Goodwill's digital training collaboration with Google expands to 126 locations

Dive Brief:

Goodwill Industries International and Google.org will continue its partnership to expand the Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator, a digital training program. A part of the Grow with Google initiative, the partnership will add 33 locations to its existing 93. The goal is to train more than 1.25 million workers throughout the length of the collaboration.
As part of a three-year commitment from Google.org, the collaboration has already provided training for more than a quarter of a million job seekers, Goodwill said in a news release. The initiative makes available training organized around five skill levels, which Goodwill has categorized as digital skills awareness; basic digital skills training; productivity software skills; entry-level digital skills; and mid-level and occupation-specific digital skills.
In addition to training, Google.org has committed to providing 1,000 volunteers to train and mentor learners. Google.org has produced 200 of its promised 1,000 volunteers who work with the Accelerator program. An additional seven Google.org Fellows have been placed in full-time positions at Goodwill locations around the country, the release said.

Dive Insight:

Google's charitable arm's commitment to upskill American workers is impacting a variety of communities in the U.S. It recently pledged support to upskill Latino students with a $5 million grant over three years in partnership with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation and two other groups. It provided another $5 million grant with Walmart to support employers testing reskilling solutions in 2018.

Business, non-profit and government collaborations are on the rise as those entities work to upskill workers for unfilled jobs of today and tomorrow. Many states are working with organizations to provide training in their area; Colorado, for example, partnered with the Skillful State Network to address the skills gap. Partnerships like the one between Fifth Third Bank and the NAACP are helping many underserved communities get access to digital skills and training that can help ready them for the workforce.

Collaborations between businesses and educators are working within and without the government to help workers gain or retain employment in an increasingly digital workplace. Research suggests with the speed of digital change, employees continue to fall behind.