CommonLit nabs $3.5 million grant from Google

CommonLit, a D.C.-based nonprofit that provides a free online reading platform for students, just secured a $3.5 million grant from Google to help expand resources for teachers. The company made the announcement of the partnership on World Teachers’ Day.

Happy World Teachers' Day! @CommonLit and @Googleorg are incredibly excited to work together to further support teachers around the world. Learn more about our partnership here: https://t.co/Pgn8VaR8H2#edtech #literacy #WorldTeachersDay pic.twitter.com/eredRxwmzX

— CommonLit (@CommonLit) October 5, 2018

Michelle Brown launched the edtech nonprofit launched in 2014 out of 1776 DC to help teachers promote literacy through a free online reading program for kids. CommonLit was a part of AT&T’s Aspire Accelerator in 2016 and since then, has also secured a $4 million grant from the Department of Education and another $4 million in funding from backers like AT&T, Teach for America, the EPIC Foundation, Arthur Rock Foundation and others.

This new partnership with Google.org is not only going to help CommonLit expand, Brown said, but its going to help the edtech company collaborate with local education organizations like UNETE to pilot a Spanish-language version of its platform throughout schools in Mexico. CommonLit has a goal to add 500 reading lessons in Spanish for students by June 2020, according to a press release.