Tag Archives: google.org

Our Housing First approach to homelessness in the Bay Area

In the California Bay Area, it’s estimated that there are more than 35,000 people who are homeless, making it the third largest region for homelessness in the country. The pandemic has only exacerbated this crisis. 

Last year, we made a $1 billion commitment to accelerate the production of affordable housing in the Bay Area, and Google.org made a pledge to grant $50 million to community organizations working on the front lines. Google.org has since granted $7.75 million to nonprofits, to support more than 33,000 people with services like mental health care, food distribution and job training, and to house 9,000 of those individuals over the span of four years. 


We know nonprofits need more support to keep fighting this growing crisis. So today we’re announcing $4 million in new grants to local organizations that are helping and solving homelessness for families, youth and vulnerable communities: Larkin Street Youth Services, Abode Services and Sunnyvale Community Services (SCS). 

A Housing First approach

Going back to 2009, Google.org has given more than $24 million in grants to nonprofits that provide homeless services. During this time we've learned that the best way to help the homeless community is with a “Housing First” approach.

Historically, in order to access housing, people have been required to meet a certain criteria, including participating in programs like job training or drug rehab, before they were able to qualify for housing. This can be difficult for an individual living on the street, which can mean that they forgo programs that could help them. With a Housing First approach, people are provided with a stable place to live first—whether it’s emergency, short-term and long-term housing. Then, they receive other support such as mental health care, drug rehab, food assistance, or job training programs. Hamilton Families, a Google.org grantee that uses this support model, has seen 87 percent of program participants stay housed once their program support ends.

Two of today’s grantees, Larkin Street and Abode Services, have had particular success with this approach. This has been especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic, given the added risk of contracting the virus among people who are on the streets or in homelessness encampments. For example, Larkin Street and their partners secured a hotel in San Francisco to house homeless youth who have been deprioritized from housing waitlists.  

With Google’s broader commitment to increasing the stock of affordable housing in the Bay Area, and more funding for nonprofits who follow the Housing First model, we’re hopeful we can be part of the solution. 

Creating more inclusive classrooms

Education is a critical element of our ongoing commitments to racial equity. Classrooms offer a space to imagine and encourage a more equitable and just future. This is not new work, but following the heinous deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and many other Black members of our communities, there’s an even greater sense of urgency to make progress toward creating this future together. 

Building on last year’s $5 million Google.org grant to help DonorsChoose launch #ISeeMe—an effort to lift up the diverse identities of teachers and students in their classrooms—we’re now providing an additional $1 million to support Black and Latinx teachers, as well as any teacher seeking materials to make their classrooms more inclusive.

inclusivereads.png

Curated list of teacher-facing materials and evaluation criteria from The Conscious Kid

As teachers across the country aspire to build more inclusive classrooms, books are practical and effective tools to affirm diverse student identities. That’s why we’ve also teamed up with experts at The Conscious Kid to curate a list of teacher-facing reading materials as well as evaluation criteria to consider when bringing new resources into the classroom. Suggested by grade level, these resources are intended to help facilitate important conversations about racism, equity and belonging. The Conscious Kid’s selections are informed by intersectional race-centered approaches including Critical Race Theory and Critical Race Media Literacy, which examine representation in the content, as well as the power dynamics behind the ownership, production and creation of it.

But we also know that books alone are not enough. When I taught Pre-K, most of my students couldn’t see themselves in me. As a white woman teaching students of color, I couldn’t reflect their identities or lived experiences. And this same dynamic plays out in classrooms across the country. In fact, while a majority of America’s public school students are students of color, fewer than 20 percent of our nation’s teachers are teachers of color. But it’s vital for students to have educators who look like them: research shows that Black students are 33 percent less likely to drop out if they have just one Black teacher between third and fifth grade. And while seeing themselves in their teachers is especially significant for Black and Latinx students, all students benefit from having even one teacher of color. 

