Pastor Jawanza Colvin - Olivet Institutional Baptist Church - Director's Cut
CINEMATOGRAPHER: CHRIS SAUL
EDITOR: CHRISTOPHER CHANG, SAINTS EDITORIAL
Over the past year, with help through the Grow with Google initiative, Black communities across the US are helping to close the digital skills divide.
One of these standout organizations with deep community roots is the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio. In the 1960s, the church worked tirelessly with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to expand voter registration, paving the way for Carl Stokes to become the first Black mayor of a major U.S. city. Today, under the leadership of Reverend Dr. Jawanza Colvin, community activism and social justice remain at the heart of Olivet Church and its associated Olivet Housing & Community Development Corporation (OHCDC).
Cleveland has the second highest poverty rate among big cities in the U.S., so pathways to jobs is one of Rev. Colvin’s top priorities. Some members of his community and congregation are struggling to get access to good jobs and oftentimes don’t have the training required to change careers. To connect residents with the resources they need to compete for emerging information technology jobs in Cleveland, Rev. Colvin and OHCDC teamed up with Grow with Google to offer the IT Support Professional Certificate Program—an online curriculum designed to prepare people for roles in IT support. By creating cohorts of learners who are going through the IT Certificate curriculum together, Reverend Colvin and the OHCDC are helping members of the Cleveland community prepare for jobs in a growing industry.