THE GOOGLE COMMUNITY LEADERS PROGRAM: WHO ARE WE?

The Google Community Leaders Program (CLP) was founded in 2011 by Jennifer Holland after her visit to New Orleans with Google. In recognition that businesses and nonprofits existed with a significant technological gap in their operations, the CLP was founded to bridge the digital divide in the New Orleans community by connecting the community with local student talent. Students were selected and trained through Google, and in 2012, the the first chapter of Google CLP was founded in New Orleans, with an inaugural class of 15 students.

The Google CLP New Brunswick chapter is designed to bridge the digital divide in the local community. Our program aims to help small businesses, entrepreneurs, nonprofits, and individuals build an online presence, and to improve digital literacy and access in the community. Our goal is to provide free consultation through real-world, hands-on experience in the community, while also providing professional development, exposure to careers at Google, and online tools training. The CLP aims to serve the community by through four teams: Marketing, Nonprofits, Small to Medium Business (SMB), and Education.

Our story as the New Brunswick Chapter of Google CLP began in the fall of 2014. Our Program Manager and Chapter Founder, Luis Fernandez, unexpectedly stumbled upon the New Orleans Chapter of CLP when looking up information to plan an alternative break in New Orleans. From October 2014 to March 2015, he reached out to members of the Harlem and Detroit Chapters to learn more about the program. Upon receiving approval from the National Program Director and Founder, Jennifer Holland, the New Brunswick Chapter was created on March 28, 2015. The next step was to recruit a group of 15 passionate and diverse students to establish the team. The project was kept confidential until all members were recruited and their summer training through Google was completed. After a summer of planning to create a foundation for the chapter, the team developed into a family dedicated to serving the community.

The New Brunswick Chapter of the Google Community Leaders Program has been provided the honor of becoming the first student-run chapter in the nation. The chapter will serve as the national model for Google on how to create sustainable, student-run chapters across the country. The Google CLP’s nine currently existing chapters across the country have provided widespread reach in the fight to end the digital divide. These cities include Harlem, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Atlanta, Kansas City, Provo, and New Orleans.

Our mission to educate the public about digital access, and ultimately bridge the digital divide, begins in our very own community of New Brunswick. However, this challenge is not exclusive to us as the inaugural class, but also calls for collaboration from the entire community. We hope that you will choose to follow us on our journey as we work to bridge the digital divide in New Brunswick.