OAKLAND — Brandon Nicholson said his organization to lift young black men into good-paying tech careers was working on a shoe-string budget of “pizza, lunch meat and whatever computers” they could find before Google rained down some of its riches on The Hidden Genius Project this week.

Google awarded $5.5 million Wednesday night to a group of 10 Bay Area nonprofit organizations, including $500,000 each to Nicholson’s fledgling Oakland group and five other top vote-getters in the tech giant’s annual Bay Area Impact Challenge.

Another Google-funded project by the literary organization 826 Valencia will open a creative writing center for kids in San Francisco’s Tenderloin.

“We took over a building once occupied by a notorious liquor store on a crime-ridden corner, and it will be transformed into a place of creativity, hope, and fun,” Dave Pell, an investor, writer and 826 board member, wrote in an online pitch asking for support before the awards were announced. “This is what the tech community owes to the kids who live in the shadows of our high-rises.”

Other initiatives will mentor elementary school students in East San Jose and provide legal assistance to low-income families in the Bay View and Hunters Point neighborhoods of San Francisco.

A high-profile panel that included Harrison Barnes of the Golden State Warriors and Hunter Pence of the San Francisco Giants and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice narrowed the applicant pool to a select group of finalists this summer. Online voting to choose the top prize-winners began Sept. 29.

Big-city mayors, venture capitalists, activists and members of Congress took to social media to rally votes for their favored causes, and advertisements plastered on Bay Area bus stops encouraged residents to vote. About 400,000 votes came in, about twice as many as last year. In addition to the six organizations that won $500,000 each, four won $250,000 each and 15 won $100,000 each.

Nicholson said the grant will be a big boost for his organization, which has mostly been running on volunteer power since its founding three years ago but now has a staff of five with plans to expand its reach. Its flagship program provides intensive after-school workshops to black male high school students interested in future tech careers.

“It’s very much about promoting entrepreneurship and business fundamentals as well as leadership,” Nicholson said.

Contact Matt O’Brien at 408-920-5011. Follow him at Twitter.com/Mattoyeah.