Today, Google released their Economic Impact Report for Michigan, sharing that it helped provide $8.51 billion in economic activity in 2021 for tens of thousands of Michigan businesses, publishers, nonprofits, creators and developers who used Google products to increase their online presence and connect with the people and communities they serve.
Google has called Michigan home for more than a decade, with over 600 full-time employees in the state and offices in Ann Arbor and Detroit. Earlier this year, Michigan Central announced a public-private partnership with the state of Michigan, the city of Detroit, Google, and the Ford Motor Company to create an innovation hub to drive mobility innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and community development. As part of the initiative, Google will train people in Detroit for in-demand tech jobs.
Google is helping people learn digital skills so they can reach new customers and find new job opportunities. In Michigan, Grow with Google has partnered with nearly 270 organizations to train more than 260,000 Michiganders on digital skills, including public libraries, chambers of commerce, and more. In 2017, Google launched the Grow with Google Digital Coaches program in Detroit and recently expanded it statewide, which provides free hands-on coaching and digital skills training to help Black and Latino small businesses reach new customers, thrive online, and grow. Google’s Michigan Digital Coach has helped train more than 7,560 small business owners through 180+ digital skills workshops.
The Google Career Certificates program provides online job training and prepares job seekers for careers in high-growth fields like data analytics and IT Support–with no degree or experience required. To help more people access this program, Google announced in February a new $100 million Google Career Certificates Fund that aims to drive over $1 billion in aggregate wage gains to support economic mobility for tens of thousands of underserved American workers. The Google Career Certificates are also free to all community colleges and career and technical education (CTE) high schools to add to their curriculum.
- Google is partnering with the Michigan Community College Association to bring Google Career Certificates to all 28 community colleges. University of Michigan is building complementary content to our existing certificates to create additional pathways to jobs in high-growth fields: supply chain management & public policy analytics/public administration.
More than 561,000 Michigan businesses received requests for directions, phone calls, bookings, reviews, and other direct connections to their customers from Google in 2021. Woodward Throwbacks in Hamtramck was highlighted in Google’s Michigan Economic Impact Report on how they used digital tools to reach customers. Bo Shepherd and Kyle Dubay, who met at a city cleanup event, enjoyed cycling around Detroit in search of usable roadside castoffs and architectural salvage. They transformed those castoffs and salvage into something else entirely: a business.
“We are selling the story of the material as much as the finished product,” Shepherd says. “And our customers enjoy hearing that story. (Our Google Business Profile) helps customers get an idea of what we carry and encourages them to come through,” said Bo. Now, they are opening a new showroom in downtown Detroit, and plan to use Google Ads to help get the word out. “We make it a priority to hire talent within the community. We are excited to keep growing as designers and business owners,” Bo added. “We definitely think the best is yet to come!”
###
About Google in Michigan
Google has called Michigan home for more than a decade, with more than 600 full-time employees in the state and offices in Ann Arbor and Detroit. Since 2011, Google for Nonprofits has supported more than 6,300 nonprofits in Michigan. In 2020, Google provided over $11.09M in free search advertising to Michigan nonprofits through the Google Ad Grants program. Since 2012, Google.org has awarded over $1M in grants to nonprofits and organizations based in Michigan, including Zero Day support veterans and APIAVote support the Asian Pacific Islander community in the state.
About Post Author
