Alphabet Inc‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG,NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google is teaming up with 4-H to bring computer science to the masses.
The Silicon Valley giant is giving the youth development organization a $1.5 million grant that will help 6 million people around the country learn computer science at various levels.
The move was announced Friday alongside the governor of Illinois at the state fair. The move has been in motion for over a year, and it is designed to bring more diversity into the technology field.
“We’re helping bring awareness that [coding is] not just this image they have from TV — a bunch of guys working alone in a room,” said Jacqueline Fuller, president of Google.org.
Google’s partnership with 4-H comes at a time when the company’s been facing criticism from the tech community and even its own workers over the anti-diversity memo sent by one of its engineers. The company responded by firing the worker.
“We at Google have been thinking more and more about the future of work, the jobs are available now, and increasingly, the skills that are going to help kids and adults get those jobs,” said Fuller.
There will be roughly 1.4 million computer science jobs by 2020, but only 400,000 people have the degrees to fill such roles.
More than half of 4-H’s members are female and 35% are minorities.
GOOG stock grew 1.1% Friday, while GOOGL shares surged 0.9%.
