EveryoneOn

Connecting everyone everywhere to at-home internet so all Americans will be able to access online exclusive economic and educational opportunities.

More than 62 million Americans are not connected to the internet at home. They are disproportionately poor, rural and people of color. What keeps these families offline? The Pew Research Trust and the Cooney Center at Rutgers University report the main barrier is cost. High price, compounded by limited cable access in many areas in the U.S., forces low-income Americans into the digital divide and an economic chasm. According to Pew Research Trust and the White House Council of Economic Advisors respectively, more than 80% of people who found a job in the last two years found it online and if one is unemployed, one will be employed seven weeks faster if they have the internet relative to someone who does not.

To solve this problem, EveryoneOn has a 3-part model. 1) Create and Deploy Low-Cost Offers with Internet Partners: EveryoneOn partners with Internet service providers such as Cox Communications, Google Fiber, Sprint, AT&T, and next generation technology providers to help create and refine their low-cost offers. 2) EveryoneOn Platform of Low-Cost Offers: EveryoneOn created an easy-access platform where people can sign up for low-cost offers at everyoneon.org on a mobile device. This platform has been searched over 800,000 times. 3) Regional Staff and Partners: EveryoneOn's unique community outreach approach deploys our team of Regional Directors and network of over 700 community partners across the country, like the Boys and Girls Club, to reach families in everyday places: schools, grocery stores, church functions, and community events.

EveryoneOn is the only national nonprofit that connects families on the ground. We have been able to attain national scale but maintain impact on a community level. No other organization has the Offer Locator Tool families can use to access affordable Internet service, devices, and locate digital literacy trainings. We work with Internet service providers to create and deploy these low-cost offers, continually adding new providers to our platform. We maintain a nationwide network of partners across sectors who are driving Internet adoptions on the ground directly with families.

EveryoneOn created the Offer Locator Tool, a digital platform often described as a 'TurboTax for digital inclusion.' Families can use the Offer Locator Tool to access affordable internet service, devices, and digital literacy education. Families can quickly and easily access our Offer Locator Tool by texting, calling, emailing, visiting www.everyoneon.org or through our mobile app. Our Offer Locator Tool has the capability to reach a majority of the more than 62 million unconnected people who need internet connectivity. As we scale, we will leverage our platform's import to ensure high quality offers and experiences for low-income customers.

Our top three organizational goals over the next year are: 1) Connecting at least 100,000 people to the internet in their homes, this would keep us on pace for one million goal by 2020. 2) Our goal is to add over 50 community partners over the next year who will help us grow our network of force amplifying allies across the country in this work of digital inclusion. 3) Put out the first version of our Digital Inclusion playbook which will help our partners and other organizations replicate our work across the nation.

Within the next five years, we expect to accomplish two things. First, by the end of 2020 we will have connected one million people to the internet in their home, increasing their economic opportunities. Beyond 2020, our goal is to open-source our partnerships and best practices so that other organizations and actors across the country can help in the fight to pull all 62 million unconnected Americans out of the digital divide once and for all.

Our target user is the more than 62million people in the U.S. who are not connected to the Internet. From a survey of 935 offer locator tool users, we know 57% of users were interested in internet service to support educational activities, 12% were interested to support employment activities. Over 60% of survey respondents were between the ages of 18 and 49, predominantly Latino (30%) and African American (22%). Our users are primarily families and non-senior adults needing internet service to complete homework assignments, research job opportunities, and build skills needed to join tomorrow's dynamic and technology-driven workforce and economy.

We've connected over 500,000 people in 48 states. Impact is measured through research. According to the Federal Reserve Bank, students who have internet at home are 6-8% more likely to graduate high school as compared to students who aren't connected. According to the Pew Research Forum, more than 70% of students need the internet to complete homework assignments. According to a 2016 white-paper, if someone is unemployed and has the internet, they'll be employed 25% faster on average versus someone similarly situated who doesn't. That translated into entering the workforce almost 7 weeks faster and adding $5,000 more in wages.

Our founder and first CEO was Zach Leverenz who now serves as our board chairman. Our current CEO is Chike Aguh .. Reporting to our CEO, is our COO Vin Menon. Also reporting to our CEO is Norma Fernandez who leads our programmatic efforts in regions and nationally. Leverenz grew up in a small isolated Appalachian town in western Maryland where even today there is not reliable internet access. This isolation and lack of opportunity fueled him to dedicate his life to the social enterprise space and led him to found EveryoneOn.

Create and Deploy Low-Cost Offers with Internet Partners: EveryoneOn partners with Internet service providers like the ones mentioned previously to help create and refine their low-cost offers. EveryoneOn Platform of Low-Cost Offers: EveryoneOn created an easy-access platform where people can sign up for low-cost offers at everyoneon.org on a mobile device. This platform has been searched over 800,000 times.

EveryoneOn will grow over time through 3 main means. 1) Increasing exposure to our offer locator platform through targeting mobile advertising and turnkey advertising through our partners across the country. We seek to reach over 1.5 million total searches by the end of 2022. 2) Increase the amount of community partners we have across the country. We seek to grow them by 50% by the end of 2020. These partners are critical because these will be the partners that replicate our work across the country. 3) Creating our playbook for digital inclusion which will be curated modules of turnkey training, content, and plug-and-play partnerships that any organization can replicate. The growth accomplished by these 3 avenues will allow EveryoneOn and our partners to close this digital divide nationally.

We would use the support from Solve to: 1) Supporting and expanding our team working on the ground in various locales around the country and nationally. Specifically, we would focus these resources on personnel to grow place-based efforts like our 58-city ConnectHomeUSA initiative which is closing the divide in public housing and has already connected almost 80,000 (learn more at connecthomeusa.org). 2) Additionally, we would invest in our offer locator platform which has been searched over 800,000 times. This will allow us to reach more of the unconnected in more place because of its mobile friendly orientation.

Our greatest risk stems from the regulatory environment at the federal level which dictates how many actors in the telecommunications industry further or impede the work of digital inclusion. Due to the change in government there is a concern that telecommunications companies and other players may backslide on their digital inclusion commitments. To mitigate that, we have created even deeper partnerships with industry to show that our work has a commercial benefit to them.