Tag Archives: google.org

Meeting global mental health needs, with technology’s help

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that nearly 1 billion people are living with a mental disorder, worldwide. During the global pandemic, the world saw a 25% increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression. There was even a corresponding spike in searches on Google for mental health resources — which is a trend that continues to climb each year. To help people connect with timely, life-saving information and resources and to empower them to take action on their mental health needs, teams of Googlers are working — inside and outside of the company — to make sure everyone has access to mental health support.

Connecting people to resources on Search and YouTube

Before we can connect people to timely information and resources, we need to understand their intent when they turn to Search. Earlier this year, we shared our goal to automatically and more accurately detect personal crisis searches on Google Search, with the help of AI. This week, we’re rolling out this capability across the globe. This change enables us to better understand if someone is in crisis, then present them with reliable, actionable information. Over the coming months, we’ll work with partners to identify national suicide hotlines and make these resources accessible in dozens more languages.

Beyond the immediate needs related to mental health crises, people want information along their mental health journey no matter what it looks like — including content that can help them connect with others with similar experiences. To better support these needs, YouTube recently launched its Personal Stories feature, which surfaces content from creators who share personal experiences and stories about health topics, including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction, bipolar disease, schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. This feature is currently available in the U.S., with plans to expand it to more regions and to cover more health issues.

Scaling an LGBTQ+ helpline to support teens around the world

Mental health challenges are particularly prevalent in the LGBTQ+ youth community, with 45% of LGBTQ+ youth reporting that they have seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. Since 2019, Google.org has given $2.7 million to support the work of The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and mental health organization for LGBTQ+ young people. With the help of a technical team of Google.org Fellows, The Trevor Project built an AI system that could identify and prioritize high-risk contacts while simultaneously reaching more LGBTQ+ young people in crisis.

Today, we’re granting $2 million to The Trevor Project to help them to scale their digital crisis services to more countries, starting with Mexico. With this funding, they will continue to build and optimize a platform to help them more quickly scale their life-affirming services globally. In addition, we’ll provide volunteer support from Google’s AI experts and $500,000 in donated Search advertising to help connect young people to these valuable resources. The Trevor Project hopes that this project will help them reach more than 40 million LGBTQ+ young people worldwide who seriously consider suicide each year.

Using AI-powered tools to provide mental health support for the veteran community

That’s not the only way The Trevor Project has tapped AI to help support their mission. Last year, with the help of Google.org Fellows, they built a Crisis Contact Simulator that has helped them train thousands of counselors. Thanks to this tool, they can increase the capacity of their highly trained crisis counselors while decreasing the human effort required for training.

Now we’re supporting ReflexAI, an organization focused on building AI-powered public safety and crisis intervention tools, to develop a similar crisis simulation technology for the veteran community. The Department of Veteran Affairs reports that more than 6,000 veterans die by suicide each year. ReflexAI will receive a team of Google.org Fellows working full-time pro bono to help the organization build a training and simulation tool for veterans so they can better support each other and encourage their peers to seek additional support when needed.

Perhaps the most potent element of all, in an effective crisis service system, is relationships. To be human. To be compassionate. We know from experience that immediate access to help, hope and healing saves lives. SAMHSA
(Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Admin.)

When it comes to mental health, the most important path forward is connection. AI and other technologies can provide timely, life-saving resources, but the goal of all these projects is to connect people to people.

Note: Source for SAMSA quote

Adelante: Progress for Latino communities across the U.S.

Ver abajo versión en español

I grew up in Argentina and came to this country 20 years ago. Like many fellow Latinos, I was looking for better opportunities — in pursuit of my American dream — while holding on to and sharing my culture, language and identity. It’s the reason why my daughter's first language was Spanish, and why I still drink mate and enjoy empanadas salteñas whenever I can. I think that’s what Hispanic Heritage Month is all about: honoring our culture, celebrating our contributions and thinking about our future.

This Hispanic Heritage Month, I am proud to share that Google has been hard at work for the past year to open new paths for future generations of Latinos. In 2021, we made a $15 million commitment to economic equity for Latinos. Today, we are providing an update on our work.

Earlier this summer, we announced the first 50 recipients of the Google for Startups Latino Founders Fund at the UNIDOSUS National Conference. Each of the recipients received $100,000 in non-dilutive funding and $100,000 in Google Cloud credits to help their startups grow. The founders are now working hand-in-hand with Googlers, getting deep mentorship from technical and business experts, and building community with fellow founders.

