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Google Announces Three New Tech Skill Certificates to Be offered at BVT

Jul 30, 2020 06:00AM ● By Pamela Johnson
Google.org Supporting Initiative with $10 Million in Job Training Grants to Nonprofits

Recently, Google announced three new Google career certificates in high-growth, high-paying fields, adding to the IT Support Professional Certificate and the Automation with Python Certificate, which have helped break barriers for underserved groups to enter the tech workforce. Part of the Grow with Google economic opportunity initiative, these certificates will be available on the online learning platform Coursera.
 
They will focus on Data Analytics, Project Management, and User Experience (UX) Design, with no degree required to enroll. Google also announced that it is funding 100,000 need-based scholarships for individuals enrolled in any of these career certificate programs. The company will consider all of its career certificates as the equivalent of a four-year degree for related roles at Google.
 
Development of these certificates comes at a crucial time when many nationwide struggle with unemployment caused by the impact of COVID-19. Nearly two-thirds of all new jobs created since 2010 require either high- or medium-level digital skills. This presents a challenge to many job seekers, as well as to long-term economic security in the U.S. People need well-paying jobs, and in turn the broader economy needs their energy and skills for growth in the coming years.
 
“College degrees are out of reach for many Americans, but you shouldn’t need a college diploma to have economic security,” said Kent Walker, Senior Vice President of Global Affairs at Google. “We need new, accessible job-training solutions—from enhanced vocational programs to online education—to help America recover and rebuild.”
 
The Google career certificates will equip participants with the essential skills they need to get a job. The IT Cert’s hiring consortium currently includes over 50 national employers, such as Walmart, Hulu and Sprint, with whom participants can directly share their resume upon completion of the program. Google will create a hiring consortium for the new certificates, along with offering hundreds of apprenticeship opportunities at Google to provide graduates with on-the-job training.
 
The Google career certificates will also be offered in career and technical education high schools throughout America. In Massachusetts, the IT Cert will be offered this fall at schools including Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School, Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School, Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School and Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School. This builds on an established
 partnership with more than 100 community colleges offering the Google IT Cert. In Massachusetts, the program is offered at five community colleges, including MassBay Community College, North Shore Community College and Bristol Community College.
 
In coordination with the new career certificates, Google.org today announced that it is awarding over $10 million in grants to three nonprofits — the YWCA, NPower, and JFF — to help workforce boards and nonprofits improve their job training programs and increase access to digital skills for women, veterans, and underserved Americans. To date, Google.org has contributed over $200 million in grants to nonprofits that create economic opportunity worldwide.
 
The new certificates follow the success of the IT Cert, which is designed to prepare people for entry-level jobs in IT support in under six months. The most popular certificate on Coursera, the program provides a pathway to jobs for those without college degrees and underserved groups (58 percent of participants identify as Black, Latino, female or veteran). Eighty percent of participants report that the program helped them advance their job search or career within six months.
 
The Google career certificates are being created and taught by Google employees and can be completed in three to six months. Starting today, anyone can pre-register for the programs at grow.google/certificates, and they will be notified once the courses are launched.
 
Google has called Massachusetts home for over 15 years, after it established its Cambridge office in 2003. In 2019, Google helped provide $13.9 billion of economic activity for 32,100 Massachusetts businesses, publishers, nonprofits, creators, and developers.
 
About Grow with Google
Grow with Google was started in 2017 to help Americans grow their skills, careers and businesses. It provides free training, tools, and expertise to help small-business owners, veterans and military families, jobseekers and students, educators, startups, and developers. Since its inception, Grow with Google has helped more than five million Americans grow their skills, careers and businesses. In addition to its virtual and brick-and-mortar presence, Grow with Google has created a network of more than 7,000 partner organizations like libraries, schools, small-business development centers, chambers of commerce and nonprofits to help people coast-to-coast. In Massachusetts, our local partners include the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, the Cambridge Public Library, and the Kendall Square Association.
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