New Jersey City University Joins Grow with Google’s HSI Career Readiness Program to train 200,000 Latino Students in Digital Skills by 2025

Program is open to all NJCU students, regardless of ethnicity

JERSEY CITY, N.J. | New Jersey City University (NJCU) has announced its participation in the Grow with Google HSI Career Readiness Program. The initiative will help Latino students at 35 Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) prepare for the workforce through digital skills training and career workshops. Through a $2 million investment in the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), the program will train 200,000 Latino students by 2025.

The program is open to all NJCU students, regardless of ethnicity.

New Jersey City University is honored to partner with Grow with Google to better prepare students for their lives after college. NJCU recognizes the positive impact this partnership will have on students’ career readiness and digital literacy that is so crucial in today’s workforce,” said Melissa Faulkner, the new Director of NJCU’s Career Success Lab. “We believe this program will enrich the lives of students and propel them to land satisfying careers. We are most grateful to Google for giving our students this opportunity.”

NJCU, a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and Minority Serving Institution (MSI), features an undergraduate population that is 45 percent Hispanic-Latino and 21 percent Black. Additionally, 54 percent of its undergraduates are first-generation college students and 58 percent of eligible students received Pell grants during the 2020-21 academic year.

In partnership with HACU, the Grow with Google HSI Career Readiness Program launched in January 2022 and provides HSI career centers with funding and a semester-long in-person and online digital skills program. HACU has a track record of increasing access to education in the Latino community, and two-thirds of Latino college students in the U.S. attend one of its member institutions. The initiative combines career workshops, career counseling, and programming on design thinking, project management, and professional brand building. The participating schools will also create additional material tailored to student needs.

“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 Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities to bring the Grow with Google HSI Career Readiness Program to New Jersey City University to help more students prepare for the workforce and thrive as they start their careers."

Google’s latest commitments build on over $35M provided to date to expand economic opportunity in the Latino community. Since 2013, the company’s Google in Residence program has partnered with HSIs and HBCUs to place Google software engineers in schools as faculty, and the company also hosts Tech Exchange, a virtual student exchange program that teaches HSI and HBCU students applied computer science courses.

For more information, please visit Grow.Google.com.

ABOUT GROW WITH GOOGLE
Grow with Google was started in 2017 to help Americans grow their skills, careers, and businesses. It provides free 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 8,000 partner organizations like libraries, schools, small business development centers, chambers of commerce, workforce development boards and nonprofits to help people coast-to-coast.

ABOUT HACU
The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, founded in 1986, represents more than 500 colleges and universities in the United States, Latin America, Spain and school districts throughout the U.S. HACU is the only national association representing existing and emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). The Association’s headquarters are in San Antonio, Texas, with regional offices in Washington, D.C and Sacramento, California.

About NJCU:
New Jersey City University is an institution of higher learning with an audacious goal: the development of our students, our city, our communities, our state, and the world beyond. We are a game-changing force for our students and their families. Whether our students are enrolled in one of our 50 undergraduate, 30 graduate or three doctoral programs at our three locations — our main campus in Jersey City, our School of Business located in the heart of the Jersey City Financial District, or our newest location at NJCU @ Fort Monmouth which expands bachelor's and master's degree offerings along the Jersey Shore, NJCU provides an affordable, diverse environment, and an exceptionally supportive faculty—all of which prepares them to be critical thinkers in a global landscape.

We’re also changing the game for our city, our communities, and our state. As the educational anchor institution in Jersey City, we’ve established partnerships to ensure the area’s growth directly benefits our students and community members. We seek to improve the lives of everyone in the Garden State, whether creating a home for the arts, bringing educational programs to K-12 students, offering bachelor’s degrees in partnership with community colleges, or providing professional development opportunities for adults.

At NJCU, we’re not just educating minds, we’re nourishing souls and lifting communities. We’re changing the game.

—www.NJCU.edu—

Announcement updated: August 17, 2023

Contact:
Ira Thor, Senior Director of University Communications and Media Relations | ithor@njcu.edu | 201-200-3301