Over the last two years, through Google.org grantees like the Hispanic Federation and Grow with Google partners like the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), we’ve provided digital skills to more than 35,000 Latinos across the U.S. and Puerto Rico for the growing number of jobs that require them. According to the Hispanic Federation, those that received digital skills training through their programs are seeing an average salary increase of $13,000 — that is real, meaningful change. As part of our commitment and ongoing partnership with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, we are hosting the Grow with Google Latino-Owned Business Summit live from their national conference in Phoenix, which will also be live streamed on YouTube.

We are proud of our progress and the impact of our commitments as we continue to execute against them. We are deeply committed to continue this work, engaging, investing and honoring the Latino community during this Hispanic Heritage Month and all year long. Stay tuned for more to come.

Adelante: Progreso para las comunidades Latinas en los Estados Unidos

Crecí en Argentina y vine a este país hace 20 años. Al igual que muchos otros Latinos, estaba buscando mejores oportunidades - en la búsqueda de mi sueño americano - mientras mantenía y compartía mi cultura, idioma e identidad. Es la razón por la cual el idioma materno de mi hija fue el español, y por eso todavía tomo mate y disfruto de las empanadas salteñas siempre que puedo. Creo que de eso se trata el Mes de la Herencia Hispana: rendirle homenaje a nuestra cultura, celebrar nuestras contribuciones y pensar en nuestro futuro.

Este Mes de la Herencia Hispana, me enorgullece compartir que Google ha trabajado arduamente durante el último año para abrirle nuevos caminos a las futuras generaciones de Latinos. En 2021, hicimos un compromiso de $15 millones para la equidad económica de los Latinos. Hoy, estamos proporcionando una actualización de nuestro trabajo.

A principios de este verano, anunciamos los primeros 50 beneficiarios del Fondo de Fundadores Latinos de Google para Startups en la Conferencia Nacional UNIDOSUS. Cada uno de los destinatarios recibió $100,000 en financiamiento no dilutivo y $100,000 en créditos de Google Cloud para apoyar el crecimiento de sus startups. Los fundadores ahora trabajan mano a mano con los Googlers, obteniendo una tutoría profunda de expertos técnicos y comerciales y desarrollo comunitario con otros fundadores.

En los últimos dos años, a través de los beneficiarios de Google.org como la organización Hispanic Federation y los socios de Grow with Google como la Asociación Hispana de Colegios y Universidades (HACU), hemos brindado habilidades digitales a más de 35,000 Latinos en los Estados Unidos y Puerto Rico para el creciente número de trabajos que las requieren.Según la organización Hispanic Federation, aquellos que recibieron capacitación digital por medio de sus programas están experimentando un aumento salarial de $13,000; ese es un cambio real y significativo. Como parte de nuestro compromiso y asociación continua con la Cámara de Comercio Hispana de Estados Unidos, estamos organizando la cumbre de empresas de propiedad Latina, Grow with Google Latino-Owned Business Summit, en vivo desde su conferencia nacional en Phoenix, que también se transmitirá en vivo en YouTube.

Estamos orgullosos de nuestro progreso y del impacto de nuestros compromisos a medida que continuamos ejecutandolos. Estamos profundamente comprometidos a continuar con este trabajo, motivando, invirtiendo y honrando a la comunidad Latina durante este Mes de la Herencia Hispana y durante todo el año. ¡Estén atentos qué hay más por venir.

Our commitment on using AI to accelerate progress on global development goals

I joined Google earlier this year to lead a new function: Technology & Society. Our aim is to help connect research, people and ideas across Google to shape the future of our technology innovations and their impact on society for the better. A key area of focus is AI, a field I have studied and immersed myself in over the years. I recently met with a team at the Google AI Center in Ghana that is using advanced technology to address an ancient problem: detecting locust outbreaks which threaten food security and livelihoods for millions of people. And in India and Bangladesh, our Crisis Response teams are using our machine-learning-based forecasting to provide over 360 million people with alerts about upcoming floods.

Efforts like these make me optimistic about how AI can contribute to solving societal problems. They also reinforce how high the stakes are for people everywhere, especially as global forces threaten the progress we’ve made on health, prosperity and environmental issues.

