AFCEA RMC Education Foundation

Accomplishments: in 2023 the Afcea rocky mountain chapter continued to make significant impacts in the Colorado front range region, contributing almost 500,000 to local stem programs and educational initiatives. This was made possible by another outstanding year hosting the rocky mountain cyberspace symposium, bringing together industry and government cyber leaders from across the nation to discuss problems and solutions to modern cyber challenges. Proceeds from this event were used to sponsor scholarships at the university of colorado-colorado springs, goodwill lift it scholarships, grants to over two dozen high school, middle school and elementary school teachers, the scripp's Foundation "if you give a child a book program", the uccs rural teacher grant & math clinic, local science fair awards, and many other stem-related activities across the community. In conjunction with the symposium, we also hosted the first annual pikes peak robotics signature event, hosting 64 high school robotics teams. Additionally, we continued our efforts to partner with other local organizations through joint activities with ndia, aiaa, issa, afa, and the Colorado springs chamber and edc, and the national cybersecurity center, and once again cohosted the image golf tournament with ndia and afa. We also continue to host regular (approximately monthly) young-leaders gathering events to promote awareness of the chapter and encourage participation in our community support efforts. Goals: in 2024 the chapter will take a different approach to monthly meetings. The intent is on a quarterly basis to hold an Education event one month, a member's only social event one month, and a networking/speaking event one month. The emerging leaders will also hold several events throughout the year to further increase Afcea membership by young professionals in the community. RMC will again cohost the image golf tournament, and is the poc for this year's joint holiday party. Rmcs24 is scheduled for 19-22 february 2024, and we expect over 3500 attendees, 180 exhibitors, and 49 sponsors. In conjunction with rmcs, the second annual pikes peak robotics signature event will be held at the broadmoor, again hosting 64 high school robotics teams. The chapter plans to donate 500,000 to the local community for stem in 2024 with the monies earned during these events. We are looking to increase our spend on teacher grants, especially to title i schools, and further our partnerships with goodwill, uccs, if you give a child a book and pikes peak robotics.