Google today announced the launch of Grow with Google Career Readiness for Reentry. The initiative – created in partnership with nonprofits The Last Mile, Center for Employment Opportunities (PDG), Defy Ventures, Fortune Society and The Ladies of Hope Ministries – is designed to provide training for employment and digital skills for formerly incarcerated people.

As the company notes today in a blog post, returning citizens have an unemployment rate 5 times higher than the national average – and returning citizens who are black experience it at an even higher rate. high, due to discriminatory practices. In total, some 600,000 Americans attempt to transition from incarceration to employment each year.

Starting this year, the initiative is expected to train 10,000 people with a project-based and video-based learning program. The learning revolves around five points, by Google,

1. Getting started with the basics
2. Job search
3. Employment Readiness,
4. Online security
5. “Next step” task Readiness Skills

“Lack of access to digital skills training and professional coaching puts formerly incarcerated people at a disadvantage when trying to re-enter the workforce and increase their economic potential,” said Malika Saada Saar, YouTube’s global human rights officer, in a news release. “We are delighted to be working alongside program partners who have demonstrated genuine expertise and leadership to support successful reintegration through digital skills training for men and women, mothers and children. fathers, affected by incarceration. ”

The company notes that the program is part of a larger initiative that has enabled it to invest $ 40 million in nonprofit criminal justice reform organizations, as well as $ 60 million for learning the ‘computer science.