AI for the Global Goals

As the United Nations General Assembly begins, the world will come together to discuss issues of global importance, including assessing progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which provide a roadmap on economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection. While it’s clear the global community has made significant strides in meeting the 17 interlinked goals since their adoption by 193 countries, challenges persist in every country. Currently, no country is on track to meet all the goals by 2030.

From the launch of the SDGs in 2015, Google has believed in their importance and looked for ways to support progress. We know that advanced technology, such as AI, can be a powerful tool in advancing these goals. Research that I co-led before joining Google found AI could contribute to progress on all the SDGs — a finding confirmed by the UN. In 2018 Google launched AI for Social Good, focusing applied research and grantmaking efforts on some of the most intractable issues. But we know more needs to be done.

So today we’re expanding our efforts with AI for the Global Goals, which will bring together research, technology and funding to accelerate progress on the SDGs. This commitment will include $25 million to support NGOs and social enterprises working with AI to accelerate progress towards these goals. Based on what we’ve learned so far, we believe that with the AI capabilities and financial support we will provide, grantees can cut in half the time or cost to achieve their goals. In addition to funding, where appropriate, we’ll provide Google.org Fellowships, where teams of Google employees work alongside organizations for up to six months. Importantly, projects will be open-sourced so other organizations can build on the work. All of Google’s work and contributions will be guided by our Responsible AI Principles.

Since 2018, we’ve been focusing applied research and grantmaking efforts on some of the most intractable issues with over 50 organizations in countries ranging from Japan to Kenya to Brazil. We’ve supported organizations making progress on emissions monitoring, antimicrobial image analysis and mental health for LGBTQ+ youth. Working side-by-side with these organizations has shown us the creative ways a thriving ecosystem of companies, nonprofits and universities can use AI. We think we can use the same model to help countries make progress on the SDGs.

A critical time for global progress

COVID-19, global conflict, and climate change have set us back. Fewer people have the opportunity to move out of poverty, inequitable access to healthcare and education continues, gender inequality persists, and environmental threats pose immediate and long-term risks. We know that AI and other advanced technology can help tackle these setbacks. For example, in a significant development for biology and human health, DeepMind used AI to predict 200 million protein structures. They open-sourced the structures in partnership with EMBL-EBI, giving over 500,000 biologists tools to accelerate work on drug discovery, treatment and therapies — thereby making it possible to tackle many of the world’s neglected diseases.

As someone who has spent the last several decades working at the nexus of technology and societal good, it matters deeply that progress here will benefit communities everywhere. No single organization alone will develop and deploy all the solutions we’ll need; we all need to do our part. We’re looking forward to continuing to partner with experts around the world and learning what we can accomplish together.

What Google’s grant means for The Hidden Genius Project

Editor’s note:Today’s post is authored by Brandon Nicholson, PhD, an Oakland, California native and the founding Executive Director of The Hidden Genius Project, a Google.org grantee. Brandon has dedicated his life to promoting equity in the public realm, particularly in the education space.

The mission of The Hidden Genius Project is to train and mentor Black male youth in technology creation, entrepreneurship and leadership skills to transform their lives and communities. Our vision is to be a global leader in this work and an incubator of dynamic young technologists (who we call Geniuses). Through our comprehensive support model, starting with our 15-month Intensive Immersion Program, The Hidden Genius Project works to bolster both workforce development as well as youth-driven leadership, resulting in stronger economies and more equitable communities.

Today, The Hidden Genius Project received a $3 million Google.org grant to expand our program to two additional cities and reveal hundreds of more Geniuses. This will afford us the resources to join arms with a broader array of communities to support and elevate the potential of our Black boys and young men.

We first connected with Google.org in 2015, when we were a finalist for the Google.org Bay Area Impact Challenge. I thought it was a long shot, but taking the risk of applying has opened up many pathways for us. After we found out we received funding, we partnered with TEAM Inc. to create the Tech Slam series, a program that introduces youth to the intersection of sports and technology. We have since hosted a dozen Tech Slam events across three continents.

Fast forward seven years and nearly 8,500 young people served globally, the impact of our work became clear when some of our Genius alumni recently visited Google’s Bay Area campus. These young men first visited Google as high school students, where they were closely coached through the experience. This time, they were confident, rising entrepreneurs capable of commanding a room.

