Kiowa tribal members receive cybersecurity training opportunity

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) - The Kiowa tribe said it’s the first tribe in Oklahoma to provide its members with cybersecurity training opportunities.

At the end of a 16-week course, participants will be paired up with jobs.

10 tribal citizens were selected to take this course paid for by the tribe.

Vice Chairman Jacob Tsotigh said this is a great opportunity to better their community.

“It’s a very relevant topic, and we know that if our participants were able to get the training would have a high opportunity for immediate employment in that field because it is such an emerging critical area of need for the country,” he said.

Tsotigh said the cost of this training is close to 2 hundred thousand dollars that are being funded through the American Rescue Plan funds.

He said this training gives them the opportunity to work remotely.

“They can stay within our community and be gainfully employed in high salaries, and continue to be connected to our tribe,” said Tsotigh.

Teresa Rule President of RNT professional services, the company providing the training says there’s a growing need for more qualified cybersecurity specialists.

“It’s continuing to grow and develop and it requires a certain amount of technical expertise to know how, but the jobs for cyber security are available globally,” she said.

Rule said she enjoys seeing the chairman care about the future of his tribe.

“It’s exciting to work with such a progressive leader who sees and encourages his people to move into a non-traditional role like cyber security,” said Rule.

The 16-week course begins the 2nd week of May, the Kiowa Vice-chairman hopes they can continue this in the future.

Copyright 2023 KSWO. All rights reserved.