The crucial tasks of growing the number of Black and Latinx educators and retaining them in the classroom will require many interventions including elevating their voices, shifting school culture, and increasing access to resources and peer communities. Part of our grant to DonorsChoose will fund research led by Ed Trust which aims to inform concrete actions we can all take across these areas, after first listening to and learning from the experiences of Black and Latinx teachers. 

To create change and ensure education lives up to its promise, it will take many organizations working together. We’re grateful for the work of DonorsChoose, The Conscious Kid, and Ed Trust and view this as a step in our ongoing journey toward cultivating more diverse and inclusive classrooms.

Creating more inclusive classrooms

Education is a critical element of our ongoing commitments to racial equity. Classrooms offer a space to imagine and encourage a more equitable and just future. This is not new work, but following the heinous deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and many other Black members of our communities, there’s an even greater sense of urgency to make progress toward creating this future together. 

Building on last year’s $5 million Google.org grant to help DonorsChoose launch #ISeeMe—an effort to lift up the diverse identities of teachers and students in their classrooms—we’re now providing an additional $1 million to support Black and Latinx teachers, as well as any teacher seeking materials to make their classrooms more inclusive.

inclusivereads.png

Curated list of teacher-facing materials and evaluation criteria from The Conscious Kid

As teachers across the country aspire to build more inclusive classrooms, books are practical and effective tools to affirm diverse student identities. That’s why we’ve also teamed up with experts at The Conscious Kid to curate a list of teacher-facing reading materials as well as evaluation criteria to consider when bringing new resources into the classroom. Suggested by grade level, these resources are intended to help facilitate important conversations about racism, equity and belonging. The Conscious Kid’s selections are informed by intersectional race-centered approaches including Critical Race Theory and Critical Race Media Literacy, which examine representation in the content, as well as the power dynamics behind the ownership, production and creation of it.

But we also know that books alone are not enough. When I taught Pre-K, most of my students couldn’t see themselves in me. As a white woman teaching students of color, I couldn’t reflect their identities or lived experiences. And this same dynamic plays out in classrooms across the country. In fact, while a majority of America’s public school students are students of color, fewer than 20 percent of our nation’s teachers are teachers of color. But it’s vital for students to have educators who look like them: research shows that Black students are 33 percent less likely to drop out if they have just one Black teacher between third and fifth grade. And while seeing themselves in their teachers is especially significant for Black and Latinx students, all students benefit from having even one teacher of color. 

The crucial tasks of growing the number of Black and Latinx educators and retaining them in the classroom will require many interventions including elevating their voices, shifting school culture, and increasing access to resources and peer communities. Part of our grant to DonorsChoose will fund research led by Ed Trust which aims to inform concrete actions we can all take across these areas, after first listening to and learning from the experiences of Black and Latinx teachers. 

To create change and ensure education lives up to its promise, it will take many organizations working together. We’re grateful for the work of DonorsChoose, The Conscious Kid, and Ed Trust and view this as a step in our ongoing journey toward cultivating more diverse and inclusive classrooms.

Creating more inclusive classrooms

Education is a critical element of our ongoing commitments to racial equity. Classrooms offer a space to imagine and encourage a more equitable and just future. This is not new work, but following the heinous deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and many other Black members of our communities, there’s an even greater sense of urgency to make progress toward creating this future together. 

Building on last year’s $5 million Google.org grant to help DonorsChoose launch #ISeeMe—an effort to lift up the diverse identities of teachers and students in their classrooms—we’re now providing an additional $1 million to support Black and Latinx teachers, as well as any teacher seeking materials to make their classrooms more inclusive.

inclusivereads.png

Curated list of teacher-facing materials and evaluation criteria from The Conscious Kid

As teachers across the country aspire to build more inclusive classrooms, books are practical and effective tools to affirm diverse student identities. That’s why we’ve also teamed up with experts at The Conscious Kid to curate a list of teacher-facing reading materials as well as evaluation criteria to consider when bringing new resources into the classroom. Suggested by grade level, these resources are intended to help facilitate important conversations about racism, equity and belonging. The Conscious Kid’s selections are informed by intersectional race-centered approaches including Critical Race Theory and Critical Race Media Literacy, which examine representation in the content, as well as the power dynamics behind the ownership, production and creation of it.