A group of about 30 people stand smiling at the camera in front of a gray wall.

Alumni and staff from The Hidden Genius Project met with Googlers during a recent event.

Young men like Sir McMillan (from our inaugural Los Angeles cohort) pitched their business ideas to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Sir bounced marketing ideas for his business off Google CMO Lorraine Twohill, and he and his Genius brothers shared their thoughts on Android OS with Hiroshi Lockheimer, Senior Vice President of Platforms & Ecosystems. The experience signaled the richness of our progress over the past decade. We’re so excited to see where we go next.

Our alumni will continue to drive our organization forward — not only through their accomplishments, but also through their direct contributions as educators, mentors and ambassadors. For example, our alumni have served as the primary content facilitators for all our Tech Slam events, regularly inspiring others around the world, including each other. Kyron Loggins (from our fourth Oakland, California cohort) shares, “From student to alumni to employee, it’s just great to be able to experience this growing and scaling because it’s such a positive thing for the community of Black people everywhere.”

Looking ahead, and as we celebrate our 10-year anniversary, we now have the opportunity to expand to new communities. And we are fortunate to be able to lean on a wide range of supporters — including our alumni and funders — to ensure our success.

Bringing computer science education to 11 million students

Earlier this summer, I had the chance to meet alumni of The Hidden Genius Project, an Oakland-based international nonprofit that provides Black male youth with training and mentoring in technology, entrepreneurship and leadership. Many of these graduates had no formal computer science education in their curriculum before joining the organization. Thanks to the technical and coding skills they learned through The Hidden Genius Project, they are now using technology to build their own businesses. One graduate, James, learned how to wire frame, which he’s using to launch an app-based shoe restoration business. Another graduate, Jeremiah, is using the digital skills he learned to increase his company’s online presence and reach more customers for his cleaning services company.

For these young men and for so many other students, computer science (CS) education is providing a foundation in the skills they’ll need for their future careers. Yet there remain deep opportunity gaps in education that prevent everyone from accessing those skills equally.

At Google, we believe educational opportunities should be available regardless of socioeconomic status, background, race or geography. So today, we’re building on our long-time support for nonprofits with an additional $20 million commitment to expand CS education access to more than 11 million students across the U.S. — including more support for The Hidden Genius Project. This brings our total commitment to CS education to more than $240 million since 2004.

Student Ian stands behind a desk operating a laptop to demonstrate his platform for Sundar, who is standing to the right of the desk. Both are smiling. A screen in the background shows the Google.org and The Hidden Genius Project logos.

Sundar talks with The Hidden Genius Project alum Ian Bundy-Weiss during the program’s visit to Mountain View in June 2022. Ian founded My Drip, a platform for fashion designers.

We’ll focus our efforts on supporting national and local organizations who reach underserved students in major urban centers and rural communities, and who help governments and educators implement CS education plans nationwide.

In addition to The Hidden Genius Project, we’ll provide support for local nonprofits across the country, with a focus on Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles. We’re looking forward to helping advance programs like the Computing Integrated Teacher Education project at the City University of New York, to incorporate CS education into the curriculum for new teachers, and supporting CodePath in Chicago and Atlanta, to help students from underrepresented communities work towards tech-based careers.

Sundar and 4-H President and CEO Jennifer Sirangelo stand to the left of a whiteboard watching a student in a blue top reaching up to complete a coding activity. Two other students in white look on from the right of the whiteboard.

Sundar Pichai and 4-H President and CEO Jennifer Sirangelo join students in a coding activity at a 4-H computer science education event in Mayes County, Oklahoma, in 2019.

To widen access to CS education for students in rural and under-resourced communities, we’re extending our commitment to4-H. With our support, since 2019, 4-H has introduced1.4 million students to CS education pathways, 65% of them in rural communities. The new grant we're providing will support 4-Hers throughCooperative Extension's programs and resources, helping 6 million young people and more than 3,500 educators.

Finally, we’ll provide funding to the Expanding Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) Alliance, a national network coordinated by the Texas Advanced Computing Center at The University of Texas at Austin, which aims to increase participation in CS education through state-level reforms. This funding will enable ECEP to partner with policymakers, educators and others on systemic changes that will help more students from a wider range of backgrounds pursue computing-related degrees. It will also support the addition of five new states to the ECEP Alliance, laying the foundation for a national framework.

