Google, AARP Partner to Give Seniors Tech Skills

The AARP Foundation has joined forces with Google’s philanthropy arm, Google.org, to help older workers gain digital skills.

As CNBC reported Wednesday (Jan. 26), the project will focus on women and people of color, initially targeting 25,000 people in Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas.

Google will provide $10 million for the project, provided by AARP Foundation and Older Adults Technology Services.

As CNBC notes, the project arrives at a time when the COVID pandemic has highlighted the difficulties of older workers shifting to a more digital environment. Workers who were less educated had a tougher time to adapt to working from home, negatively impacting their ability to earn or compete for jobs.

The training sessions are due to start in March, with the goal of helping participants find new jobs, make career changes or become entrepreneurs.

Topics include lessons on using video conferencing, information security and office productivity software, as well as online job and networking tools. There will also be sessions aimed at entrepreneurial hopefuls, teaching them skills such as social media marketing, crowdfunding, mobile payment services and graphic design.

Read more: AARP’s AgeTech Collaborative Drives Innovation for Seniors While Tapping $8.3T Market

Last month, AARP launched AgeTech Collaborative to drive tech innovation for seniors with the help of partners that include Cooley, QED Investors, Walgreens and T. Rowe Price.

“COVID-19 has made technology more important than ever and helped close the generational tech divide. AARP’s study of technology use shows that ownership, use and spending among the 50-plus is growing with no signs of slowing down,” the organization said at the time.

“In that context, the new AgeTech Collaborative is convening leading AgeTech startups, forward-thinking venture capitalists, enlightened industry leaders and creative testbeds to bring meaningful change and help solve the challenges of aging.”