Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College was recently selected as one of 14 community colleges across the nation to participate in the Cyber Skills for All initiative, made possible by a partnership between the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and Microsoft. In addition to receiving a grant of $20,000, MGCCC will collaborate with other participating community colleges as well as economic development executives across the nation aimed at skilling people for participation in the digital economy.

“Partnering with Microsoft and AACC, MGCCC is gaining the resources needed to deliver high-quality, industry-relevant cyber skills to our students,” said Dr. Mary S. Graham, MGCCC president. “These vital skills are needed now more than ever to protect government, business, industry, education, and military from fraud at both the state and national levels.”

“Cyber skills have become increasingly important for community colleges to provide students as their need from the workforce continues to grow,” said Dr. Walter G. Bumphus, AACC’s president and CEO. “Selected community colleges will have the opportunity to learn best practices from one another to deliver much-needed cyber skills education to all students.”

“The United States faces a cybersecurity skills crisis – we simply don’t have enough people to combat the increasing number of cybersecurity attacks,” said Kate Behncken, corporate vice president, Microsoft Philanthropies. “By working with AACC, we can help ensure there are enough people with the necessary skills to keep organizations secure and people safe.”