Today’s announcement is part of our Grow with Google initiative and includes funding from Google.org. It builds on a lot of other good work underway. Earlier this year, Google partnered with the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture to train 2,000 teachers on digital skills, enabling them to reach 200,000 rural students by the end of the 2023 school year. And this summer, I joined other CEOs to send a message in support of making computer science a basic part of every K-12 classroom.

Of course, access to computing skills and digital knowledge is important for adults, too. More than 9 million people in the U.S. have already learned new skills through Grow with Google — including Google Career Certificates, which prepare people for jobs in growing fields. We’re building new financing models to extend these programs to more people and drive wage gains for workers. And we’ll continue to partner with organizations to provide local training opportunities, especially in marginalized communities.

We believe Google and other companies have a responsibility to help people get the skills they need to get a good job, start a new business, and provide a solid foundation for their families — no matter what their age or where they live. Computer science education is an important piece of this, and we look forward to working with our partners to unleash the talent and drive of millions of people in communities across the U.S.

Three years in: Our $1 billion Bay Area housing effort

The Bay Area is our home, and we’re helping our hometown communities solve challenging problems. In 2019, we committed $1 billion to help increase the Bay Area’s housing supply and support organizations on the front lines of homelessness. Over the last three years, we’ve been making investments and allocating land to help developers create new affordable housing units in all corners of the region.

A map illustration of the Bay Area with 23 red markers that indicate the location of affordable housing projects that Google has committed money to from our $250 million investment affordable housing fund.

A map of our current commitments from our $250 million affordable housing investment fund.

Investing $1 billion across the Bay Area

So far, we’ve allocated a total of $128 million of our $250 million investment fund to 18 organizations, which has supported the development of 23 affordable housing projects across the Bay Area.

A rendering of a multi-story residential complex painted light brown and yellow.

A rendering of Meridian, a 90-unit affordable housing development, in Sunnyvale, California. Image credit: Steinberg Hart.

As part of our commitment to give $750 million worth of our land to housing development, we’ve worked closely with elected officials and residents to propose plans where residential units, offices, retail spaces and open space will coexist on our land. The San José City Council unanimously approved our Downtown West project in May 2021, which calls for 4,000 housing units. In addition, we’ve submitted plans for mixed-use developments in Mountain View and are working with city staff to have Middlefield Park voted on by Mountain View City Council by the end of 2022, followed by North Bayshore in 2023. Together, these plans consider a total of 8,900 housing units, which would be developed by a partner.

While we’ve made progress across the Bay Area through funding and land allocation, we know that's only part of the solution. Fighting the housing crisis requires innovation and collaboration across the community. So today, we’re also sharing how we’re using philanthropy to test new methods of intervention with trusted nonprofit leaders.

Using philanthropy to test innovative solutions

Over the next three years, we’re giving more than $10 million of our 2019 $50 million Google.org grant commitment and providing pro bono support to select Bay Area nonprofits. These organizations are starting programs to test the impact of cash transfers on housing stability for community members experiencing homelessness. With cash transfers, money is directly provided to people to spend on things like rent, medical expenses, food, or other day-to-day expenses. Our funding will go toward direct cash support, infrastructure for the nonprofits and randomized impact evaluation. This way, critical research can be used to have a systemic effect to assist in providing stable housing.

Google.org has been a longtime supporter of cash transfers, having distributed over $31 million globally, and providing over 235,000 households with cash support to improve their financial resilience and weather economic uncertainty. Research has shown that giving recipients the ability to decide how they spend their money leads to increases in economic and psychological well-being, physical health and household purchasing power. A randomized evaluation in Canada found a one-time cash transfer to individuals experiencing homelessness leads to quicker housing stability and spending fewer days unsheltered.

There is little to no research, however, of the effect of cash transfers on a demographic like Bay Area homeless communities. To better understand the impact, Google.org is supporting the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) in partnering with several leading homeless service providers in the Bay Area. Through the Bay Area Evaluation (BAE) Incubator, providers are building their capacity to design and implement randomized evaluations of cash transfer programs.