But we also know that books alone are not enough. When I taught Pre-K, most of my students couldn’t see themselves in me. As a white woman teaching students of color, I couldn’t reflect their identities or lived experiences. And this same dynamic plays out in classrooms across the country. In fact, while a majority of America’s public school students are students of color, fewer than 20 percent of our nation’s teachers are teachers of color. But it’s vital for students to have educators who look like them: research shows that Black students are 33 percent less likely to drop out if they have just one Black teacher between third and fifth grade. And while seeing themselves in their teachers is especially significant for Black and Latinx students, all students benefit from having even one teacher of color. 

The crucial tasks of growing the number of Black and Latinx educators and retaining them in the classroom will require many interventions including elevating their voices, shifting school culture, and increasing access to resources and peer communities. Part of our grant to DonorsChoose will fund research led by Ed Trust which aims to inform concrete actions we can all take across these areas, after first listening to and learning from the experiences of Black and Latinx teachers. 

To create change and ensure education lives up to its promise, it will take many organizations working together. We’re grateful for the work of DonorsChoose, The Conscious Kid, and Ed Trust and view this as a step in our ongoing journey toward cultivating more diverse and inclusive classrooms.

A Google.org grant to help Southeast Asia’s businesses

Noraeri, the breadwinner of her family, runs Chu Su Mo: a shop selling traditional clothes to her local community in the Baan Huay e-Khang village of Chiangmai, Thailand. For years, trade has been steady but now, with coronavirus restrictions in place, she’s having to find new ways to run her business—experimenting with online advertising to reach more customers.


Chu So Mo is one of the 64 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Southeast Asia that have been affected by the pandemic. Not only are these businesses integral to their communities--providing vital services and supporting jobs in the local economy—they’re also critical to the region’s economic growth. We want to help them get the right digital knowledge so they, like Noraeri, can adapt and ultimately rebuild.  


Through a $3.3 million grant from Google.org, we’re providing funding to help The Asia Foundation support its nonprofit partners as they extend digital skills training to 200,000 people in Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The grant will fund training in marginalized communities, including programs for women, underemployed young people, and those with disabilities.


With the backing of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ Coordinating Committee on MSMEs (ACCMSME)---and in partnership with organizations like Thai Fund Foundation in Thailand and Pusat Pengembagan Sumberdaya Wanita in Indonesia—The Asia Foundation’s programs will give business owners and workers in all 10 ASEAN countries the skills and tools they need for the internet economy. The programs will also provide specific guidance on how to withstand and recover from the economic impact of COVID-19—for example, by helping businesses understand the delivery options available in their area so they can ship their products to their customers no matter where they are.  


This new Google.org grant builds on our 2018 commitment to train three million SME workers across Southeast Asia.  It’s also part of our global efforts to support small businesses and others affected by COVID-19. In Southeast Asia in particular, the importance of digital skillscontinues to grow as millions of people gain access to the internet each year and traditional businesses move online. With the support of ACCMSME, The Asia Foundation and its partners, we hope more MSMEs will be able to succeed, grow, and create opportunity for their local economies and communities.


A Google.org grant to help Southeast Asia’s businesses

Noraeri, the breadwinner of her family, runs Chu Su Mo: a shop selling traditional clothes to her local community in the Baan Huay e-Khang village of Chiangmai, Thailand. For years, trade has been steady but now, with coronavirus restrictions in place, she’s having to find new ways to run her business—experimenting with online advertising to reach more customers.


Chu So Mo is one of the 64 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Southeast Asia that have been affected by the pandemic. Not only are these businesses integral to their communities--providing vital services and supporting jobs in the local economy—they’re also critical to the region’s economic growth. We want to help them get the right digital knowledge so they, like Noraeri, can adapt and ultimately rebuild.  


