New Fund to Invest in Women in Cybersecurity Careers
The Last Mile Education Fund and Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) announced today the WiCyS Cyber Talent Emergency Fund, a collaboration to provide agile financial support for women students pursuing cybersecurity careers who are experiencing urgent, short-term financial barriers to success.
The Last Mile Education Fund invests in striving under-resourced, under-represented students in high-demand technology and engineering fields with an abundance approach, helping them persist to graduation by providing critical financial support to overcome obstacles for which assistance is less available like housing, food, transportation, healthcare and internet access.
“At Last Mile we see an abundance of talent and potential in women students, and have made a commitment to incubate that talent. We are thrilled to partner with WiCyS to invest in women aspiring in cybersecurity fields overcoming financial obstacles and progressing towards a degree and a career. The perspectives of women are critical to technology innovation and the Last Mile Education Fund is committed to enabling aspiring women in tech to thrive.” Ruthe Farmer, Founder & CEO, Last Mile Education Fund.
Qualified students are invited to apply at: bit.ly/WICyS_Fund. The WiCyS Emergency Cyber Education Fund offers mini-grants up to $599 to address time-sensitive financial obstacles that threaten a student’s academic progress. Funds are typically dispersed to students within 48 hours of approval.
“We know unforeseen financial situations weigh heavily on students. For some, these emergencies leave them feeling helpless and uncertain on whom to depend on. For others, it can force them to drop out of their studies. The WiCyS Cyber Talent Emergency Fund allows us to offer financial support (and more) to our community. That’s what a cyber sisterhood is truly all about and it’s a great honor to partner with the Last Mile Education Fund to make this offering a reality!” Lynn Dohm, Executive Director, WICyS
Last Mile Education Fund offers a disruptive approach to increasing diversity in tech and engineering fields by addressing critical gaps in financial support for low-income underrepresented students within four semesters of graduation. Unlike traditional scholarships, Last Mile takes a broad investment approach, identifying young people committed to technology and engineering fields, providing agile, just-in-time support for challenges they face beyond their control, and incubating them to be the next generation of innovators. Last Mile is a fiscally-sponsored project of the Digital Harbor Foundation. For additional information, visit LastMile-ed.org and follow us on Twitter.
Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with international reach dedicated to bringing together women in cybersecurity. WiCyS offers opportunities and resources for its members and collaboration benefits for its sponsors and partners. Strategic partners include Amazon Web Services, Bloomberg, Cisco, Facebook, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Flatiron, Fortinet, Google, HERE Technologies, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Nike, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Optum, Palo Alto Networks, SANS Institute, SAP, SentinelOne, SpearTip, Starbucks, Target, University of California San Diego, Verizon, and Workday. To partner, visit https://www.wicys.org/support/strategic-partnerships/.