Tag Archives: google.org

Continuing to support hurricane relief efforts

Hurricane Irma has impacted communities throughout the Caribbean and the southeastern United States. Hitting the Caribbean islands the hardest, Irma has left millions of people to rebuild in its wake.

Today, we’re kicking off a matching campaign to support relief and recovery efforts for this deadly storm, part of our overall $5 million hurricane relief effort this month.

Google.org will be matching up to $1 million in donations at https://www.google.org/irma-relief to support the Catholic Relief Service (CRS), UNICEF, and the American Red Cross (ARC).
Irma matching

Each of these organizations is providing critical relief and recovery resources to those in the affected regions:

  • Catholic Relief Services is responding to the most remote places across the Caribbean, fulfilling essential needs such as food, water and shelter.
  • UNICEF is on the ground supporting more than 2.8 million children, and their families, impacted across the Caribbean with emergency supplies and temporary education solutions.
  • American Red Cross is the leading nonprofit responder in the Southeastern United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, working diligently to shelter, feed and support families impacted by the storm. 
In the last two weeks, our total donations include $3 million donated directly by Google.org, as well as $2 million raised so far from Google employees and public donations, for relief efforts in the areas affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Crisis Response and SOS Alerts

Ensuring people have access to timely, official information in a time of crisis is crucial. To help, ahead of the storm, our Crisis Response team launched an SOS Alert in Search for the Caribbean, Florida and Georgia in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole. Now, as people across the region return to their homes and search for information about Hurricane Irma, or related searches, they’ll see:

  • Information on power outages
  • Emergency information contacts
  • Crisis maps in both English and Spanish, providing people with the local news, road closures, tweets, latest traffic and transit information, gas stations with crowdsourced fuel status, and post-Irma satellite and aerial imagery from partners NOAA and Digital Globe (e.g., Key West).
irma response - steph

We hope these features will help people stay safe and informed—and we’ll continue to update with relevant resources in the coming days.

Continuing to support hurricane relief efforts

Update: In less than 24 hours, together we raised $2 million for Hurricane Irma relief and recovery. Thanks to your donations, we have met our goal. However, the crisis isn’t over. Your contributions can still provide critical relief to those in need. Although Google is no longer matching donations, please consider giving directly to these organizations. 

Hurricane Irma has impacted communities throughout the Caribbean and the southeastern United States. Hitting the Caribbean islands the hardest, Irma has left millions of people to rebuild in its wake.

Today, we’re kicking off a matching campaign to support relief and recovery efforts for this deadly storm, part of our overall $5 million hurricane relief effort this month.

Google.org will be matching up to $1 million in donations at https://www.google.org/irma-relief to support the Catholic Relief Service (CRS), UNICEF, and the American Red Cross (ARC).
Irma matching

Each of these organizations is providing critical relief and recovery resources to those in the affected regions:

  • Catholic Relief Services is responding to the most remote places across the Caribbean, fulfilling essential needs such as food, water and shelter.
  • UNICEF is on the ground supporting more than 2.8 million children, and their families, impacted across the Caribbean with emergency supplies and temporary education solutions.
  • American Red Cross is the leading nonprofit responder in the Southeastern United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, working diligently to shelter, feed and support families impacted by the storm. 
In the last two weeks, our total donations include $3 million donated directly by Google.org, as well as $2 million raised so far from Google employees and public donations, for relief efforts in the areas affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Crisis Response and SOS Alerts

Ensuring people have access to timely, official information in a time of crisis is crucial. To help, ahead of the storm, our Crisis Response team launched an SOS Alert in Search for the Caribbean, Florida and Georgia in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole. Now, as people across the region return to their homes and search for information about Hurricane Irma, or related searches, they’ll see:

  • Information on power outages
  • Emergency information contacts
  • Crisis maps in both English and Spanish, providing people with the local news, road closures, tweets, latest traffic and transit information, gas stations with crowdsourced fuel status, and post-Irma satellite and aerial imagery from partners NOAA and Digital Globe (e.g., Key West).
irma response - steph

We hope these features will help people stay safe and informed—and we’ll continue to update with relevant resources in the coming days.

Celebrating International Literacy Day

UNESCO’s International Literacy Day is a moment to celebrate the magic of reading, and to find solutions that can help the more than 250 million children around the world who lack basic literacy skills. Many of these children are at risk of falling even further behind due to a lack of sufficient reading materials or access to environments that promote learning. For example, in the U.S., each year 43.2 books are published for every 100,000 people, while in India, a country with 22 official languages, that number is only 6.3.

