PHOENIX, ARIZONA — Today StrataTech Education Group announced its participation in the Grow with Google Indigenous Career Readiness Program. The initiative helps prepare Native students at more than 50 Native-serving organizations for the workforce through digital skills training and career workshops. By providing $1 million to the Partnership With Native Americans (PWNA) to embed the program in schools, Google aims to help train 10,000 Native students on digital skills and career readiness by 2025.
“Transportation barriers can be a major obstacle for those pursuing an education, more so for Indigenous students who live on reservations,” said Mary Kelly, CEO and President of StrataTech Education Group. “By helping with the cost of transportation – especially when gas prices are at or close to $5 a gallon – and offering resources designed for Indigenous students, we hope to alleviate some of the obstacles that might prevent them from pursuing a career in the skilled trades. We are thankful to Grow with Google and Native Partnerships for sharing this micro-grant to help StrataTech in our mission of increasing access to education for all.”
As part of Google’s commitment to supporting Native American jobseekers, the program partners with Native-serving organizations to help students develop the digital skills they need to find and secure internships and jobs that will help them build successful careers. Over the next four years, the Partnership with Native Americans will provide curriculum and trainers at Tribal Colleges and Universities, Native American-serving nontribal institutions, high schools, and vocational programs.
“We are excited to partner with Google to launch the Grow with Google Indigenous Career Readiness Program. PWNA appreciates Google taking the initiative to bridge the digital divide in Indian Country. The gap that exists goes beyond the cable infrastructure, hardware, internet access, and extends to the technical skills for education and employment,” said Joshua Arce, President & CEO, Partnership With Native Americans. “Google has demonstrated their willingness to meet the students where they are at, with the tools that they have, to provide a best-in-service digital training program designed to increase technical proficiencies and employable skills for Native students. Grow with Google training translates into immediate incentives and adds technical skills to a student’s digital toolbox that they can build on in the future.”
Started in 2021, the Grow with Google Indigenous Career Readiness Program provides Native-serving organization career centers with funding and a semester-long in-person and online digital skills program. The program combines existing Grow with Google workshops with job seekers including design thinking, project management, and professional brand building. Partnership With Native Americans works with Native-serving organization career centers to onboard the program.
“Every student should have the opportunity to learn digital skills for today’s in-demand jobs,” said Tia McLaurin, Community Engagement Manager, Google. “We’re proud to work with the Partnership With Native Americans to bring the Grow with Google Indigenous Career Readiness Program to StrataTech Education Group to help more students prepare for the workforce and thrive as they start their careers.”
Grow with Google’s Indigenous Career Readiness program builds on a $10 million, multi-year grant to The National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) to create a National Digital Navigator Corps. The Corps will span 18 rural and tribal communities across the United States and impact thousands of people through one-on-one technology training and community outreach to connect people to the internet, appropriate devices, and training.
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ABOUT GROW WITH GOOGLE
Grow with Google was started in 2017 to help Americans grow their skills, careers, and businesses. It provides training, tools, and expertise to help small business owners, veterans and military families, jobseekers and students, educators, startups, and developers. Since Grow with Google’s inception, it has helped more than eight million Americans develop new skills. Grow with Google has a network of more than 8,500 partner organizations like libraries, schools, small business development centers, chambers of commerce, and nonprofits to help people coast-to-coast.
ABOUT PWNA
Partnership With Native Americans is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to championing hope for a brighter future for Native Americans living on remote, isolated and impoverished reservations. Collaborating for nearly 30 years with our reservation partners, we provide consistent aid and services for Native Americans with the highest need in the U.S. Much of our work centers around material aid, educational support and community-based services. PWNA also connects outside resources directly to reservations through its distribution network and reservation partnerships. We care about quality of life for Native Americans and respect their self-determined goals for their tribes.
ABOUT STRATATECH EDUCATION GROUP
StrataTech Education Group focuses on the education, growth and development of specialized career education schools, particularly skilled-trade programs designed to address the nation’s growing infrastructure needs. Holding an A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau, StrataTech Education Group’s portfolio includes The Refrigeration School, Inc. (RSI), Tulsa Welding School (TWS), Tulsa Welding School Jacksonville, and Tulsa Welding School & Technology Center (TWSTC). For more information, visit stratatech.com.