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Missouri Invests in Geospatial Talent of The Future

  • August 01, 2022

The State of Missouri recently announced plans to invest $5 million in Gateway Global, a St. Louis-based workforce development group that works to help train youths for jobs in the geospatial technology sector.

“This is a big win for the St. Louis region, and also for the State of Missouri, as we train a

younger workforce to have the skills and abilities necessary to handle some of the most critical

roles in the geospatial workforce,” said Zekita Armstrong Asuquo, Chair and CEO of Gateway

Global.

Gateway Global is the nation’s first, and currently the only, organization accredited by the

United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) to train in geospatial intelligence at

the high school level, including recent high school graduates. This training includes geospatial

intelligence, geographic information systems and has extension programming in human

geography and data analytics.

Participants in Gateway Global’s Entry to Executive program also learn how to build mapping

applications, conduct research, collect and manage data, and perform basic intelligence

reporting.

Gateway Global’s courses and programming are designed to act as a bridge between high

school graduate diplomas and higher education by offering courses that assist under-resourced

youth and young adults in becoming career focused while earning industry recognized

credentials.

“The vision is to assist trainees with career planning that will take them beyond entry level and

into roles with more responsibility and higher pay while they earn a living and pursue more

education,” said Armstrong Asuquo. “This model is the future of cultivating a racially and

geographically diverse workforce of skilled, viable American talent.”

Geospatial analysis and cybersecurity are growing sectors in Missouri, with solid foundations due to the presence of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) and their thousands of employees. NGA broke ground on its new western headquarters in north St. Louis in 2016. Scheduled to open in 2025, NGA West represents a $1.7 billion investment.

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