Author Archives: William Floyd

Helping all New Yorkers pursue a career in tech

As New York emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, the tech sector continues to play a critical role in the city’s economic recovery. While hiring has slowed in many of the city’s industries, tech is still among the fastest areas of job growth. In fact, there were more openings for tech positions during the pandemic than in any other industry.

We believe the city’s good-paying tech jobs should be within reach of all New Yorkers. That’s why earlier this year we announced the Google NYC Tech Opportunity Fund — a $4 million commitment to computer science (CS) education, career development and job-preparedness to make sure every New Yorker, today and in the future, has the chance to get into tech.

With over 680,000 good-paying tech jobs, New York has more tech workers than any other U.S. city. That means for every one Googler in New York, there are over 50 additional tech jobs here. So we’ve extended our support for tech in New York beyond our own hiring to the city’s overall tech employment pipeline — starting from the classroom all the way to the office.

We’ve had some early success: We’ve trained 1,200 New York City high school students through our CS education programs like Code Next and the Computer Science Summer Institute (CSSI). Meanwhile, Grow with Google has partnered with over 530 organizations to train more than 430,000 New Yorkers on digital skills with the help of organizations like public libraries and chambers of commerce. We also launched an apprenticeship program where over 90% of participants nationally landed quality jobs in tech, including at Google, within six months of completing the program. And we’re supporting New York-based startups through Google’s Black Founders Fund and Latino Founders Fund.

With the Google NYC Tech Opportunity Fund, we’re going a step further. We’ve identified key areas we believe Google can help address larger systemic issues and where we’ll focus our investments.

Support for teaching early tech skills

P-12 students with access to CS classes in school are nearly three times more likely to aspire to have a job in the field. But to offer these courses, schools need teachers who are trained in computational skills. After supporting a CS teacher training program at Hunter College in 2021, we committed an additional $1.5 million to The City University of New York (CUNY) and Hunter College to help them train more CS teachers and incorporate computational thinking into their curricula.

New York City's public libraries are essential learning environments for many, especially in under-resourced communities. Thousands of teens use the city’s three library systems annually to get college and career mentoring, build digital literacy, borrow books and more. So we granted a total of $1.5 million to Brooklyn Public Library, The New York Public Library and Queens Public Library to help them create special teen centers. These spaces will offer access to technology, resources and programs teens need to develop essential career skills for the future.

Resources for job seekers

We’re also providing a $1 million Google.org grant to the New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC) to assemble a consortium of leaders in tech education and workforce development, and to seed a grant fund for organizations that support BIPOC job seekers in NYC.

As part of this effort, we also offer free Google Career Certificates for community colleges, such as The State University of New York’s (SUNY) online center. Over 10,000 New Yorkers have already completed a Google Career certificate and built up their qualifications for high-demand tech jobs.

By taking steps to support students and those already in the workforce, we can help ensure all New Yorkers have access to career opportunities so the tech sector in New York really looks like New York.

Remembering Stonewall, 1969

The park is not a big one. It’s a few thousand square-foot triangle in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, populated by a handful of trees and benches. Looking at it, you wouldn’t know that one night in June 1969, it hosted a crucial turning point in LGBTQ history. Across the street at the Stonewall Inn, a neighborhood gay bar, police broke down the door intending to haul the patrons off for a night in jail. Bar-goers resisted and a riot broke out in the park—it lasted several days and sparked what many recognize as the start of the modern day LGBTQ rights movement.

Google was founded on the idea that bringing more information to more people improves lives on a vast scale. The preservation of history is an essential way to make sure information lives on and reaches everyone. The Stonewall Riots were important to the ongoing road to civil rights for LGBT communities around the world — and their message is as resonant and necessary today as it was back then. To help preserve and amplify the story of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, Google.org is giving a $1 million grant to the LGBT Community Center of New York City.

The Center will use this grant to continue its work with the National Park Service, extending the reach of Stonewall National Monument beyond its physical location. Ahead of 2019, which will mark the 50th anniversary of the uprising, the Center will record the stories of those who raised their voices at Stonewall and the many others who were inspired by their brave defiance. These are the stories of transgender women of color who fought back; of queer youth, many of whom were homeless, who bravely refused to be silenced; of the poorest of the LGBTQ community. Those stories will be built into a digital memorial experience available to anyone who visits the park—both in person and online. The funding will also support the building of a curriculum on LGBTQ civil rights to be used in classrooms nationwide.

Google.org has provided grants and funding to groups across the world that challenge bias and exclusion by helping to share the stories and history of marginalized groups, from the Equal Justice Initiative to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. We are glad to continue that work today with the support of organizations like the LGBT Center, who provide so much to their community.

Remembering the people who spoke out against injustice, who fought for the basic right to "be," is key to our universal quest for human rights. By remembering those who came before us, and all we have accomplished since, we ensure that their actions were not in vain. We hope that sharing these stories will help to empower and inspire us all to action.

Remembering Stonewall, 1969

The park is not a big one. It’s a few thousand square-foot triangle in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, populated by a handful of trees and benches. Looking at it, you wouldn’t know that one night in June 1969, it hosted a crucial turning point in LGBTQ history. Across the street at the Stonewall Inn, a neighborhood gay bar, police broke down the door intending to haul the patrons off for a night in jail. Bar-goers resisted and a riot broke out in the park—it lasted several days and sparked what many recognize as the start of the modern day LGBTQ rights movement.

Google was founded on the idea that bringing more information to more people improves lives on a vast scale. The preservation of history is an essential way to make sure information lives on and reaches everyone. The Stonewall Riots were important to the ongoing road to civil rights for LGBT communities around the world — and their message is as resonant and necessary today as it was back then. To help preserve and amplify the story of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, Google.org is giving a $1 million grant to the LGBT Community Center of New York City.

The Center, in collaboration with the National Park Foundation, will use this grant to continue its work with the National Park Service, extending the reach of Stonewall National Monument beyond its physical location. Ahead of 2019, which will mark the 50th anniversary of the uprising, the Center will record the stories of those who raised their voices at Stonewall and the many others who were inspired by their brave defiance. These are the stories of transgender women of color who fought back; of queer youth, many of whom were homeless, who bravely refused to be silenced; of the poorest of the LGBTQ community. Those stories will be built into a digital memorial experience available to anyone who visits the park—both in person and online. The funding will also support the building of a curriculum on LGBTQ civil rights to be used in classrooms nationwide.

Google.org has provided grants and funding to groups across the world that challenge bias and exclusion by helping to share the stories and history of marginalized groups, from the Equal Justice Initiative to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. We are glad to continue that work today with the support of organizations like the LGBT Center, who provide so much to their community.

Remembering the people who spoke out against injustice, who fought for the basic right to "be," is key to our universal quest for human rights. By remembering those who came before us, and all we have accomplished since, we ensure that their actions were not in vain. We hope that sharing these stories will help to empower and inspire us all to action.