Google announced Monday that Google.org will commit $14 million in funding to the Goodwill digital career accelerator, MSPoweruser reported. According to the company, this will include grants and in-kind support that will assist Goodwill in the process of providing different digital training services and job placement for numerous individuals.
According to Google’s statement, the fund will allow Goodwill to provide digital skills and vocational training to more than 200,000 people in the U.S. and Canada. Specifically, the company’s support includes $7 million in donated search advertising and $7 million in Google.org grants. The funds will be focused on providing different services and improving the efficiency of the organization’s execution of plans.
These funds support the development and expansion of infrastructure, such as a tracking system for recruiting and training, that will improve the reach and efficiency of Goodwill’s services locally,” said Kent Walker, president of global affairs for Google and Alphabet, and president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. Steve Preston wrote in a blog post announcing the news.
In addition, the support includes 10 Googlers providing full-time nonprofit service through the Google.org Fellowship. The 10-person team will help Goodwill connect online job seekers with its career coaches, Google said. Related to this, Google has placed more than 300,000 job seekers into various digital-related jobs and educated more than 1 million people in critical digital skills and digital awareness.
“Through collaborations like the one between Goodwill and Google, we’re learning what works and what doesn’t,” the blog post reads. “By aligning the right resources, we can build the systems and capabilities necessary to close the digital skills gap and connect Americans with the skills and support they need to compete in the 21st-century economy. In every community, Talent is needed to equip and participate in our rapidly changing workforce.”
These joint efforts by Google and Goodwill have benefited countless job seekers and could even expand to more people in the future. As more employers now focus on skills rather than degree-related requirements, the programs will help people get digital jobs without a diploma, according to the multinational technology company. Currently, only 36 percent of U.S. adults have a college degree. Those numbers resulted in 5.9 unemployed and 11 million unfilled jobs due to a lack of needed skills.
Walker and Preston said: “When employers hire for relevant skills, rather than screening for degrees, we can obtain a qualified, job-ready, and significantly more diverse talent pool. However, in order for employers to hire people with the necessary skills People, people have to have successful pathways to acquire those skills.”
With this, Goodwill’s Digital Career Accelerator could be a notable solution to the above problem. According to Google, in addition to removing barriers that prevent Americans from learning important skills they need to get a job (stipends, connection support, transportation credits, career navigation, etc.), the program also makes more than 70% of the U.S. population accessible Various Goodwill mission service locations across the United States.