Google Launches Grow With Google Initiative in Canada

Grow with Google provides small business owners and job seekers with access to free digital training, workshops and events

TORONTO, Sept. 17, 2018 /CNW/ - Today, Google launched Grow with Google, a new initiative aimed at helping Canadians access the best of Google's training and tools to grow their skills, careers, and businesses. As part of this new initiative, Google announced $2 million in grants from Google.Org to bring digital skills training to individuals across the country. The grant will be used to bring two of Google's leading digital skills training programs to Canada: Applied Digital Skills and the Professional IT Support Certificate.

Google is partnering with Canada Learning Code to provide Canadians with access to the Applied Digital Skills Program, a blended online and in-person curriculum that teaches digital skills through practical problem solving so learners can be competitive in an evolving job market. To make sure those lessons are available to all Canadians, the entire Digital Skills Training Program is offered in both French and English.

The Professional IT Support Certification Program takes beginner learners to job readiness in eight months with no experience required. Developed by Google and hosted on Coursera, the program has over 64 hours of video lessons, hands-on labs and interactive assessments for adults looking to reskill and start a new career in technology. Google has partnered with leading Canadian companies like RBC and Walmart Canada, and of course Google Canada to get graduates information into the hands of HR departments following course completion.

Google is also bringing workshops, in-person training, and one-on-one sessions to communities across Canada, in partnership with local community groups, businesses and leaders. Grow with Google events will cover topics suited to small business owners and entrepreneurs looking to scale their business and individuals interested in  growing their skills.

"Technology is the key to opportunity, which is why we are launching Grow with Google in Canada," said Sabrina Geremia, Country Director, Google Canada. "By making our resources available to everyone online, by bringing hands-on training into communities across the country, and by partnering with organizations like Canada Learning Code who are devoted to expanding access to digital tools and training, we can help Canadians grow their skills, their opportunities, and their futures."

"Digital skills are tools of empowerment," says Melissa Sariffodeen, Chief Executive Officer at Canada Learning Code. "Our vision is a Canada in which all people have the knowledge and confidence to harness the power of technology to achieve economic and personal fulfillment. Our partnership with Grow with Google puts us one step closer to achieving that vision by allowing us to offer new content and scale our existing coding and digital literacy curriculum to more Canadians."

About Grow with Google

Grow with Google is an initiative aimed to help create economic opportunities for Canadians. The Grow with Google initiative draws on Google's 20-year history of building products, platforms, and services that help people and businesses grow. Through this initiative, we aim to help everyone across Canada ? those who make up the workforce of today and those who will drive the workforce of tomorrow ? access the best of Google's training and tools to grow their skills, careers, and businesses. Visit g.co/GrowCanada to learn more and register for our local Grow with Google events.

About Google Canada

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.  As a global technology leader, Google's innovations in web search and advertising have made its website a top internet property and its brand one of the most recognized in the world. Google Canada has offices in Waterloo, Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa with nearly 1,000 Canadian Google employees working on teams across Engineering, AI Research, Sales, Marketing, PR, Policy, and HR.

SOURCE Google Canada