Equitable access to tech career pathways is urgently needed following affirmative action’s dismantlement, the decline of four-year college enrollment, and the growing demand for rapid reskilling as automation and artificial intelligence shift the future of work.
Based on extensive labor market demand analysis, the Kapor Foundation seeks to increase Black, Latine, and Native job placements in durable, emerging tech career paths such as cyber security and software engineering with an eye towards intersections with artificial intelligence.
In response to this, today, the Kapor Foundation’s Tech Pathways Initiative is announcing funding commitments across an innovative set of partner organizations advancing Black, Latino, Native, and other underrepresented talent across our focal ecosystems of Oakland, California, Atlanta, Georgia, and Detroit, Michigan.
A significant talent gap exists in the US cybersecurity job market with an estimated 750K roles unfilled and demand growing exponentially as systems become automated. The field’s median salary of $117,058 is largely earned among white males, with only 24% of cyber workers identifying as women, 9% as Black, and 4% as Latino Since entry-level cybersecurity roles are accessible to talent without a bachelor’s degree, alternative education programs are uniquely positioned to help quickly bridge this gap.
NPower creates free, accelerated pathways to digital careers for underserved young adults (ages 18–26) and military veterans. NPower and the Kapor Foundation will partner on a Cyber Career Accelerator that will upskill and elevate women of color in Oakland and Detroit through hands-on lab work, wraparound support, career coaching, mentoring, and job placement services. NPower programs have a proven 80% job placement rate into roles such as cybersecurity analyst, info security risk analyst, and network administrator.
Read more about the announcement from Kapor Center here
