Google is funding an initiative aimed at helping people living with disabilities through the use of emerging technologies, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The company has put up $20 million in Google.org grants and issued an open call to identify new areas of opportunity.

"The Google Impact Challenge: Disabilities will seek out nonprofits and help them find new solutions to some serious 'what ifs' for the disabled community," the search giant detailed. "We will choose the best of these ideas and help them to scale by investing in their vision, by rallying our people and by mobilizing our resources."

The initiative's initial $600,000 went to the Enable Community Foundation, which creates 3D-printed prosthetics for children, Fast Company noted.

The organization said in a press release that it would use the funds "to accelerate research and development through strategic partnerships, global design challenges," as well as develop self-service software that helps individuals and groups to use and further develop inexpensive prosthetics.

Ivan Owen, one of the nonprofit's directors, revealed that the Enable Community Foundation has used "powerful communications tools" such as Google Hangouts in its daily work.

"It is a truly wonderful thing to now have Google's direct support," Owen said. "This opens the door to more flexible models for developing ideas and discovering unique solutions to unique problems, including the ability for people to work together even when they are an incredible distance apart."

Google has given another $500,000 to World Wide Hearing, which seeks to make hearing aids more accessible to people in the developing world. The funds will help develop a smartphone-based kit for diagnosing and treating hearing loss, according to Fast Company.

The search giant, meanwhile, praised the innovative approaches both nonprofits have shown to help those living with disabilities, the Los Angeles Times noted.

"Each of these organizations is using technology to dramatically reduce the cost of and access to prosthetic limbs and auditory therapy, respectively, which could be transformative for hundreds of millions of people," Google said.