One Degree is a San Francisco based 501(c)(3) nonprofit tech company that helps low-income families find the resources they need to pull themselves out of poverty.[1][2] The site is available in both English and Spanish.[3]

Activity

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One Degree’s mission is to empower people to 'build healthy and fulfilling lives through equity-centered tech and deep community partnerships.'[4] One Degree operates as a ‘Yelp-like platform’, focusing on providing users with information on critical nonprofit and social service resources.[5][6] It is available as both a website and a mobile platform, and the online database allows both users and organizations to contribute information. One Degree also allows developers access to their data through an open API, allowing developers to build on that data.[7] To date, they have made 30,000 public services and benefits more accessible.

History

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Founded by Rey Faustino, One Degree began in San Francisco in 2012.[8] Since its founding, One Degree has branched out to the broader Bay Area[9]; Los Angeles; Summit, CO; Gainesville, FA; Northwest Detroit, MI[10]; Southwest New Mexico[11]; and New York City.[12] One Degree was launched with the help of the Kresge Foundation, Knight Foundation, and Google.[7][13][14]

One Degree’s funders include Tipping Point Community, Kung Guerra Foundation, Sunlight Giving, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, CommonSpirit, Anthony & Jeanne Pritzker Family Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, Walter & Elise Haas Fund, Yelp Foundation, Justice Justice Foundation, Westly Foundation, Leonetti/O’Connell Family Foundation, Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund, California Community Foundation, The California Endowment, Goldhirsh Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Echoing Green, Y Combinator, and All Stars Helping Kids.[15]

Since 2021, One Degree has supported a community health intervention in partnership with UCLA Harbor, UCLA Primary Care Pediatrics, Prenatal, and Family Medicine Clinics and the Olive View-UCLA Primary Care Pediatrics Clinic. This partnership focuses on addressing the social and financial struggles low-income families face by staffing clinics with financial resilience coaches. One Degree built an eligibility and screening tool to assist financial coaches in assessing the public benefits for which each visiting family qualifies. Subsequent evaluations have shown these tools to be successful.[16]

Also, in 2021, One Degree was one of five nonprofits to win the Google.org Impact Challenge. The funding won from this challenge went toward creating their "Common App", which will allow users to fill out one application for public benefits and nonprofit services, rather than having to fill out multiple applications.[17]

In 2023, One Degree renewed its contract with ACES-LA. One result of this contract is the creation of infrastructure for a referral network of One Degree’s database of 8,000 nonprofit and social service resources in Los Angeles County, streamlining the client referral process. As of 2023, One Degree sought to grow this closed-loop referral network.[18]

In October 2023, One Degree launched Stay Housed Bay Area, in collaboration with All Home. Stay Housed provides access to previously difficult to find resources that help people pay rent, respond to evictions, and assert tenants rights for those living in the Bay Area. [9]

References

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  1. ^ Joslyn, Heather (Jan 9, 2018). "How Millennials Lead". The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
  2. ^ Tebb, K. P.; Pica, G.; Twietmeyer, L.; Diaz, A.; Brindis, C. D. (Nov 14, 2018). "Innovative Approaches to Address Social Determinants of Health Among Adolescents and Young Adults". Health Equity. 2 (1): 321–328. doi:10.1089/heq.2018.0011. PMC 6238651. PMID 30450488.
  3. ^ Gorman, Anna (Dec 21, 2020). "ONE DEGREE Connects Patients to Key Resources". Health Services Los Angeles County.
  4. ^ "One Degree and ACES-LA Renew Partnership to Strengthen Social Care Referrals in Los Angeles". KTLA. Apr 5, 2023.
  5. ^ "New Yelp-Like Platform for Nonprofits is Next Step In Social Sector 2.0". Huff Post. Apr 1, 2013 [Updated Oct 24, 2013].
  6. ^ Lee, Thomas (Mar 1, 2015). "Rey Faustino helps other immigrants navigate array of services". SFGate.
  7. ^ a b "We cannot do this work alone: Rey Faustino MPP 2012". Harvard Kennedy School. Retrieved Sep 21, 2024.
  8. ^ "Echoing Green fellow Rey Faustino launches One Degree". EdSurge. Jul 11, 2012.
  9. ^ a b Fagan, Kevin (Oct 26, 2023). "New Website Seeks to Create Unified List of Bay Area Resources to Keep People Housed". San Francisco Chronicle.
  10. ^ "New digital platform connects Northwest Detroiters to vital resources". The Kresge Foundation. Apr 8, 2021.
  11. ^ Milligan, Kendra (Jan 25, 2021). "One Degree connects families around Grant County to resources". Silver City Daily Press.
  12. ^ "One Degree". One Degree. Retrieved Sep 22, 2024.
  13. ^ Cutler, Kim-Mail (Sep 9, 2015). "YC-Backed Non-Profit One Degree Opens A Search Engine, Portal For Bay Area Affordable Housing". TechCrunch.
  14. ^ Cutler, Kim-Mai (Mar 20, 2014). "YC-Backed One Degree Is A "Yelp For Social Services" That Helps Low-Income Families". TechCrunch.
  15. ^ "One Degree Funders". One Degree. Retrieved Sep 21, 2024.
  16. ^ "Medical-Financial Partnerships: An Innovative Approach to Improving Community Health". One Degree. Jun 28, 2023.
  17. ^ Glover, Julian (Nov 19, 2021). "5 Bay Area nonprofits win $1 million in Google.org Impact Challenge". ABC7 News.
  18. ^ "One Degree and ACES-LA Renew Partnership". One Degree. Apr 5, 2023.
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