Google.org Re-Invests in Actua

“We are incredibly grateful for Google’s significant re-investment in Actua’s coding and digital literacy programming for youth across Canada. This support will help provide hundreds of thousands of youth with the critical knowledge and skills they need to become Canada’s future innovators,” said Jennifer Flanagan, President and CEO, Actua

This is Google.org’s first ever re-investment in a Canadian charity. In the first three years of the partnership (2014-2017), the Codemakers program engaged over 165,000 youth in coding and digital skills programming (including over 31,000 Indigenous youth and 22,000 youth facing socio-economic challenges). This re-investment will help Actua reach an additional 75,000 Canadian youth, bringing the total to a quarter of a million Canadian youth.

“We’re thrilled to continue our investment in Actua’s Codemakers program. Through our funding renewal, we’ll have helped a quarter of a million young Canadians learn about the technology that is shaping our world. We need more students pursuing an education in Computer Science, particularly those who have historically been underrepresented in the field, and today’s announcement will help make that a reality,” said Steven Woods, Senior Engineering Director, Google Canada. Google.org also announced today a 1-year $200,000 grant for Actua’s network member Engineering Science Quest (ESQ), through the University of Waterloo’s Engineering Outreach Program, to deliver programming that will help youth build computational thinking and digital skills as well as provide parents and teachers access to information and resources.