Summit NJ — Family Promise, the leading national nonprofit addressing family homelessness, and Google, the multi-national technology company, have partnered to provide access to digital training and reskilling through Grow with Google. Google has donated scholarships for Grow with Google workshops and for the Google Career Certificate program to help Family Promise guests, graduates, and program participants gain the skills they need to succeed in an increasingly digital economy.
Before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, technology driven trends were already changing the nature of work and the skills required to succeed in a 21st century workforce. Job prospects for Americans without an advanced degree were declining every year. Covid-19 accelerated this decline with lay-offs in food services, retail, and similar low-wage, hourly jobs, and the expansion of remote work. Those hardest hit by job losses – lower-income, women, and underrepresented minorities – require access to digital training and reskilling to create new pathways to employment, which is essential for continued economic recovery and growth.
Through its Grow with Google program, Google will donate 5,000 Google Career Certificate scholarships to help Family Promise guests, graduates, and others jump-start their careers. Designed by Google, the Career Certificate Program provides access to in-demand jobs through rapid reskilling, without the need for a college degree or prior experience, in the fast-growing fields of data analytics, project management, user experience (UX) design, and IT support. Participants learn at their own pace and can be job ready in six months.
Additionally, Family Promise Affiliates will gain access to Google’s free job search features and will receive up to 5,000 workshop scholarships for online or classroom instruction in topics including remote work, job search, resume improvement, creating and managing an online presence, and more.
Family Promise will offer this program through its more than 200 Affiliates, as part of its holistic response to the crisis of family homelessness. Through highly individualized, person-centered, trauma-informed care, Family Promise Affiliates provides a compassionate, comprehensive solution to the crisis of family homelessness—prevention services before families reach crisis, shelter and case management when they become homeless, and stabilization programs once they have secured housing, to ensure they remain independent.
“We are most grateful for Google’s investment in the families we serve,” said Claas Ehlers, Family Promise CEO. “Empowering families to develop skills that will provide them with viable employment opportunities will not only prepare them for new career opportunities and expand access to employment, but it will also help to keep them stably housed and avoid the trauma of homelessness.”
