Louisville, Kentucky wins Google award for getting online (updated)

Thursday August 28, 2014

Awarded 200 Samsung Chromebooks to help more
businesses & citizens get online

The city’s efforts to get more businesses online has led to Louisville being named one of three winners of the national Get Your Business Online City Challenge sponsored by Google and the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM).

More than 150 mayors and their cities participated in the City Challenge, which Google launched with the USCM in June, 2013. Cities held events, conducted outreach and formed partnerships to encourage local businesses to get online. The winning cities were selected for their creative, far reaching and scalable efforts.

Louisville will receive a technology prize package valued at $50,000. It includes 200 Samsung Chromebooks that will be given to qualifying small business loan applicants, city community centers and others.

The Louisville Get Your Business Online team helped get businesses online through integration into Louisville’s Digital Economic Corridors program. Partnerships were formed with local business associations and community stakeholders to promote the program to thousands of business owners. Additionally, the challenge helped over 100 Louisville business owners create, at no cost, a Google+ page so their business would appear in Google search results and on Google Maps.

“This challenge provided a fun, creative way for us to encourage businesses to succeed in a digital world,” said Mayor Greg Fischer. “Now, with the donation of the Samsung Chromebooks, citizens in our community centers as well as businesses who never had access to the latest technology will be able to perform tasks online that many take for granted.”

“Over the next three years, businesses that make use of the web expect to grow 40% faster than those that don’t. Yet, 55% of America’s businesses don’t have a website,” said Soo Young Kim, Head of Google’s Get Your Business Online Program. “We are thrilled to see the great strides cities made in helping to get their local businesses online where there customers are.”

“As expected, our partnership with Google on the Get Your Business Online City Challenge has brought out the best in our nation’s cities with creative strategies for engaging small businesses in communities from coast to coast. We could not be more proud of the great efforts of our winners and the over 150 cities participating in the challenge,” said US Conference of Mayors CEO and executive director Tom Cochran.

About the United States Conference of Mayors

The United States Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are nearly 1,400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/usmayors, or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/usmayors.

About Get Your Business Online

Get Your Business Online is an easy and fast way for small businesses to get online. Small businesses need to be online because their customers are. While 97% of Internet users look online for local products and services, 55% of small businesses do not have a website or online presence. Get Your Business Online provides small businesses with a free website as well as free tools, training and resources to help their business succeed online.