Google.org has announced grants and in-kind support totaling $20 million in support of military-serving organizations working to expand opportunities for members of the military community.

The commitment includes a $10 million grant to Hiring Our Heroes to launch the Career Forward program, which plans to provide eight thousand veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses with the skills and career support they need to get good jobs through free access to the Google Career Certificates program. The funding will enable Hiring Our Heroes to provide job search support, such as interview preparation and career workshops, and assist in placing certificate graduates in twelve-week paid job-training fellowships at one of more than four hundred employers in the Hiring Our Heroes network. After training, graduates can connect with employers like Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, Freedom Learning Group, Verizon, and Molecula, as well as Google.

In addition, Google.org will provide $10 million in donated ads to military-serving employment organizations — including Code Platoon, the Black Veterans Project, and Minority Veterans of America — to help them better promote their resources on Google search. Over the next year, Google employees in the company's veteran employee resource group will volunteer and provide additional career resources to veterans including mock interviews and Q&A panels.

"Google.org is proud to support Hiring Our Heroes to train veterans for in-demand jobs through their new Career Forward program," said Google.org president Jacquelline Fuller. "Our hope is that increased access to portable career credentials along with the right wraparound support will help veterans, military service members and their families reach their full economic potential."

(Photo credit: Hiring Our Heroes)