Through a $3.3 million grant from Google.org, we’re providing funding to help The Asia Foundation support its nonprofit partners as they extend digital skills training to 200,000 people in Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The grant will fund training in marginalized communities, including programs for women, underemployed young people, and those with disabilities.


With the backing of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ Coordinating Committee on MSMEs (ACCMSME)---and in partnership with organizations like Thai Fund Foundation in Thailand and Pusat Pengembagan Sumberdaya Wanita in Indonesia—The Asia Foundation’s programs will give business owners and workers in all 10 ASEAN countries the skills and tools they need for the internet economy. The programs will also provide specific guidance on how to withstand and recover from the economic impact of COVID-19—for example, by helping businesses understand the delivery options available in their area so they can ship their products to their customers no matter where they are.  


This new Google.org grant builds on our 2018 commitment to train three million SME workers across Southeast Asia.  It’s also part of our global efforts to support small businesses and others affected by COVID-19. In Southeast Asia in particular, the importance of digital skillscontinues to grow as millions of people gain access to the internet each year and traditional businesses move online. With the support of ACCMSME, The Asia Foundation and its partners, we hope more MSMEs will be able to succeed, grow, and create opportunity for their local economies and communities.


Supporting refugees and displaced people on World Refugee Day

More than 79 million were displaced at the end of last year as a result of persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations—29 million of which were refugees. 

Since 2015, we’ve given more than $30 million in Google.org grants to help provide emergency support and access to vital information and educational resources to more than one million refugees. Today, on World Refugee Day, we’re renewing our commitment to work together with nonprofits and find more long-term solutions. We’re supporting the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) with $550,000 Google.org and YouTube grants to provide refugees with necessary materials to endure the pandemic, digital skills training series and updates to Google Search in affected countries so people have access to reliable information at all times. 

The global pandemic knows no borders and is affecting everyone—including refugees. Already, YouTube has donated $250,000 to UNHCR to help provide life-saving support, including water, medical care and hygiene materials to refugees and the communities who host them in affected countries.

Equipping refugees with digital skills for future opportunities

Refugees and internally displaced people around the world are facing job losses due to the pandemic’s restrictions. According to UNHCR, 47 percent of the refugee population in 2019 was between the ages 18 and 59 , and the unemployment rate in this demographic is expected to rise.

We’re announcing a $300,000 Google.org grant to help UNHCR further prepare refugees for the changing nature of work. The organization will host online training to help refugees and host community members in the MENA region including Algeria and Morocco learn digital skills throughout a course of a year.

Surfacing reliable information to refugees on Google Search

Often refugees struggle to access timely, trusted and accurate information on the web. Using Google Trends and UNHCR’s internal insights, we’ve identified the most common refugee related questions. Then we helped UNHCR navigate our developer platform to provide refugees with authoritative answers clearly displayed on Google Search to questions like “What happens during the Refugee Status Determination interview?” and “How to qualify for cash assistance?”

Google-EN.gif

 The new feature presents structured answers to refugee-related questions on Search.

AR Demo.gif

An example of a search query in Arabic with authoritative answers from UNHCR.

These results are already available in Arabic, English, Turkish and Farsi, to help refugees who are staying in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. These countries represent the highest number of refugees per capita in the world.   

The number of people forcibly displaced remains at a record high, and the effects of the crisis will go on for years. Nonprofits working alongside these affected communities need our help, and we’ll continue to support them through immediate relief and long-term recovery. 

For World Refugee Day 2020, we celebrate the refugees fighting on the frontlines of this pandemic, alongside their hosts and the aid workers supporting them.

Source: Search


Supporting refugees and displaced people on World Refugee Day

More than 79 million were displaced at the end of last year as a result of persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations—29 million of which were refugees. 