In addition to J-PAL North America’s effort, Google.org is supporting some emerging cash transfer pilots:

  • Bay Area Community Services (BACS), alongside UCSF, is running a longitudinal study aimed at determining the effect of cash assistance for 100 Oakland households on housing stability and homelessness prevention while also measuring potential reduction of racial disparities in those who become homeless.
  • Chapin Hall, in partnership with Point Source Youth and Larkin Street Youth Services, will be launching community engagement work to prepare for a Bay Area expansion of a national effort. Their program tests the effectiveness of direct cash transfers and support programs on housing stability and well-being for young adults facing housing insecurity.
  • Miracle Messages, in partnership with the University of Southern California, will conduct a randomized controlled trial for people experiencing homelessness. The trial adds cash assistance to social support programming to measure multiple outcomes including housing stability, food security and mental health.

As we provide funding, we’re evaluating impact to determine the most effective cash transfer delivery models and programs for reducing homelessness. It’s our hope these grants will not only help individuals and families experiencing housing insecurity, but also expand the evidence base around the effectiveness of cash transfer programs, particularly in high-income communities like the Bay Area.

With this $10 million in grant funding, we’ve granted a total of $18 million of our 2019 Google.org commitment to Bay Area nonprofits providing services like food distribution, job training and case management. Through these grants, these organizations will help provide services to more than 90,000 people and house 10,000 individuals over the span of four years. It’s a testament to the impact philanthropy can have on the housing crisis.

Looking ahead

We can’t celebrate the last three years of work without recognizing the work that lies ahead. There is still a severe housing shortage of more than 400,000 in the Bay Area, and we’ll continue to work with housing experts, developers, nonprofit leaders and elected officials to find opportunities to build units and provide services to people as quickly as possible.

Learn more about our housing commitment at g.co/housingcommitment.

Source: The Keyword


Expanding access to clean energy careers

Climate change affects everyone, but not equally. Our fossil-based energy system has disproportionately impacted communities of color and low-income communities for generations. So as the world transitions to a carbon-free electric grid, it’s important to support programs building a just and equitable clean energy economy.

This transition to clean energy is expected to create 10.3 million jobs by 2030, outpacing the nearly 2.7 million fossil fuel jobs of today. Google.org and Google Nest recently partnered with Dream Corps Green For All to launch The Green For All Clean Energy Scholarship Fund, which aims to expand access to clean energy careers for jobseekers from underrepresented communities.

We recently announced our first recipients at Black Future Weekend, a Dream Corps event focused on diversifying the tech industry. As part of the application process, they shared their “green dream” and explained why they wanted a career in the renewable energy industry:

Quianya Enge (Carbondale, Illinois)

As someone directly impacted by the criminal justice system and now a doctoral student in Higher Education and Administration with a master’s degree in Workforce Education and Development, my dream is to build a career in the clean energy sector. Renewable energy jobs are perfect for those who need a second chance in the workforce. However, there is a negative perception of felons within the solar industry and society as a whole — and as a workforce developer, I’d like to change that. I want to build a team that helps individuals from marginalized communities find training and jobs in the solar field, and form partnerships with groups in the clean energy industry that work to reduce recidivism.

Alcia Shaw (Brooklyn, New York)

I grew up on a farm in Jamaica, deep within the island’s green-swathed mountains. Despite the hardships I faced growing up in a poverty-stricken country, as a young girl, I found tranquility in climbing the nearest tree and watching as the deep blue Caribbean Sea embraced the north coast. It will be a dream come true for me when our communities are no longer at risk of excess pollution, waste and questionable water sources. This scholarship will allow me to enroll in a sustainability management course at Yale University, giving me the qualifications I need to pursue my passion for equality and maintain the environmental integrity of my community and similar areas across the globe.

Kristian Thymianos (Las Vegas, Nevada)

To me, the clean energy sector is a way to keep my community alive despite the ongoing issues surrounding climate change. I grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada — where the only thing as intense as the city is the sun beating down on it. We contend with major issues due to climate change, like urban heat islands that threaten the health of our residents and tourists and negatively impact our infrastructure, and declining water resources. These are not unique to Las Vegas, but they impact our community more than others. ​​Finding ways to fix and provide for my hometown pushes me to do the work I do.

Extending the impact with Nest Renew

Last year, Google Nest unveiled Nest Renew, a service for compatible Nest thermostats in the U.S. that makes it easy to support clean energy right from home. Through the Energy Impact Program, a feature within Nest Renew, you can help direct funds to nonprofit partners working towards an equitable sustainable future.