Earlier this year, Google.org announced a $50 million commitment to support organizations that are using technology to increase literacy and close the global education gap. As part of this effort, Pratham Books received a grant to accelerate development of their StoryWeaver platform, which allows anyone to read, write and translate digital stories for free. These translations, as well as the original stories, are openly licensed, meaning they’re available for free for anyone to download, remix and distribute for use in the classroom and beyond.

Today marks StoryWeaver’s second birthday. When the platform launched in 2015 it featured 800 stories in 24 languages. Since receiving a grant from Google.org, StoryWeaver has grown dramatically to now have 4,600 stories in more than 90 languages and a global readership of 2 million. StoryWeaver also recently won the 2017 Library of Congress Literacy Award.

To celebrate International Literacy Day, during the month of September we’re mobilizing Googlers from Dublin to Singapore to Mountain View to volunteer to translate stories for young readers. Googlers speak more than 70 languages, so we’re hosting hour-long volunteer events (“translate-a-thons”) in our global offices, where Googlers can come together to translate books.

Googler participating in a StoryWeaver Translate-a-thon
Googler Mahmoud Ramadan participates in a StoryWeaver Translate-a-thon

Earlier this week, Googlers in our Dublin office—itself home to 65+ languages—kicked off our very first translate-a-thon. Xime Daud decided to translate “Gul in Space," a story about a young girl traveling to the International Space Station, from English into Spanish. Halfway across the world, a Singapore-based Googler, Marv Echipare, also translated “Gul in Space,” this time into Tagalog. Afterward, he said: “In the Philippines, there is a dichotomy between those who are well off and have access to books, and those on the other side, where you see small rural villages that hardly have access to anything. If technology can bring learning material like these books to them, that’d be great, and the first step is putting it in a language they understand.”

Have 20 minutes to spare? Consider authoring, translating, illustrating or reading a story on StoryWeaver!

Celebrating International Literacy Day

UNESCO’s International Literacy Day is a moment to celebrate the magic of reading, and to find solutions that can help the more than 250 million children around the world who lack basic literacy skills. Many of these children are at risk of falling even further behind due to a lack of sufficient reading materials or access to environments that promote learning. For example, in the U.S., each year 43.2 books are published for every 100,000 people, while in India, a country with 22 official languages, that number is only 6.3.

Earlier this year, Google.org announced a $50 million commitment to support organizations that are using technology to increase literacy and close the global education gap. As part of this effort, Pratham Books received a grant to accelerate development of their StoryWeaver platform, which allows anyone to read, write and translate digital stories for free. These translations, as well as the original stories, are openly licensed, meaning they’re available for free for anyone to download, remix and distribute for use in the classroom and beyond.

Today marks StoryWeaver’s second birthday. When the platform launched in 2015 it featured 800 stories in 24 languages. Since receiving a grant from Google.org, StoryWeaver has grown dramatically to now have 4,600 stories in more than 90 languages and a global readership of 2 million. StoryWeaver also recently won the 2017 Library of Congress Literacy Award.

To celebrate International Literacy Day, during the month of September we’re mobilizing Googlers from Dublin to Singapore to Mountain View to volunteer to translate stories for young readers. Googlers speak more than 70 languages, so we’re hosting hour-long volunteer events (“translate-a-thons”) in our global offices, where Googlers can come together to translate books.

Googler participating in a StoryWeaver Translate-a-thon
Googler Mahmoud Ramadan participates in a StoryWeaver Translate-a-thon

Earlier this week, Googlers in our Dublin office—itself home to 65+ languages—kicked off our very first translate-a-thon. Xime Daud decided to translate “Gul in Space," a story about a young girl traveling to the International Space Station, from English into Spanish. Halfway across the world, a Singapore-based Googler, Marv Echipare, also translated “Gul in Space,” this time into Tagalog. Afterward, he said: “In the Philippines, there is a dichotomy between those who are well off and have access to books, and those on the other side, where you see small rural villages that hardly have access to anything. If technology can bring learning material like these books to them, that’d be great, and the first step is putting it in a language they understand.”

Have 20 minutes to spare? Consider authoring, translating, illustrating or reading a story on StoryWeaver!

