Google.org has announced a $14 million investment in Goodwill Industries International’s Digital Career Accelerator to help expand economic mobility through the development of digital skills and career training.

With $7 million in direct grants from Google.org and $7 million in donated search ads on Google, Goodwill aims to reach more than 200,000 people across the United States and Canada through infrastructure expansion such as training to improve the reach and effectiveness of Goodwill’s services at the local level and tracking systems for hiring. In addition, 10 Google employees will work pro bono with Goodwill full-time to help connect job seekers online with local Goodwill career coaches. Since 2017, Google.org and Goodwill have partnered to help people get good jobs that don’t require a college degree by providing digital training pathways, enabling more than a million people to gain digital skills and to more than 300,000 overlooked job seekers in digital economy jobs.

The Digital Career Accelerator program is designed to address the gap in digital skills that are keeping unemployed and underemployed workers from accessing the estimated 11 million unfilled jobs in the United States. According to Google.org, an estimated 80 percent of middle-skill positions now require digital skills.

“Through collaborations like the one between Goodwill and Google, we’re learning what works and what doesn’t,” said Google president of global affairs Kent Walker and Goodwill president and CEO Steve Preston in a blog post. “By aligning the right resources, we can build the systems and capacity needed to close the digital skills gap and connect Americans with the skills and support they need to compete in the 21st century economy.”

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