Meta

Facebook Community Boost: Helping to Create Jobs and Provide Digital Skills Across the US

By Dan Levy, VP, Small Business

Today we’re introducing Facebook Community Boost, a new program to help US small businesses grow and to equip more people with the digital skills they need to compete in the new economy.

Facebook Community Boost will visit 30 US cities in 2018, including Houston, St. Louis, Albuquerque, Des Moines and Greenville, South Carolina. Facebook will work with local organizations to provide digital skills and training for people in need of work, to advise entrepreneurs how to get started and to help existing local businesses and nonprofits get the most out of the internet.

Since 2011 Facebook has invested more than $1 billion to support small businesses. Boost Your Business has trained more than 60,000 small businesses in the US and hundreds of thousands more around the world. More than 1 million small businesses have used Facebook’s free online learning hub, Blueprint, and more than 70 million small businesses use our free Pages tool to create an online presence. And we recently created a digital marketing curriculum that will help train 3,000 Michigan residents in digital skills development over the next two years.

According to new research by Morning Consult in partnership with the US Chamber of Commerce Technology Engagement Center and Facebook, small businesses’ use of digital translates into new jobs and opportunities for communities across the country. Small businesses provide opportunities for millions of people (they create an estimated four out of every five new jobs in the US), offer useful products and services, and often provide a place for people to come together. In addition:

We want to do more to support communities across America – particularly for those who are transitioning to careers that require more digital skills. It’s why we’re introducing Facebook Community Boost.

Facebook Community Boost was developed based on requests from the small business community that Facebook spend more time in their cities and provide more training. We’re just getting started, and are pleased to partner with community leaders to learn where we can help. We are especially grateful to the governors and mayors representing each of the five cities where we’re starting in 2018, including:

We’ll be visiting 30 US cities in 2018, and we’d love to hear how Facebook Community Boost can help people in your city or town. You can share your story at facebook.com/tellcommunityboost.