Google and Goodwill are joining forces to continue strengthening the Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator which aims to provide more career opportunities to job seekers across the country. When the initiative was launched last year, Google said that it hoped to help 1.2 million people by 2021.
Now, the two companies are ramping up their efforts to provide job seekers with digital skills training.
“In just over a year since we began our work with Goodwill to launch the Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator, 27,000 Americans have found a job and a quarter million more have gained digital skills that they need to succeed,” said Google CEO Sundar Pichai, in a statement provided to Fox News. “We’ve also learned important lessons about making digital job training effective that we’ll build on as we continue our efforts to bring opportunity to everyone across the country.”
Along with the more than 27,000 people to find jobs with the help of the program, another 252,000 have improved their digital skills, while 16,398 people have learned software skills.
The Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator was given a three-year, $10 million grant from Google.org and another 33 Goodwill locations will be joining the effort throughout the year. There are already 93 Goodwill locations across 34 states helping with the training.
“The Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator helps job seekers and mid-career professionals attain the skills they need to find work and enhance their earnings potential,” said Steven C. Preston, CEO of Goodwill Industries International, in a statement. “Thanks to the early success of this program, Goodwill and Google.org are extending its reach to workers across the country as we aim to train more than 1.25 million workers with the digital skills needed to succeed in today’s job market and prepare for the changing workforce.”
With more than 7.1 million job openings in the United States, it’s great to see big companies coming together to help willing job seekers strengthen their skills and find new opportunities.