YMCA of Greater Boston Announced as Recipient of Microsoft Elevate America Community Initiative Grant

In attempts to level the playing field for underserved communities and provide essential technology skills for job seekers, Microsoft today announced that it is awarding more than $5 million in cash and up to $10 million in software over the next two years to 12 non-profits, including the YMCA of Greater Boston Education and Training Branch, or YMCA Training, Inc., which offers technology training to the local Boston community.

YMCA Training, Inc. provides access to employment that offers family-supporting wages and benefits to unemployed and underemployed adults. Since 1984, YMCA Training, Inc. has offered comprehensive computerized office skills training to enable adults to obtain living-wage employment. More than 3,800 men and women have graduated from YMCA Training, Inc. and launched successful careers in areas such as healthcare, financial services and government, while meeting the staffing needs of more than 200 Boston-area employers.

Through its Elevate America community initiative, Microsoft works to assist underserved communities by providing technology access and skills training in their local communities to help people find employment. Possessing key technology skills in a competitive job market can help people secure gainful employment. These grants will help fund a comprehensive set of resources to help people be successful in today’s workplace such as career counseling, technology skills training, job placement and additional support services such as childcare and transportation.

All of the organizations selected demonstrated how their approach to providing people with technology and job training resources can be scaled at the end of the two years, with the goal of creating replicable models to expand to additional communities.