Celebrating International Literacy Day

UNESCO’s International Literacy Day is a moment to celebrate the magic of reading, and to find solutions that can help the more than 250 million children around the world who lack basic literacy skills. Many of these children are at risk of falling even further behind due to a lack of sufficient reading materials or access to environments that promote learning. For example, in the U.S., each year 43.2 books are published for every 100,000 people, while in India, a country with 22 official languages, that number is only 6.3.

Earlier this year, Google.org announced a $50 million commitment to support organizations that are using technology to increase literacy and close the global education gap. As part of this effort, Pratham Books received a grant to accelerate development of their StoryWeaver platform, which allows anyone to read, write and translate digital stories for free. These translations, as well as the original stories, are openly licensed, meaning they’re available for free for anyone to download, remix and distribute for use in the classroom and beyond.

Today marks StoryWeaver’s second birthday. When the platform launched in 2015 it featured 800 stories in 24 languages. Since receiving a grant from Google.org, StoryWeaver has grown dramatically to now have 4,600 stories in more than 90 languages and a global readership of 2 million. StoryWeaver also recently won the 2017 Library of Congress Literacy Award.

To celebrate International Literacy Day, during the month of September we’re mobilizing Googlers from Dublin to Singapore to Mountain View to volunteer to translate stories for young readers. Googlers speak more than 70 languages, so we’re hosting hour-long volunteer events (“translate-a-thons”) in our global offices, where Googlers can come together to translate books.

Googler participating in a StoryWeaver Translate-a-thon
Googler Mahmoud Ramadan participates in a StoryWeaver Translate-a-thon

Earlier this week, Googlers in our Dublin office—itself home to 65+ languages—kicked off our very first translate-a-thon. Xime Daud decided to translate “Gul in Space," a story about a young girl traveling to the International Space Station, from English into Spanish. Halfway across the world, a Singapore-based Googler, Marv Echipare, also translated “Gul in Space,” this time into Tagalog. Afterward, he said: “In the Philippines, there is a dichotomy between those who are well off and have access to books, and those on the other side, where you see small rural villages that hardly have access to anything. If technology can bring learning material like these books to them, that’d be great, and the first step is putting it in a language they understand.”

Have 20 minutes to spare? Consider authoring, translating, illustrating or reading a story on StoryWeaver!

Source: Education


Supporting flood relief efforts in South Asia

This summer, millions of people have been affected by severe flooding and landslides across Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. At least 1,200 people are known to have died, and tens of thousands of houses, schools, and hospitals have been destroyed, leaving people in urgent need of support during and after flood waters recede.
Today, we are committing $1 million from Google.org and Google employees to Goonj and Save the Children for their relief efforts in India and across South Asia.


Support for Save the Children and Goonj
Save the Children (SC) is responding to the floods in all three countries, with the aim of reaching a total of 160,000 people. Their efforts include providing food and livelihood support, temporary shelter materials for those most in need, hygiene items, and water source restoration. Children are often the most vulnerable in crises like these, and SC is also focused on setting up child-friendly spaces where children can gain access to educational materials and playtime, in a safe space away from the devastation.
Local NGO, Goonj, aims to reach 75,000 families across 9 affected states throughout rural India. Their relief efforts include providing families with basic needs kits that include food, mats, blankets, and hygiene items. In the long term, they aim to help rebuild and revive community structures like roads, bridges, and schools.
Save the Children - India Floods

SOS Alerts for South Asia Floods
Google’s Crisis Response team activated SOS Alerts for the flooding in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. These alerts include the latest news about the floods, an approximate map of the affected area, and local updates from Twitter and other resources.
These alerts are available on Search and Google Maps on mobile and desktop. The Crisis Response team will continue to monitor the floods throughout South Asia and provide additional information and alerts as the situation demands.
SOS Alerts - South Asia Flooding
Our thoughts are with the people of the region.


Posted by Rajan Anandan, Vice President, South East Asia and India

Supporting flood relief efforts in South Asia

This summer, millions of people have been affected by severe flooding and landslides across Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. At least 1,200 people are known to have died, and tens of thousands of houses, schools, and hospitals have been destroyed, leaving people in urgent need of support during and after flood waters recede.

Today, we are committing $1 million from Google.org and Google employees to Goonj and Save the Children for their relief efforts in India and across South Asia.

