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Google to spend $175 million on racial equity initiatives

A number of technology companies have been announcing changes to the way they conduct business following the recent anti-racism protests in the United States which permeated across the globe. Now Google is going a step further by announcing that it will commit more than $175 million to racial equity initiatives.

Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, recently wrote about the company’s plan, while also breaking down what that aforementioned $175 million will be directed towards.

“Creating meaningful change starts within our own company. Strengthening our commitment to racial equity and inclusion will help Google build more helpful products for our users and the world. To that end, we’re announcing several commitments to build sustainable equity for our Black+ community,” says Pichai.

To that end a large chunk of that $175 million, roughly $100 million to be more precise, will be directed towards black-owned and led venture capital firms, startups and organisations working with black entrepreneurs.

Added to that, $50 million will be set aside for black-owned small businesses, with it being used for financing and the issuing of grants.

Of the remaining $25 million, $15 million will be used for training programs for black jobseekers and $10 million will be funnelled internally to assist the development of black employees within Google’s own ecosystem.

Lastly, Google will be portioning an extra $3 million towards black students and getting them started with computer science-related courses.

Most of these initiatives are aimed at those in the States, so it remains to be seen what Google will be doing in other regions where it has a presence.

Regardless this is a good start, and we’re hoping to see Google commit more to these kinds of racial equity initiatives in future.

Along with the financial investment that Google is making, Pichai has also outlined some of the other changes that the company will be looking to make, such as increasing its leadership representation for underrepresented groups to 30 percent. Added to this will be the creation of global anti-racism educational programs for its employees, as well as a few other programs aimed at greater inclusion.

With Google having a spotty history when it comes to the treatment of women and LGBTQ+ employees in its own environment, it will be interesting to see if it can do better here.

[Image – Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash]

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