Since 2015, we’ve given more than $30 million in Google.org grants to help provide emergency support and access to vital information and educational resources to more than one million refugees. Today, on World Refugee Day, we’re renewing our commitment to work together with nonprofits and find more long-term solutions. We’re supporting the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) with $550,000 Google.org and YouTube grants to provide refugees with necessary materials to endure the pandemic, digital skills training series and updates to Google Search in affected countries so people have access to reliable information at all times. 

The global pandemic knows no borders and is affecting everyone—including refugees. Already, YouTube has donated $250,000 to UNHCR to help provide life-saving support, including water, medical care and hygiene materials to refugees and the communities who host them in affected countries.

Equipping refugees with digital skills for future opportunities

Refugees and internally displaced people around the world are facing job losses due to the pandemic’s restrictions. According to UNHCR, 47 percent of the refugee population in 2019 was between the ages 18 and 59 , and the unemployment rate in this demographic is expected to rise.

We’re announcing a $300,000 Google.org grant to help UNHCR further prepare refugees for the changing nature of work. The organization will host online training to help refugees and host community members in the MENA region including Algeria and Morocco learn digital skills throughout a course of a year.

Surfacing reliable information to refugees on Google Search

Often refugees struggle to access timely, trusted and accurate information on the web. Using Google Trends and UNHCR’s internal insights, we’ve identified the most common refugee related questions. Then we helped UNHCR navigate our developer platform to provide refugees with authoritative answers clearly displayed on Google Search to questions like “What happens during the Refugee Status Determination interview?” and “How to qualify for cash assistance?”

Google-EN.gif

 The new feature presents structured answers to refugee-related questions on Search.

AR Demo.gif

An example of a search query in Arabic with authoritative answers from UNHCR.

These results are already available in Arabic, English, Turkish and Farsi, to help refugees who are staying in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. These countries represent the highest number of refugees per capita in the world.   

The number of people forcibly displaced remains at a record high, and the effects of the crisis will go on for years. Nonprofits working alongside these affected communities need our help, and we’ll continue to support them through immediate relief and long-term recovery. 

For World Refugee Day 2020, we celebrate the refugees fighting on the frontlines of this pandemic, alongside their hosts and the aid workers supporting them.

Supporting refugees and displaced people on World Refugee Day

More than 79 million were displaced at the end of last year as a result of persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations—29 million of which were refugees. 

Since 2015, we’ve given more than $30 million in Google.org grants to help provide emergency support and access to vital information and educational resources to more than one million refugees. Today, on World Refugee Day, we’re renewing our commitment to work together with nonprofits and find more long-term solutions. We’re supporting the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) with $550,000 Google.org and YouTube grants to provide refugees with necessary materials to endure the pandemic, digital skills training series and updates to Google Search in affected countries so people have access to reliable information at all times. 

The global pandemic knows no borders and is affecting everyone—including refugees. Already, YouTube has donated $250,000 to UNHCR to help provide life-saving support, including water, medical care and hygiene materials to refugees and the communities who host them in affected countries.

Equipping refugees with digital skills for future opportunities

Refugees and internally displaced people around the world are facing job losses due to the pandemic’s restrictions. According to UNHCR, 47 percent of the refugee population in 2019 was between the ages 18 and 59 , and the unemployment rate in this demographic is expected to rise.

We’re announcing a $300,000 Google.org grant to help UNHCR further prepare refugees for the changing nature of work. The organization will host online training to help refugees and host community members in the MENA region including Algeria and Morocco learn digital skills throughout a course of a year.

Surfacing reliable information to refugees on Google Search

Often refugees struggle to access timely, trusted and accurate information on the web. Using Google Trends and UNHCR’s internal insights, we’ve identified the most common refugee related questions. Then we helped UNHCR navigate our developer platform to provide refugees with authoritative answers clearly displayed on Google Search to questions like “What happens during the Refugee Status Determination interview?” and “How to qualify for cash assistance?”

Google-EN.gif

 The new feature presents structured answers to refugee-related questions on Search.

AR Demo.gif

An example of a search query in Arabic with authoritative answers from UNHCR.

