Technology has become ingrained in our society, and it’s not hard to fathom that more than 75 percent of jobs over the next decade will require tech skills. However, many teens do not have adequate tech education to be prepared for jobs of the future.
At Best Buy, this opportunity gap is where we have decided to focus our community giving and signature community programs.
We’re committed to keeping our communities strong. Not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because we rely on our communities to provide a talented workforce.
Over the past 10 years, Best Buy has served more than 4.5 million youth through our community programs, grants and partnerships with nonprofits, focusing on technology education. We are looking to grow that number in 2017. We’ll do that in part through our National Grants program, which provides funds to national nonprofit partners that give underserved youth access to tech education. Today, Best Buy announces our 2017 National Grant recipients, totaling an investment of nearly $2 million.
Our 2017 National Partner Grantees include:
- Collective Shift/LRNG
- Common Sense Media
- Cyber Seniors
- DePaul University/Digital Youth Network
- EveryoneOn
- Girls Who Code
- GRAMMY Foundation
- Hispanic Heritage Foundation
- Mouse
- The Clubhouse Network Career Program
- Youth Radio
Our National Grants program is complemented by our Community Grants program, which engages our store employees to support organizations in their local communities that also focus on teens and technology. Furthermore, through our nationwide Geek Squad Academy technology camps and our 11 Best Buy Teen Tech Centers, we are inspiring underserved youth to pursue further education and consider careers in technology.
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