Google’s Economic Opportunity Initiative to Aid Library in Teaching Wichitans Skills Needed to Succeed in the Digital Economy

WICHITA – Today, Google returned to Wichita to join the Wichita Public Library to announce a $100,000 sponsorship that will expand the library’s digital skills offerings to job seekers and small businesses throughout the region. The sponsorship is part of the tech company’s initiative, Grow with Google, to help create economic opportunities for all Americans.

“Now more than ever, Wichitans need digital skills to thrive in the digital economy," said Cynthia Berner, Director of Libraries at the Wichita Public Library. "This partnership with Google will allow WPL to help businesses and job seekers advance their technical skills so that they are better able to compete.”

The announcement and funding - through the Wichita Public Library Foundation - comes just four months after Wichita State University hosted more than 1,000 people at the Grow with Google tour event at its Hughes Metropolitan Complex. The daylong event connected area businesses, job seekers, educators and non-profits with Google’s free digital skills training resources. With this new sponsorship, the Wichita Public Library will offer free classes geared toward teaching digital skills pulled from Google’s Applied Digital Skills and Get Your Business Online programs.

“Grow with Google is committed to helping Wichitans learn the digital skills needed to take advantage of the economy today and tomorrow, and we’re proud to further our commitment here in Wichita,” said Google’s Stephen Brokaw, who leads the Grow with Google effort in Wichita. “We’re excited to leverage our expertise and partner with an entity like the Wichita Public Library that is preparing this region for the jobs of today and tomorrow.”

Less than half of 18 to 25-year-olds are reported to believe their education gives them the skills that they need to even enter the country’s workforce, and one-third of jobs will require skills that aren’t common in today’s workforce by 2020. Google hopes to address these education demands nationwide by supporting the nonprofits, schools, community organizations that are working hard to ensure more Americans have the skills they need to succeed in an increasingly digital economy.

For more information about the WPL digital skills training or to register for the classes, visit http://www.wichitalibrary.org/events. For more information about Grow with Google, visit google.com/grow.