A little over three years ago, a group of community leaders came together with a vision for one organization to lead workforce development and to introduce youth to the world of cybersecurity. These visionaries (Scott Air Force Base, St. Louis Regional Chamber, Leadership Council of Southwestern Illinois, Southwestern Illinois College, and Uncomn), recognized the availability of talent for our region was diminishing and something needed to be done.

Our mission then, and still today, is to close the cybersecurity skills gap by training the workforce of today and inspiring the workforce of tomorrow.

As our programs have grown, and our mission has gained traction, we have remained true to our humble midwestern values of support, trust, achievement, respect, and teamwork. We are committed to be a human-centered organization and to tailor our services to meet the needs of both our candidates and the companies we serve.

We are proud of our regional roots and feel fortunate for the national recognition we have received from groups like the Department of Labor and New America. We hope our growth brings a positive light to the amazing collective work of our community.

While planning for 2019, it became clear our work has evolved beyond the concept of a center and our mission needed a brand reflective of the future of the organization. We were not sure what this looked like exactly, but knew we wanted a name our apprentices get excited about when they talk about their career journey.

We wanted a logo our company partners would be proud to promote. We wanted a brand that can grow with us as we continue to shake up cybersecurity hiring best practices.

New name. Same mission.

We are beyond ecstatic to share the new name of the Midwest Cyber Center, which is now CyberUp! Our work does not change, but we believe the new name and logo will take our mission to the next level.

In addition to a new name, we have established a larger physical presence in Downtown T-Rex. Our new office and workforce training center located at 911 Washington Ave. Suite 170 will allow us to train even more students and become a hub for cybersecurity learning.

We are planning an open house to show off the new space, but please drop in and visit us while we finalize plans. We would love to show you around and give a tour.

We still actively support our partners in Illinois and the Scott Air Force Base community, but T-Rex has always served as the hub for our work. The central location of downtown and accessibility of public transportation makes it ideal for our mission.

Thank you to all our partners and supporters who have gotten us to where we are. We recognize without you none of this would be possible. We hope you are as excited as we are to push forward with a fresh and bigger chapter for CyberUp!

Check out CyberUp at their new domain: wecyberup.org