These results are already available in Arabic, English, Turkish and Farsi, to help refugees who are staying in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. These countries represent the highest number of refugees per capita in the world.   

The number of people forcibly displaced remains at a record high, and the effects of the crisis will go on for years. Nonprofits working alongside these affected communities need our help, and we’ll continue to support them through immediate relief and long-term recovery. 

For World Refugee Day 2020, we celebrate the refugees fighting on the frontlines of this pandemic, alongside their hosts and the aid workers supporting them.

Source: Search


Helping small businesses get access to capital

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been actively working on ways to support communities and small businesses in the United States and around the world. In March, we announced the $125 million Grow with Google Small Business Fund as one way to offer support. Through a partnership with Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), the fund provides low-interest loans to community development financial institutions (CDFI), who in turn provide loans to small businesses in underserved communities in the U.S. Google.org also made a $5 million grant to OFN to further support CDFIs as they grow their capital and build their capacity during this time of crisis. 

Earlier today, as part of our effort to support the Black community, our CEO Sundar Pichai announced that we are expanding the program by adding $45 million in loans to the fund and $5 million in Google.org grants to OFN, with a specific focus on Black communities. This brings Google’s total support for CDFIs and the small businesses they serve to $170 million in loans and $10 million in Google.org grants.

Today we’re announcing the first five CDFIs, which will receive a total of $15.5 million in financing from OFN. They will provide loans to small businesses to help them make rent, pay their employees and continue to serve their customers. This financing will enable OFN’s member CDFIs to improve access to capital for some of the most underserved small businesses: those owned by women and minorities. In addition, six CDFIs will each receive a $125,000 from OFN, made from the grant funds provided by Google.org.

Here are the CDFIs which will receive the first round of funding.

  • Grameen America ($5 million loan, $125,000 grant): With 23 branches across 15 cities, Grameen America focuses exclusively on providing loans to U.S. microenterprises owned by low-income women.

  • MoFi ($3 million loan): By providing financing and consulting, MoFi reaches small business owners across Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. 

  • Opportunity Fund($5 million loan, $125,000 grant): Based in California, Opportunity Fund provides loans to small businesses throughout the U.S., focusing on minority-, women- and immigrant-owned businesses.

  • PeopleFund ($1.5 million loan, $125,000 grant): Operating across Texas, PeopleFund provides small-business loans, as well as business assistance and education, to people with otherwise limited access to such resources. 

  • Citizens Potawatomi Community Development Corporation (CPCDC)($1 million loan, $125,000 grant): One of the largest Native-owned CDFIs in the nation, CPCDC provides financial education, access to capital, business development services and community development initiatives to the Citizen Potawatomi National Tribal Community and other underserved Native populations. 

  • Pacific Community Ventures (PCV) ($125,000 grant): Based in California and supporting small businesses throughout the U.S., PCV’s integrated model provides diverse small businesses with affordable capital, free mentoring, impact evaluation and research.

  • Washington Area Community Investment Fund (Wacif) ($125,000 grant): Wacif increases equity and economic opportunity in underserved communities by investing in low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs with a focus on minority- and women-owned businesses in financially underserved communities east of the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. and in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

Although most CDFIs are not household names, they play a vital role for small businesses throughout the U.S., many of whom are overlooked by traditional lenders. According to OFN’s 2018 Member Survey, their over 300 member CDFIs serve 58 percent people of color, 85 percent people with low incomes, 26 percent people who live in rural areas, and 48 percent women. 

Since announcing the Grow with Google Small Business Fund, we’ve worked hand-in-hand with OFN to create a holistic program that includes low-interest loans, funding for cash grants, Ad Grants and digital skills training through Grow with Google, our economic opportunity initiative. Over the next year, Google and OFN will continue to work together to underwrite and fund loans to additional CDFIs, which will then lend to thousands of small businesses. Through this partnership and program, we hope we can do our part to make sure small businesses remain the heart of the U.S. economy.