Cyber Initiative
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Overview
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Cyber Initiative has been established to respond to the rapidly growing cyber threats and meets industry challenges with concrete goals. There more than 50 active grants under this initiative at organizations across the globe, including Stanford, Harvard, and Columbia, and various non-profits, think tanks, and research foundations. The main goals of the cyber initiative are to bolster institutions that deliver solutions to cyber challenges, build a talent pipeline for the interdisciplinary needs of the modern cybersecurity workforce, and to support collaboration and information sharing infrastructure.
The CCI's Role
CCI has received multiple grants through the cyber initiative for multiple lines of effort including policy development, podcast and newsletter support, and website redesign. The Hewlett Foundation also provides a wealth of guidance through the cyber initiative that CCI has incorporated into its programming.
Podcast & Newsletter Support
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has recognized that cybersecurity faces specific challenges when it comes to public understanding. As part of the efforts to make cybersecurity more accessible to everyone from students to C-suite decision makers, CCI has begun development on two new projects.
The first is a Space & Cybersecurity newsletter, which launched in October of 2020. This monthly publication is meant to ensure that businesses are well equipped with up-to-date, relevant information regarding cyber threats that affect their decisions. CCI involved our staff and Cal Poly faculty to create a system. for identifying, categorizing, and presenting the most important articles and publications each month.
The second project is a new podcast show called the Cyber Diner, which is aimed at students and young professionals to help them better understand the cyber landscape and engage with current technical topics. It features bite-sized interviews with experts from different areas of industry where they discuss current cybersecurity challenges, solutions, and topics. Guests also share parts of their own journeys into their fields to provide listeners with realistic career paths and educational routes. The podcast is scheduled to air in June of 2021.
Website Redesign
CCI has recently launched its redesigned website to address a variety of communication and accessibility issues with online engagement. The new site has been developed to provide more intuitive structure and usability, interactive content, and a modernized appearance fit for a tech institute in 2021. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation provided funding to contract Rolling Orange, Inc. to build and launch the new site, and additional funding for staff required to maintain and update the site.
The updates to the site structure and aesthetics come alongside an improved content strategy aimed at generating more awareness for every CCI engagement. With the addition of the clickable course catalog, visitors looking for training will be able to search and find courses that are most relevant to their unique needs. The site also features new content, including additional education and career searching tools for those interested in entering the tech workforce and featured student stories to publicize the successes of outstanding CCI student interns.