Google Fiber’s community partnerships across the country are essential to maximize the potential of superfast Internet in the local communities we serve. These partnerships are the bedrock of Google Fiber’s approach to community impact programming and digital inclusion investments , and we want to share an update on our most recent efforts in our Fiber cities in the Southeast.
Today, in Huntsville, we announced three new community partnerships: first up, Rocket City’s inaugural Community Connection at the Harris Home for Children, a nonprofit organization that has been helping foster children and families in Huntsville since 1954. Kids at the center will now have access to free superfast Internet service in the recreation building where they’ll have an opportunity to discover, create, and dream about where their lives can go.
And in the coming weeks, we’ll also connect Dr. Richard Showers Community Center and Girls, Inc. of Huntsville to superfast Internet, allowing them to better meet the needs of their constituencies and help them really take off.
Earlier this week, just a few hours north in Nashville, we celebrated the grand opening of a new computer lab with the Northwest Family YMCA in Music City. With 15 new computers, the lab will help local residents further their education and find better jobs, enable kids to communicate with teachers, and provide life enrichment resources for everyone in the area.
Additionally, we’ve partnered with the YMCA of Middle Tennessee to offer programs like Create Your World, which teaches kids how STEM and coding skills can be fun along with educational -- creating music and mini-films using stop motion animation. And we’re also offering programs with the YMCA that teach digital literacy and other online skills at different levels and for all different ages, including adults — everyone needs to be able to navigate the internet safely and to harness its power to reach their full potential.
And finally, in Atlanta, Google Fiber has teamed up with the Centers of Hope, an initiative launched by the City of Atlanta in 2013 to convert unused recreation centers to state-of-the-art learning facilities with both academic and recreational programs. We now have four labs up and running in Adamsville, Rosel Fann, Pittman and SouthBend.
Mayor Kasim Reed helped unveil the first center in May at Adamsville Center of Hope. The labs are equipped with new desktop computers, printers, Chromeboxes, and Google Cardboard, and lined with new furniture, artwork and murals. They’re used by kids for after school programming, including homework, coding classes and Boys & Girls Club activities. Plus, adults and seniors are using the labs and equipment for job search and digital literacy classes.
While the labs aren’t connected to Google Fiber yet, we hope to make them part of our Community Connections program as we bring service to more neighborhoods throughout Atlanta.
Digital inclusion has been central to the mission of Google FIber since our beginnings in Kansas City. As we’ve grown, we’ve learned important lessons from local leaders about how to tackle this issue in more meaningful and impactful ways, customized to the needs of our communities. We are proud to partner with the organizations and residents who are tirelessly working to make the community a better place, and we look for ways to support and amplify the work they do every day. We firmly expect great things from this next generation of innovators, developers, engineers, and entrepreneurs wherever they come from, including Huntsville, Nashville and Atlanta.
Posted by Daynise Joseph and Fabiola Charles Stokes, Community Impact Managers