Later this year, Dream Corps will join GRID Alternatives and Elevate Energy as a founding partner of the Energy Impact Program, ensuring continued support for scholarship recipients and guaranteed career placement for individuals from underrepresented communities.

A search for bold ideas to drive climate action

Google has been committed to climate action for decades — and during that time, we've learned that we can have the biggest impact on our planet by working together. That’s why we’re launching a $30 million Google.org Impact Challenge on Climate Innovation — an open call for ambitious projects from nonprofits and social enterprises that accelerate advances in climate information and action, driven by open data, AI, machine learning and other digital tools.

We’re leading by example at Google by setting a goal to achieve net-zero emissions across all of our operations and value chain, including our consumer hardware products, by 2030. We’re going even further for our data centers and campuses, with a moonshot goal to operate on 24/7 carbon-free energy by the end of the decade. Our work to procure clean energy around the world not only helps us decarbonize our own operations, but also greens the local grids where we’re based, benefitting entire regions.

But when it comes to solving a problem as big and urgent as climate change, we get more done when we partner together. So we’re using our technology to make critical climate data available to everyone. Cities are using our Environmental Insights Explorer to better understand their emissions data, solar potential, air quality and tree canopy coverage. Customers are using innovative new tools in Google Cloud like Carbon Footprint, which helps companies accurately measure the gross carbon footprint of their cloud usage. And Google users can make more sustainable choices with information like the carbon footprint of their travel — whether finding flights with lower carbon emissions or choosing fuel-efficient driving directions in Google Maps.

Drive climate action through data

Through theGoogle.org Impact Challenge on Climate Innovation, we'll build on this work by supporting nonprofits and social enterprises that demonstrate the power of digital technology in climate innovation. Six projects will receive $5 million each in funding, along with in-kind donations of Google’s products and technical expertise through Google.org Fellowships and more. These funds will speed up the collection of data and development of tools that advocates, policymakers, businesses and individuals need to drive positive impact.

Open data and advanced digital tools, including AI and machine learning, can give way to new climate solutions that simply wouldn’t have been possible in the past. These technologies can reveal patterns and insights that were otherwise hidden in a mountain of data. Since 2018, Google.org has supported a wide range of climate innovators that can help us make better planning decisions by modeling future outcomes — including projects that map emissions on a global scale; show people the most effective places to restore ecosystems; and help small businesses understand their carbon footprint, to name a few. Tools like these make the climate information around us more accessible and useful.

This year’s Impact Challenge builds off the success of Google.org’s Impact Challenge on Climate in Europe in 2020, and a $6 million Google.org Sustainability Seed Fund launched earlier this year for the Asia-Pacific region.

Apply now with your bold ideas

Applications for the Google.org Impact Challenge on Climate Innovation are now open at g.co/climatechallenge. We encourage organizations to apply early, as priority consideration will be given to proposals received by July 29. Selected organizations will be announced on a rolling basis throughout the year, and the application window will remain open until all six projects have been selected.

A search for bold ideas to drive climate action

Google has been committed to climate action for decades — and during that time, we've learned that we can have the biggest impact on our planet by working together. That’s why we’re launching a $30 million Google.org Impact Challenge on Climate Innovation — an open call for ambitious projects from nonprofits and social enterprises that accelerate advances in climate information and action, driven by open data, AI, machine learning and other digital tools.

We’re leading by example at Google by setting a goal to achieve net-zero emissions across all of our operations and value chain, including our consumer hardware products, by 2030. We’re going even further for our data centers and campuses, with a moonshot goal to operate on 24/7 carbon-free energy by the end of the decade. Our work to procure clean energy around the world not only helps us decarbonize our own operations, but also greens the local grids where we’re based, benefitting entire regions.

But when it comes to solving a problem as big and urgent as climate change, we get more done when we partner together. So we’re using our technology to make critical climate data available to everyone. Cities are using our Environmental Insights Explorer to better understand their emissions data, solar potential, air quality and tree canopy coverage. Customers are using innovative new tools in Google Cloud like Carbon Footprint, which helps companies accurately measure the gross carbon footprint of their cloud usage. And Google users can make more sustainable choices with information like the carbon footprint of their travel — whether finding flights with lower carbon emissions or choosing fuel-efficient driving directions in Google Maps.

