Aiming to provide the training and support people need to earn and keep good jobs, Goodwill Industries International partners with companies to reach these goals. In 2017, Google collaborated with Goodwill to launch the Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator.
Part of the Grow with Google initiative, established the same year, the Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator aimed to help Google reach its goal of training and providing resources to Americans to give them the digital tools and resources they need to find jobs. The initiative awarded a $10.3 million grant to Goodwill to start a digital training program. Goodwill also received support in the form of Google’s resources, talent, and tools.
With a goal to reach over one million job seekers and teach them the digital skills they need to get a job, the Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator identified five levels of digital skills and set about creating training programs for each.
The program’s digital skill levels include:
- Digital skills awareness for individuals needing an introduction to computers and other digital topics;
- Basic digital skills training, targeted at those who have some knowledge of computers but need help with email, social media, and keyboarding;
- Productivity software skills, courses that provide instruction on using spreadsheets, word processing software, and similar tools;
- Entry-level digital skills for those looking to gain basic programing or computer support skills;
- Mid-level and occupation-specific digital skills, created for people looking to work with technology in specific fields, such as healthcare or marketing.
Google also pledged to send more than 1,000 volunteers, including seven Google.org Fellows who worked full-time with Goodwill at one of the organization’s nationwide locations.
