA is providing step by step technology transfer workshops for start-ups, small businesses, and research institutions during this year’s Air Force STTR HBCU Virtual Collider.

Select here to register for this year's Air Force STTR HBCU Virtual Collider.

H.O.P.E. Project DMV inks Training and Consulting deal with Goodwill

WASHINGTON—The HOPE Project DMV has signed a consulting and training deal with Goodwill Industries International. Their first project launches later this month during BDPA-DC’s Innovate DMV week (#InnovateDMV17) where 20 Goodwill employees from nine U.S. cities will attend a two-day workshop at the HOPE Training Facility in the District of Columbia on building, maintaining, and growing IT career training programs for young adults.

The H.O.P.E. Project DMV (HOPE) is an information technology (IT) training program dedicated to providing technical training and development for young adults. Their renown IT training program is designed to prepare students for entry-level positions as Help-desk and Application Support Professionals. HOPE’s mission empowers young adults to reach their potential by providing a comprehensive information technology training program, designed for students ages 17-35. HOPE (“Helping Other People Excel“), offers these services in a very diverse and caring environment. HOPE helps many, one by one, through dynamic programming that is responsive to immediate needs of local communities and IT Industries. HOPE is committed to helping young adults regain hope by offering relevant career and IT training.

Above (L-R) Raymond Bell, Jr.; Dean Cook; Michael Smith; and David Reid will lead HOPE’s training and consulting teams with Goodwill Industries for local technology training engagements across the U.S. HOPE’s training cadre captured 2016’s President’s Community and Technology Award with BDPA-DC for the National Capital region.

In April, Goodwill Industries received a $16.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to provide critical job training and employment services through the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) in 9 states. Twenty autonomous and community-based Goodwill® organizations across the United States will be helping older job seekers learn new job skills while training at public and nonprofit organizations in their communities such as housing agencies, food banks, libraries, schools, senior centers and child care centers. The goal is for the skills they learn in these programs to directly lead to employment in the private or public sector for which wages, or wages and tips, are paid that equal or exceed new federal hourly minimum wages.

Goodwill Industries International also received a $4 million TechHire grant from the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (DOLETA) to train and place people in technology careers. Goodwill Industries through new and existing partnerships, will award certifications such as CompTIA A+, Security+, and Network+ certifications. They will also provide computer programmer training certifications for Microsoft Technology Associate and Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer as well as computer language-specific certifications. Additionally, this grant enables Goodwill^® organizations to provide paid internships and registered apprenticeships. The TechHire grant serves at least 700 individuals through the Goodwill Careers in Technology (CiT) program, which includes education and training partners like the Creating IT Futures Foundation (CompTIA’s philanthropic arm), online training provider MedCerts, and local workforce investment boards. The Goodwill CiT program will train individuals for career pathways in the information technology industry in two high-growth H-1B occupations: computer user support specialist and computer programmer.

National BDPA’s Greater Washington, D.C. Chapter is providing additional information about these and other tech grants, new summits, and other cyber workforce related opportunities for BDPA Members and new BDPA Student Members during its tenth annual Regional Innovation Summit at Bowie State University on Saturday, June 24, 2017.

BDPA Members with CompTIA certifications (A+, Network+, Security+), Help Desk expertise (HDI, ITIL), or training experiences (Cisco, Microsoft, PMI) in a BDPA Chapter-City or near the following cities: Tyler (TX), Houston (TX), Austin (TX), Colorado Springs (CO), Baltimore (MD), San Jose (CA), Roanoke (VA), Grandville (MI) and Columbus (OH), are invited to contact BDPA or send resumes via email to: TechHire@bdpadc.org for additional details or requirements if not attending this year’s Regional Innovation Summit at Bowie State University.