Month: January 2020

Radius Indiana and Eleven Fifty Academy Announce Partnership for Expanding Cybersecurity Workforce

From: Eleven Fifty Academy

Odon, Indiana: Radius Indiana and Eleven Fifty Academy announce the addition of Eleven Fifty Academy’s Cybersecurity course to the WestGate@Crane Technology Park. Strategically located adjacent to Naval Support Activity Crane, the Cybersecurity classes offered will help meet the need for skilled Cybersecurity personnel in the region. Classes are expected to begin in March, 2020. 

As the regional economic development organization for an eight-county region in southern Indiana, which includes Crane, Radius Indiana has a strategic focus to help build and retain the talent needed to support the base and its growing technical workforce. 

“In our region there is a surge in cybersecurity initiatives and opportunities,” said Jeff Quyle, president and CEO of Radius Indiana. “This field is critical to national defense and we know that the demand for highly-skilled workers will continue to increase. We are pleased to see the region rally around Eleven Fifty as a vital training tool to develop the workforce for Crane and the area’s defense contractors that carry out this very important work.” 

The Eleven Fifty Academy Cybersecurity course includes NET+ and SEC+ certifications that are internationally recognized. The Eleven Fifty Academy Cybersecurity program gives students real world experience on a cyber range with 14 hyper realistic cyber attack scenarios, which is a unique exposure to what companies battle each day. 

Cybersecurity is a gateway to transforming lives by rapidly ramping students into rewarding careers,” says Scott A. Jones, Founder & President of Eleven Fifty Academy. We are grateful for the support of Radius Indiana and Crane, for the Westgate area and its surrounding infrastructure provides an ideal location to help Hoosiers enter the much needed cybersecurity workforce.” 

“At NSWC Crane we have seen a significant growth in our Cybersecurity Workforce, which consists of both civilian personnel and contract team members. We are fortunate to have partners throughout our innovation ecosystem like Radius to bring mission relevant initiatives such as the Eleven Fifty Academy Cybersecurity program to our immediate region” says Dr. Kyle Werner, Director of Engagement for Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane (NSWC Crane). 

Eleven Fifty Academy (EFA) has consistently been named by CourseReport as one of the Best Coding Bootcamps in the nation. The Academy, now in its 5th year, has graduated 504 entry-level developers to date, not including current enrollment, through their immersive learning experience. The average starting salary of their graduates is over $55k, with some graduates, who had no prior software knowledge, earning over $81,000 after only 12 weeks in the program. 

Eleven Fifty Academy is a nonprofit organization focused upon high quality, immersive software development courses designed to accelerate the learning curve for people of all ages and skill sets. The mission of Eleven Fifty Academy is to build an ecosystem of coding talent that financially benefits the individual, their employer, and their community. 

For more information, visit elevenfifty.org. 

Keeping Watch at Crane

By: Matt Craig, Radius Indiana Director of Crane Community Support

 

Every year the counties and cities around Naval Support Activity Crane expend some energy to assuage concerns that it will someday fall to the ax of military cutbacks. Some ask, “is it necessary?” 

Without doubt or hint of hesitation, the answer is a resounding “yes.” Crane’s economic impact to our region is over $2.1B annually with a civilian and contractor payroll topping more than $400 million. 

Local leaders constantly monitor base realignment and closure, or BRAC, the process by which the federal government prunes defense spending or rearranges its assets to meet changing military needs. Unease due to BRAC has come a handful of times, including in the 1980s and 90s and in 2005, when the base lost over 350 jobs. 

For now, though, it appears there’s little political expectation of a BRAC and there has been a wealth of change at Crane since 2005. But local leaders often speak about BRAC the same way officials might talk about a big flood or other natural disaster. It’s hard to say when it will happen, and so it demands permanent, guarded attention.

That’s why it’s important for the community leaders to strengthen the ties between the base and region—to focus on the connections that have united us since 1941. In recent years, community leaders have heard mostly good news. 

Recently, local, state and military leaders created the White River Military Coordination Alliance to enhance communication between Crane and the community and to implement practical policies, programs, and projects geared at sustaining and enhancing the installation and the quality of life in the neighboring communities.

Last year, NSA Crane announced projections to hire 850 new employees above attrition during the next three years, ranging from highly-skilled to blue-collar positions. This builds on the over 400 new jobs already announced in the last quarter of 2018, with new employees coming to both of Crane’s largest tenants, Crane Army Ammunition Activity and Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division.

Under Governor Eric J. Holcomb’s leadership and the Next Level agenda, Indiana is advancing a more collaborative, strategic approach to growing and enhancing its defense industry. Indiana is strengthening its efforts to target industry growth and job creation, and collaborating with industry, government and academic partners to increase the state’s competitiveness in the defense sector. The Legislature also exempted military retirement benefits from income tax with support from not only state lawmakers but from city and county leadership and the business community.

The Office of Navy Research, Development, and Acquisition named Crane as one of only five national “Naval X Tech Bridges.” As the Midwest bridge, it will work to better connect the Department of Defense with the private sector. Crane will collaborate with innovators, academics, small businesses to bring solutions more quickly to national security problems. 

Crane and the region have a strong connection, one that has been strengthened in recent years. Now we must work to keep it that way.