Support for Save the Children and Goonj

Save the Children (SC) is responding to the floods in all three countries, with the aim of reaching a total of 160,000 people. Their efforts include providing food and livelihood support, temporary shelter materials for those most in need, hygiene items, and water source restoration. Children are often the most vulnerable in crises like these, and SC is also focused on setting up child-friendly spaces where children can gain access to educational materials and playtime, in a safe space away from the devastation.

Local NGO, Goonj, aims to reach 75,000 families across 9 affected states throughout rural India. Their relief efforts include providing families with basic needs kits that include food, mats, blankets, and hygiene items. In the long term, they aim to help rebuild and revive community structures like roads, bridges, and schools.

Save the Children - India Floods

SOS Alerts for South Asia Floods

Google’s Crisis Response team activated SOS Alerts for the flooding in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. These alerts include the latest news about the floods, an approximate map of the affected area, and local updates from Twitter and other resources.

These alerts are available on Search and Google Maps on mobile and desktop. The Crisis Response team will continue to monitor the floods throughout South Asia and provide additional information and alerts as the situation demands.

SOS Alerts - South Asia Flooding

Our thoughts are with the people of the region.

Together we can do more to support those affected by Hurricane Harvey

The rain and destruction from Hurricane Harvey continue to affect people throughout Texas and the Gulf Coast, and with floodwaters continuing to rise, immediate action is needed. I’ve called Texas home since 1989, and I’m heartened to see how people are coming together to support each other during this crisis. Neighbors are rescuing one another, and people are bringing their boats and resources to save lives. I’m proud to work for a company that brings the best of its products, people, and philanthropy in times of need.

On Sunday, we shared our efforts to give funds to organizations helping those affected, and provide resources through SOS Alerts and products. So far, we’ve committed $750K through Google.org and employee giving, and in total we are committing $2M from Google to relief efforts. Today, we’re expanding that support, and with your help, we can increase the impact. We’ve also continued to update our SOS Alerts and Crisis Map to make sure people in the affected areas are getting the most up-to-date information, directly from trusted sources.

$1M Matching Campaign for the American Red Cross

We’re kicking off a matching campaign at https://www.google.org/harvey-relief to support the American Red Cross (ARC), and Google.org will match your donations up to $1,000,000. ARC is the leading nonprofit responder in the flood regions, and has been working tirelessly on the ground to open shelters and distribute supplies to people in Texas and across the Gulf coast.

Harvey Matching Campaign
You can donate here: https://www.google.org/harvey-relief/

Google Trends have also shown us that people around the country want to support the relief effort, with top “How-to” questions including, “How to help Houston flood victims,” and “How to volunteer to help with Harvey.”

With more than 450 Google employees based in Texas, we’re also committed to supporting Texas’s road to recovery with our volunteers. We’re working with local nonprofits to identify needs in the area and find ways our employees can be most helpful. We are exploring ways to support efforts of TEGNA—the state’s largest television station owner—with up to $500K in funds for the “Texas Cares” fundraising effort underway for Hurricane Harvey relief.

SOS Alerts and Google Public Alerts

Since Harvey made initial landfall, the Google Crisis Response team has been working to ensure people affected by the storm have access to timely, official information about the event. In addition to the previously launched SOS alert for Texas, now people have access to an SOS Alert for Houston, which includes Coast Guard rescue information and ready.gov safety tips for the flooding, along with local news, tweets, and other safety-oriented information. Additionally, people in affected areas can see published road closure and shelter information, sourced from users in the affected areas, along with recent aerial imagery of affected areas, as flown by NOAA. This information, in concert with official government alerts for the area being disseminated via Google Public Alerts we hope keeps users safe and informed during this trying crisis.

With the storm making a second landfall, we are actively monitoring the storm and are preparing an alert for the coast of Louisiana.

Google SOS Alerts
Users helping keep shelter information timely and current on our alerts (left) and Ready.gov safety information as published via the Houston SOS Alert (right).

Stay safe out there.

Source: Search


Together we can do more to support those affected by Hurricane Harvey

Update: In less than 24 hours, together we raised $2 million for Hurricane Harvey relief and recovery. Thanks to your donations, we have met our goal. However, the crisis isn’t over. Your contributions can still provide critical relief to those in need. Although Google is no longer matching donations, please consider giving directly to the Red Cross. 