Drive climate action through data

Through theGoogle.org Impact Challenge on Climate Innovation, we'll build on this work by supporting nonprofits and social enterprises that demonstrate the power of digital technology in climate innovation. Six projects will receive $5 million each in funding, along with in-kind donations of Google’s products and technical expertise through Google.org Fellowships and more. These funds will speed up the collection of data and development of tools that advocates, policymakers, businesses and individuals need to drive positive impact.

Open data and advanced digital tools, including AI and machine learning, can give way to new climate solutions that simply wouldn’t have been possible in the past. These technologies can reveal patterns and insights that were otherwise hidden in a mountain of data. Since 2018, Google.org has supported a wide range of climate innovators that can help us make better planning decisions by modeling future outcomes — including projects that map emissions on a global scale; show people the most effective places to restore ecosystems; and help small businesses understand their carbon footprint, to name a few. Tools like these make the climate information around us more accessible and useful.

This year’s Impact Challenge builds off the success of Google.org’s Impact Challenge on Climate in Europe in 2020, and a $6 million Google.org Sustainability Seed Fund launched earlier this year for the Asia-Pacific region.

Apply now with your bold ideas

Applications for the Google.org Impact Challenge on Climate Innovation are now open at g.co/climatechallenge. We encourage organizations to apply early, as priority consideration will be given to proposals received by July 29. Selected organizations will be announced on a rolling basis throughout the year, and the application window will remain open until all six projects have been selected.

Ongoing support for refugees and displaced people

My family has been seeking refuge for generations. During the Trujillo regime, my grandfather fled the Dominican Republic for Cuba with nothing but 20 pesos sewn into his pants. 30 years later they were forced to flee again. My eight year old father landed in Florida safely ahead of my grandparents, but a planned four month separation stretched to four and a half years due to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helped reunify and resettle my family, as they have for so many others. I joined Google.org in 2019, and through Google’s philanthropic arm I’ve been lucky enough to work with organizations that support refugees, including the IRC, to support those who find themselves in situations like my parents and grandparents — having to leave their homes for the safety of their families. Since 2015, Google has not only given over $45 million to organizations supporting refugees through Google.org, it’s also provided support through our products and enabled Google employees to volunteer.

Connecting refugees with resources quickly

We’ve found that time is one of the most important factors in delivering effective humanitarian support. Between 60-80% of aid sector funding is spent on logistics alone. To help power faster humanitarian action, Google.org is announcing a $1 million grant to NeedsList along with a Google.org Fellowship. Through a free, public version of their crisis response software, NeedsList plans to move over $50 million of resources to local aid organizations, supporting 10 million people.

NeedsList is also operating Welcome.US’ Welcome Exchange to help those arriving from Afghanistan and Ukraine with housing, employment, and technology resources. Welcome.US has brought togethera coalition of over 35 CEOs, co-chaired by our CEO Sundar Pichai, to scale private sector support for those seeking refuge. As part of our participation in the Welcome.US CEO Council, Google has contributed $1 million in grant funding, $1 million in donated search ads, and 30,000 Pixel phones to Welcome.US.

A screenshot of the Welcome.US’ Welcome Exchange platform that shows how needs and offers are displayed in the northeastern US.

Google.org has also supported Signpost, a platform which provides information on critical services like legal rights, accommodation, transportation and medical care, since the 2015 civil war in Syria and through the Venezualean refugee crisis in 2019. This year, supported by 15 Google.org Fellows and additional grant funding, Signpost partnered with United for Ukraine to build out unitedforukraine.org — an effort to help displaced people find housing, legal aid and psychological support. This project, along with Google.org grantee Outright Action International’s Ukraine Emergency Fund for LGBTQ+ refugees, are providing meaningful support for those affected by the war in Ukraine.

Helping through our products, tools and spaces

Teams across Google have also created products and provided space and support to refugee populations over the years.

  • Google Search and Maps provides information to identify border crossings and avoid trouble, including SOS Alerts and temporarily disabling some live features to help protect the safety of local communities.
  • Google Translate helps refugees overcome language barriers through features like offline translation and camera mode.
  • Google for Startups Campus in Warsaw opened its doors for local nonprofits to provide legal and psychological support to refugees and temporary office space for Ukrainian startups.
  • YouTube is partnering with the UNHCR and Welcome.US to raise awareness about the scale of communities affected by refugee crises, from Syria to Venezuela to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and to support refugee resettlement around the world.