News Out of England Shows CSR From Google
Ryan Buddenhagen, May 24, 2012
There is news from Google every day. There is news regarding their search, advances in their other offerings, or rulings in their pending legal matters. Regardless of the type of content, there is a constant stream of information and for those tracking these developments on a daily basis like we do here; it is simply a lot about one company. But, there is some news here that I'll touch on today that shows a different side of the dominant global search engine - the charitable corporate social responsibility side.
Google has made the decision to offer financing for computer teachers as well as technological teaching aids such as the Raspberry Pi and the Arduino starter kits. In support of an effort to boost technology education in the country, Google is partnering with Teach First to put "dozens" of computer science teachers to work throughout England. Eric Schmidt, Google's chairman spoke out recently outlining Google's involvement. Teach First is an organization that puts high-performing graduates into a training program and then place them into schools teach their computer studies courses for two years. In terms of impact, the funds will support over 100 science teachers and most of them will teach computer science.
This represents some relevant CSR and charitable work from Google. Pushing for more computer-based training to provide more opportunities for young people to be exposed to computer engineering, programing, and the like, is a valid investment for the future. This is not the first such support from Google for charitable and cultural engagements and with so much in the news about them, it is important to note such activity as well.
I wrote previously about other CSR activity from Google in a previous post where I describe the uniqueness of tech firms, internet marketing agencies, SEO companies, and other internet businesses engaging in such activity. The previous post touched on the Google Cultural Institute and how they gave funding for the multimedia Nelson Mandela Digital Archive project. Whether tech Tech or not, it is important for business to find ways to positively impact those they can.