The rain and destruction from Hurricane Harvey continue to affect people throughout Texas and the Gulf Coast, and with floodwaters continuing to rise, immediate action is needed. I’ve called Texas home since 1989, and I’m heartened to see how people are coming together to support each other during this crisis. Neighbors are rescuing one another, and people are bringing their boats and resources to save lives. I’m proud to work for a company that brings the best of its products, people, and philanthropy in times of need.

On Sunday, we shared our efforts to give funds to organizations helping those affected, and provide resources through SOS Alerts and products. So far, we’ve committed $750K through Google.org and employee giving, and in total we are committing $2M from Google to relief efforts. Today, we’re expanding that support, and with your help, we can increase the impact. We’ve also continued to update our SOS Alerts and Crisis Map to make sure people in the affected areas are getting the most up-to-date information, directly from trusted sources.

$1M Matching Campaign for the American Red Cross

We’re kicking off a matching campaign at https://www.google.org/harvey-relief to support the American Red Cross (ARC), and Google.org will match your donations up to $1,000,000. ARC is the leading nonprofit responder in the flood regions, and has been working tirelessly on the ground to open shelters and distribute supplies to people in Texas and across the Gulf coast.

Harvey Matching Campaign
You can donate here: https://www.google.org/harvey-relief/

Google Trends have also shown us that people around the country want to support the relief effort, with top “How-to” questions including, “How to help Houston flood victims,” and “How to volunteer to help with Harvey.”

With more than 450 Google employees based in Texas, we’re also committed to supporting Texas’s road to recovery with our volunteers. We’re working with local nonprofits to identify needs in the area and find ways our employees can be most helpful. We are exploring ways to support efforts of TEGNA—the state’s largest television station owner—with up to $500K in funds for the “Texas Cares” fundraising effort underway for Hurricane Harvey relief.

SOS Alerts and Google Public Alerts

Since Harvey made initial landfall, the Google Crisis Response team has been working to ensure people affected by the storm have access to timely, official information about the event. In addition to the previously launched SOS alert for Texas, now people have access to an SOS Alert for Houston, which includes Coast Guard rescue information and ready.gov safety tips for the flooding, along with local news, tweets, and other safety-oriented information. Additionally, people in affected areas can see published road closure and shelter information, sourced from users in the affected areas, along with recent aerial imagery of affected areas, as flown by NOAA. This information, in concert with official government alerts for the area being disseminated via Google Public Alerts we hope keeps users safe and informed during this trying crisis.

With the storm making a second landfall, we are actively monitoring the storm and are preparing an alert for the coast of Louisiana.

Stay safe out there.

Source: Search


Supporting those affected by Hurricane Harvey

On August 26, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas as a Category 4 storm and Level 7 disaster, the highest American Red Cross disaster designation. It’s the most powerful hurricane to hit the United States in a decade. Initial reports estimate that several hundred thousand people have been temporarily displaced or affected by this storm.

Google stands with those affected, and here are the ways we’re hoping to help through our products and our philanthropy.

SOS Alerts for Hurricane Harvey

We launched an SOS Alert for Hurricane Harvey, offering the following the resources:

  • For people outside the affected area, the SOS Alert features the latest news, a crisis map, tweets, and the ability to make a donation for those affected.
  • For people in affected areas, the SOS Alert features the latest news, a crisis map, tweets from local officials, and help and info content for transit and flooding conditions.

The Harvey Crisis Map launched for this event, and featured within our SOS Alerts, includes the latest active alerts for the affected area, Waze-sourced shelters and road closure information, and weather information.Also, this map is embeddable for media outlets to freely use, with iframe functionality available through the share button on the map.

Google SOS Alert for Hurricane Harvey

$500K from Google.org & Google Employees

To support the organizations working directly with impacted communities, we’re making a $250,000 Google.org grant to the American Red Cross, and matching Googler donations up to $250,000 to the response efforts. Combined, the bulk of these funds will support the American Red Cross, who has been working to provide shelter and basic services for those affected, as well as Save the Children, Habitat for Humanity, and Team Rubicon.

With more than 450 Googlers who call Texas home and thousands of other employees connected to Texas, the impact of Hurricane Harvey on our state is personal to many of us. We have been coordinating closely with the federal government, the Office of the Governor, and local elected officials to support their efforts on the ground. While the needs of the state will be great in the weeks and months to come, we hope that these funds will help provide the necessary resources to the communities affected and further inspire others to donate as well. We will continue to keep the people of Texas in our thoughts.