AZ Cyber Initiative

About Us

AZ Cyber Initiative is a non-profit dedicated to unlocking opportunities for young people who are interested in cyber and emergent technology. We collaborate with workforce partners across the state to offer programs that provide career-connected and work-based learning experiences, leading to quality digital jobs that help young people achieve their dreams.

Our Mission

To provide young people in Arizona with the inspiration and skills needed to discover and pursue a meaningful, household-sustaining career in the digital economy.

Our Vision

To close the cyber skills gap, build a strong workforce pipeline for cyber and cyber-related digital jobs, and promote regional economic security for communities across Arizona.

Arizona’s Young People Deserve…

Opportunities for a Bright Future

Growing up in Ambos Nogales on the US/Mexico border Manny Felix, AZ Cyber’s Founder and CEO, didn’t have opportunities like AZ Cyber Initiative. It wasn’t until Manny joined the US Navy after college and attended grad school that he discovered job opportunities he wished he and his family had known about when he was in high school. In 2021, Manny returned to Nogales to run the inaugural AZ Cyber Boot Camp for high school students. Twenty-two young people participated. Just two years later, in Summer 2023, over 150 young people from Santa Cruz County, Tucson, and Phoenix participated in cyber boot camps. Seventy were from Manny’s hometown. Young people in Arizona – whether they live in urban, rural or exurban areas – deserve quality job pathways.

This is what AZ Cyber Initiative is all about.

Good Pay & Equal Access

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, IT positions have a median annual wage ranging from $57,000 to more than $130,000. At the same time, nearly one-third of U.S. workers do not have foundational digital skills, which disproportionately affects workers of color due to structural inequities. Within the technology sector, women and Black, Latinx, and Indigenous professionals are not represented proportionately. Women make up half the population and only a quarter of the tech workforce. Black and Latinx adults are 30% of the population, yet they only account for 15% of the tech workforce.

Personal & Community Safety

Cybersecurity is fundamental to the safety and resilience of all of our digital tools and systems that ensure your personal privacy and security in digital and real life. Yet, there are more than 750,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the United States. Many of these jobs are in critical fields such as healthcare and energy infrastructure. And these numbers don’t touch upon the need for cyber literacy skills in every other arena from digital design, to education, and small business.

AFFILIATED ORGANIZATION

Building on AZ Cyber’s success in promoting cybersecurity education and workforce development in Arizona, we have expanded our efforts with creation of the US Cyber Initiative. This new endeavor will offer students and educators access to programs like Cyber Bootcamps in communities througout the country.

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