This morning I had the opportunity to attend One Economy’s public announcement of their latest initiative at the National Press Club. One Economy is a global non-profit association that uses some very creative approaches to bring broadband to underserved communities across the country. One Economy is led by Rey Ramsey and Alec Ross.Their latest initiative is called “bring IT home America” and it builds upon the great successes of One Economy. On that note, One Economy is already credited with delivering broadband access to 300,000 people and more than 13 million folks have used their online self-help tools to improve their lives. The current campaign has three-parts:

(1) Community Connections – One Economy has worked and will continue to work with communities around the world to build digital inclusion programs that include helping owners of affordable housing connect their residents to the internet. The current goal of the new effort is to collaborate with 75 municipalities to create “Community Connections” and bring broadband to the homes of an additional 500,000 Americans.

(2) Digital Connectors – The need for this program is exactly what I was discussing a few weeks ago. As you will recall, I was able to participate with NTEN (on the day of service) in New Orleans and One Economy is executing on such a training program. In this instance, they rely on young people to spread tech knowledge and demonstrate the power of being connected. One Economy’s program looks to engage 5,000 folks in this program that will provide about 100,000 hours of community service to their neighbors.

(3) Next Generation Public Media - This effort will go beyond Beehive and focus on delivering media that is geared to health, jobs. money, schools, and family. As Mr. Ramsey mentioned, “we will bring talent together to produce new kinds of media.” Accordingly, they have actor Robert Townsend on board to help lead this effort.Governor Joe Manchin III (West Virginia) also attended the event this morning and brought tremendous passion about their combined efforts to connect West Virginia. Check out my qik mobile video…

This is a very exciting organization and they get things done. Stay tuned for more reports about One Economy in the diner!