Scott McGregor shares his experiences in forging a brand new partnership with Iḷisaġvik School in Utqiaġvik, Alaska – a rare neighborhood that’s breaking down limitations 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 goal.
The bottom feels totally different right here in Utqiaġvik, Alaska – previously generally known as Barrow. Situated north of the Arctic Circle, Utqiaġvik is the northernmost city in the USA.
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 individuals for hundreds of years and the challenges they’ve overcome to maintain their neighborhood for millennia.
In the present day, the residents of Utqiaġvik face a rising problem– integrating the tradition and values of the previous with the technological advances and data wanted to protect their tradition and thrive in a altering, international financial system.
That is what powering an inclusive future for all appears like.
Sturdy neighborhood – important 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 will companion to interrupt down limitations and create entry to schooling, expertise, and alternative.
The challenges are important right here.
Think about residing in a spot so distant it may possibly solely be accessed by airplane, the place the summer season solar doesn’t dip under the horizon for 82 straight days, and after it dips under the horizon for the final time every November, it doesn’t seem once more till January.
Think about residing in a spot the place dependable entry to trendy conveniences like recent produce and heating gas are a problem. And restricted entry to broadband makes it tough to entry vital providers like schooling and healthcare in addition to preserve a dependable connection to the remainder of the world.
The distant location and the cruel situations aren’t the one limitations. Utqiaġvik is on the entrance traces of local weather change. The rising sea is claiming land at an alarming tempo. Limitations now block elements of a highway that after encircled the city.
If not now – when?
Strolling among the many individuals, it’s clear to me that regardless of the cruel situations the Iñupiaq are already thriving. Communities all over the world have one thing to study from the vibrance of this tradition.
We’re not right here for a reduction effort. We’re not right here to write down a test. We’re right here to do what Cisco does finest – join the unconnected – and reimagine what’s doable by way 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 Function to energy an inclusive future for all. And why we created the Social Justice Actions to discover methods of making true influence in underserved communities.
The trail ahead – breaking down limitations to schooling
On the coronary heart of this distant neighborhood is Iḷisaġvik School, certainly one of solely 35 accredited tribal schools in the USA and the one tribal school positioned in Alaska. The president of the school, Justina Wilhelm, grew up in the neighborhood and talks about how the college is “unapologetically Inupiaq” that 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 academic establishments within the United Sates, there have been some gaps, primarily across the school’s cybersecurity readiness.
Resolving these gaps is vital. 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 in the end decide if they might proceed to function.
By 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 establish expertise gaps after which donated the expertise and providers required to convey them into cybersecurity compliance. Iḷisaġvik School is the second tribal school to learn 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 very best-in-class cybersecurity options carried out at Iḷisaġvik featured the Cisco Meraki MX – a multifunctional all-in-one system that delivers ease of deployment, distant administration, and state-of-the artwork options. This distinctive mixture of advantages is crucial to empowering the brand new future the school envisions for college students, college, 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 likely be providing our Cisco Networking Academy coursework, which can permit 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 of keep of their neighborhood and earn a aggressive wage within the cybersecurity and networking fields.
This can be a vital side 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 doable by way 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 profound experiences of my profession.
Whereas I used to be in one of the distant locations on earth, I discovered a welcoming neighborhood that jogged my memory how necessary it’s to get proximate to a neighborhood to completely perceive its wants earlier than offering options.
I found a brand new sense of what’s doable by strolling alongside individuals with a historical past of residing on the prime of world for hundreds of years.
I got here away impressed and energized, figuring out that Cisco’s purpose-driven work has by no means been extra necessary – or extra related to what issues most in communities all over the world.
As Cisco begins the final 12 months of our five-year exploration in driving Social Justice, our work – and the influence 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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