Indeed, the world’s number one job site, today announced it is investing $10 million to launch “Essentials to Work,” a multi-prong investment to help struggling job seekers in the U.S. get access to technology, transportation, and criminal record-clearing services. This work is in support of Indeed’s ESG/Social commitments to help 30M job seekers facing barriers get hired.

To help those without home access to the internet, Indeed has invested $5M and partnered with the national nonprofit PCs for People to provide computer devices, connect public housing properties to wifi networks, and deploy mobile hotspots to 10,000 income-eligible customers. Indeed’s community partners like Austin Free-Net, Refugee Services of Texas, Dress for Success Twin Cities, and other organizations across the U.S. are currently receiving the devices and will provide them at no cost to program participants who are income-eligible.

Indeed is also investing $1.5M in a partnership with Lyft’s Jobs Access Program to provide access to rides to job seekers who need reliable transportation to get to job training, interviews, or for the first couple of weeks of a new job. Individuals can also get a free ride to participate in the Essentials to Work program (e.g., to pick up a computer device or meet with an attorney for record-clearing assistance).

Finally, Indeed has pledged $2.5M to provide legal record-clearing services for job seekers who have prior arrest or convictions that are eligible for expunction or nondisclosure. Indeed’s investments will support services provided by legal assistance providers like Texas Fair Defense Project, Goodwill Industries of Kentucky, and East Bay Community Law Center. Checkr will provide technology-based solutions to job seekers who need help clearing their records.

“Job seekers struggling economically need high-quality work options now, and Indeed can help – that’s what we do,” said Parisa Fatehi-Weeks, Senior Director of Global Community Impact at Indeed. “We know that there are a myriad of barriers that can make finding quality work difficult. While the barriers we are tackling here – access to the internet, transportation, and legal help for criminal record-clearing – are only a few of them, they affect far too many people. We want to help.”

With this initiative, thousands of job seekers will have the ability to create Indeed accounts, resumés, and complete interviews through the job site. Indeed will aim to help these individuals get hired through support with setting up email addresses, finding additional job readiness services, and more.

Indeed continues to invest in its long standing partnership with Goodwill Industries International to connect job seekers and career advancers who come to Goodwill® with access to all of these essential services, including record-clearing, access to technology and career guidance.

Source: Business Wire