Scott McGregor shares his experiences in forging a brand new partnership with Iḷisaġvik School in Utqiaġvik, Alaska – a rare neighborhood that’s breaking down boundaries to create new entry to schooling, expertise, and alternative.
Standing close to the highest of the world, I’ve by no means felt nearer to Cisco’s objective.
The bottom feels totally different right here in Utqiaġvik, Alaska – previously often known as Barrow. Positioned north of the Arctic Circle, Utqiaġvik is the northernmost city in the US.
From the place I stand on the shore of a sea that’s frozen for a lot of the 12 months, I’m getting a way of the exceptional historical past of a land that has been residence to the Iñupiaq folks for hundreds of years and the challenges they’ve overcome to maintain their neighborhood for millennia.
At this time, the residents of Utqiaġvik face a rising problem– integrating the tradition and values of the previous with the technological advances and information wanted to protect their tradition and thrive in a altering, world economic system.
That is what powering an inclusive future for all appears to be like like.
Robust neighborhood – vital challenges
I’ve come to Utqiaġvik with a small group representing Cisco’s Social Justice Motion Workplace and our Native American Community Worker Useful resource Group.
We’re right here to discover methods we are able to accomplice to interrupt down boundaries and create entry to schooling, expertise, and alternative.
The challenges are vital right here.
Think about dwelling in a spot so distant it will possibly solely be accessed by airplane, the place the summer season solar doesn’t dip beneath the horizon for 82 straight days, and after it dips beneath the horizon for the final time every November, it doesn’t seem once more till January.
Think about dwelling in a spot the place dependable entry to trendy conveniences like recent produce and heating gasoline are a problem. And restricted entry to broadband makes it troublesome to entry essential providers like schooling and healthcare in addition to preserve a dependable connection to the remainder of the world.
The distant location and the tough situations aren’t the one boundaries. Utqiaġvik is on the entrance traces of local weather change. The rising sea is claiming land at an alarming tempo. Obstacles now block elements of a highway that after encircled the city.
If not now – when?
Strolling among the many folks, it’s clear to me that regardless of the tough situations the Iñupiaq are already thriving. Communities world wide have one thing to study from the vibrance of this tradition.
We’re not right here for a aid effort. We’re not right here to jot down a test. We’re right here to do what Cisco does finest – join the unconnected – and reimagine what’s potential by means of these connections.
To realize true proximity and perceive the distinctive mixture of challenges dealing with this neighborhood – discovering new methods to bridge distance and distinction to create an inclusive future.
This proximity – and this partnership – is central to how Cisco fulfills its Goal to energy an inclusive future for all. And why we created the Social Justice Actions to discover methods of making true affect in underserved communities.
The trail ahead – breaking down boundaries to schooling
On the coronary heart of this distant neighborhood is Iḷisaġvik School, certainly one of solely 35 accredited tribal schools in the US and the one tribal faculty situated in Alaska. The president of the school, Justina Wilhelm, grew up locally and talks about how the varsity is “unapologetically Inupiaq” which means the Inupiaq lifestyle, based mostly on a wealthy basis of a subsistence tradition with the land and sea, guided by Inupiaq values is woven into their curriculum and every day interactions.
Iḷisaġvik School has a contemporary IT infrastructure. However like many underserved instructional establishments within the United Sates, there have been some gaps, primarily across the faculty’s cybersecurity readiness.
Resolving these gaps is essential. In 2023, the Federal authorities created requirements requiring all faculties receiving federal funding be Nationwide Institute of Requirements Expertise (NIST) cybersecurity compliant. For faculties like Iḷisaġvik School, funding these upgrades presents a serious problem and will finally decide if they might proceed to function.
By means of Cisco’s dedication to social justice, which ensures minority serving establishments throughout the nation stay cybersecurity compliant, Cisco and its ecosystem of companions have engaged Iḷisaġvik School and performed a NIST evaluation to determine expertise gaps after which donated the expertise and providers required to deliver them into cybersecurity compliance. Iḷisaġvik School is the second tribal faculty to profit from this initiative which positions them to serve their local people in addition to college students who take their programs globally, properly into the longer term.
The perfect-in-class cybersecurity options carried out at Iḷisaġvik featured the Cisco Meraki MX – a multifunctional all-in-one machine that delivers ease of deployment, distant administration, and state-of-the artwork options. This distinctive mixture of advantages is important to empowering the brand new future the school envisions for college students, school, and the broader neighborhood.
Bringing the alternatives right here
The partnership between Iḷisaġvik School and Cisco is even deeper than cybersecurity compliance and expertise modernization. Along with supporting the IT infrastructure and connectivity, we will probably be providing our Cisco Networking Academy coursework, which is able to enable learners to acquire certifications in cybersecurity and networking that can make them extra aggressive for jobs, together with distant jobs.
This implies residents will be capable to keep of their neighborhood and earn a aggressive wage within the cybersecurity and networking fields.
This can be a essential facet of the trail ahead the neighborhood is creating. Alternatives to remain in Utqiaġvik and to proceed to be “unapologetically Iñupiaq” whereas tapping right into a vibrant digital job market made potential by means of connectivity.
Classes discovered from the highest of the world
Once I launched into this journey, I wasn’t anticipating it to be one of the crucial profound experiences of my profession.
Whereas I used to be in one of the crucial distant locations on earth, I discovered a welcoming neighborhood that jogged my memory how vital it’s to get proximate to a neighborhood to totally perceive its wants earlier than offering options.
I found a brand new sense of what’s potential by strolling alongside folks with a historical past of dwelling on the prime of world for hundreds of years.
I got here away impressed and energized, realizing that Cisco’s purpose-driven work has by no means been extra vital – or extra related to what issues most in communities world wide.
As Cisco begins the final 12 months of our five-year exploration in driving Social Justice, our work – and the affect we’re creating with communities – will proceed to broaden due to what we’ve discovered right here.
Preserving the previous – partnering for the longer term. Cisco’s journey continues.
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