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Google introduced its Grow with Google Career Readiness for Reentry program in April 2021. The program is a collaboration with non profits to offer job readiness and digital skills training for formerly incarcerated individuals. Earlier this month, Google announced its Grow with Google for Justice-Impacted Communities, which provides a fund to assist organizations that provide free digital skills training to justice-impacted communities.
Justice-impacted communities include individuals described as “those who have been incarcerated or detained in a prison, immigration detention center, local jail, juvenile detention center, or any other carceral setting, those who have been convicted but not incarcerated, those who have been charged but not convicted, and those who have been arrested”, according to Google’s announcement. A Prison Policy Initiative in 2018 says that more than 640,000 Americans transitioning out of incarceration often experience systemic barriers to entering the workforce–from systemic bias to lack of digital training. The report also reports that the “unemployment rate for formerly incarcerated individuals is five times the national average, and this disproportionately impacts the Black community, which experiences higher unemployment rates than any other racial group.”
FREE training includes basic digital skills, more advanced entrepreneurship and tech training for returned citizens and others impacted by the justice system. Digital skills training includes how to search and apply for jobs online, how to build a resume using web-based tools, budgeting, time management, and project planning, according to Google. Check the curriculum for more details. Ministries interested in training these individuals on digital skills using Google’s tools are encouraged to apply for funding up to $100K. More than $4 million will be allotted for the program. The deadline to apply is July 20, 2022 and applications can be submitted: Apply HERE.
