BCR Cyber and Maryland Association of Community Colleges Allocated $1.5 Million State Investment

Funding a Part of Maryland Governor’s Proposed Economic Growth Agenda

BALTIMORE, MD, UNITED STATES, January 22, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- BCR Cyber, a leading provider of comprehensive cybersecurity training and job placement services, and the Maryland Association of Community Colleges (MACC), the advocate and unified voice for Maryland’s 16 community colleges, are pleased to announce that Governor Wes Moore has included $1.5 million in his 2025-2026 budget proposal for the Cyber Workforce Accelerator (CWA) as a part of his economic growth agenda.

These funds will be utilized by the CWA to build cyber ranges at Maryland’s community college campuses and boost the state’s cybersecurity workforce. Developed by MACC and BCR Cyber, the CWA provides all 16 of Maryland’s community colleges with access to BCR Cyber Series 3000 cyber ranges that deliver advanced experiential training and education technology to train and certify thousands of entry-level IT and cyber practitioners.

“We are extremely grateful to the Moore administration for this investment which will help accelerate the state’s cybersecurity workforce development efforts and create well-paying and lasting career opportunities for Marylanders,” says Michael Spector, President of BCR Cyber. “Together with the Maryland Association of Community Colleges, we will drastically increase the ability to serve thousands of Maryland’s community college cyber students and trainees.”

For more than seven years, BCR Cyber has worked with the Maryland Department of Labor Employment Advancement Right Now (EARN) program and Maryland community colleges to establish an IT and cyber workforce development pipeline. More than 2,000 Maryland residents have been trained, certified, and 83 percent placed through the pipeline. Participants are drawn from across the state, are generally unemployed or under-employed, and come from varied backgrounds and demographics. Persons of color represented 68 percent of the program participants, and 47 percent were women.

As a function of this effort, a public-private consortium created by BCR Cyber of 35+ cybersecurity companies and government agencies will steer course content development and recruit entry-level employees trained at the community college cyber ranges. Each of these entities have pledged significant leveraged resources to this project.

BCR Cyber has also established a wide range of strategic relationships with state and federal IT departments, allowing them to deliver cutting-edge cybersecurity training to their employees. Collaborating closely with these government entities, BCR Cyber is enabling them to strengthen their cybersecurity posture while fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.

Additionally, BCR Cyber holds exclusive responsibility for conducting technical proficiency testing for third-party assessment organizations (3PAOs), as required by the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). BCR Cyber testing ensures these organizations meet the standards necessary to assess and authorize cloud service providers for federal agencies.

For more information about BCR Cyber visit www.bcrcyber.com

About BCR Cyber
Established in 2017, BCR Cyber (formerly Baltimore Cyber Range) is dedicated to delivering exceptional training solutions to both government and commercial clients. BCR Cyber has trained thousands of individuals and successfully placed over 83 percent into employment. The BCR Cyber Range is the first such facility in the world specifically dedicated to workforce development in the cybersecurity sector. BCR Cyber provides trainees with the most advanced cybersecurity strategies and techniques in an environment that simulates real threats in real-time. The range's hands-on training encompasses cyber threat detection, compromise mitigation, and system remediation, and is complemented by placement services.

About Maryland Association of Community Colleges
Maryland Association of Community Colleges (MACC) is an advocate for Maryland’s 16 community colleges and the needs of the students they serve. State-of-the-art facilities, flexible curricula, and award-winning teaching staff serve full- and part-time students pursuing academic degrees, career certifications, and enrichment courses at 22 campuses and 1000+ learning sites statewide. See more at mdacc.org.

Matthew Pugh
Pugh & Tiller PR for BCR Cyber
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