(Black PR Wire) Technology has been a lifeline to help many small businesses during the COVID-19 crisis. And online tools can help people get new skills and find good-paying jobs. Nearly two-thirds of all new jobs created since 2010 require either high-level or medium-level digital skills. This presents a challenge for many job seekers, as well as to America’s long-term economic security. People need good jobs, and the broader economy needs their energy and skills to support our future growth. 

College degrees are out of reach for many Americans, and you shouldn’t need a college diploma to have economic security. We need new, accessible job-training solutions—from enhanced vocational programs to online education—to help America recover and rebuild.

Our Grow with Google initiative helps people get the skills they need to get a job or grow their business.  Today we’re announcing a new suite of Google Career Certificates that will help Americans get qualifications in high-paying high-growth job fields—no college degree required. We will fund 100,000 need-based scholarships and at Google we will consider our new career certificates as the equivalent of a four-year degree for related roles.  We’re also committing $10 million in job training Google.org grants for communities across America, working with partners like YWCA, NPower and JFF. 

Here are more details on today’s announcements: 

• Three new Google Career Certificates in the high-paying, high-growth career fields of Data Analytics, Project Management, and User Experience (UX) Design. Like our IT Support and Automation in Python Certificates, these new career programs are designed and taught by Google employees who work in these fields. The programs equip participants with the essential skills they need to get a job. No degree or prior experience is required to take the courses. 

• 100,000 need-based scholarships, funded by Google, to complete any of these career certificates. 

• An expansion of our IT Certificate Employer Consortium, which currently includes over 50 employers like Walmart, Hulu, Sprint and of course Google.

• Hundreds of apprenticeship opportunities at Google for people completing these career certificate programs to provide real on-the-job training.

• The Google Career Certificates in Career and Technical Education high schools throughout America, starting with our IT Support Certificate this Fall. These certificates build on our established partnership with more than 100 community colleges. $10 million in Google.org grants to 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. As part of our Future of Work initiative, since 2017 Google.org has provided over $200 million in grants to nonprofits working to promote economic opportunity. 

The new Google Career Certificates build on our existing programs to create pathways into IT Support careers for people without college degrees. Launched in 2018, the Google IT Certificate program has become the single most popular certificate on Coursera, and thousands of people have found new jobs and increased their earnings after completing the course. Take Yves Cooper, who enrolled in the program through our Grow with Google Partner, Merit America, while working as a van driver. Within five days of completing the program, he was offered a role as an IT helpdesk technician at a nonprofit in his hometown of Washington, D.C. We’re especially proud that the Google IT Certificate provides a pathway to jobs for groups that are underrepresented in the tech industry: 58 percent of IT Certificate learners identify as Black, Latino, female or veteran. 

As America rebuilds our local communities, it’s important to start with the people that give them life. Since 2017, we’ve helped 5 million Americans learn digital skills through Grow with Google and we promise to do our part to help even more people prepare for jobs, creating economic opportunity for everyone.