Empowering Angelenos to build a path out of poverty and thrive with One Degree

Low-income families spend hours every week researching, finding, and traveling to multiple agencies to get the services they need. The users of social services have historically never had a voice in the system they rely upon. We are putting equity back in the system and strengthening L.A.’s social safety net.

We want 100,000 Angelenos to use the 1degree.org platform to access the support they need to prosper and reach their full potential.

Number of households below the self-sufficiency standard

Resilient communities

Residents receiving coordinated healthcare services

Trainings and/or in-person engagements

Create new tools or technologies for greater civic/political engagement

Influence individual behavior

We want to make it possible for low-income or vulnerable Angelenos to navigate the safety net of more than 6,000 resources and social services in L.A. County without the need for gatekeepers, and put the power to improve those systems in their hands.

Low-income families spend as many as 20 hours per week researching, finding, and traveling to multiple agencies to get the services they need. Families often use more than 12 different agencies a year in their quest to meet basic needs.

We believe that poverty in L.A. County does not have to be a life sentence. We want to make it easier for more of L.A. County’s low-income families to navigate the safety net of services without the need for gatekeepers, and put the power to improve those systems in their hands.

The One Degree platform makes the search for emergency food, shelter, or health services as easy as ordering a book on Amazon. Angelenos deserve an efficient, effective safety net of services. Low-income people and families have agency, and everyone should be able to access the support they need to prosper and reach their full potential. Every resident in the Los Angeles region should have the economic means and cultural capital to lead active, healthy lives.

The platform at www.1degree.org is a powerful connects low-income and at-risk families directly to more than 6,500 critical social services in L.A. County, including:

-- Urgent needs (crisis hotlines to overnight shelters)

-- Food (food pantries to nutrition education)

-- Housing (affordable housing to deposit and rental assistance)

-- Education (after school programs to life skills classes)

-- Health (prenatal care to mental health care and counseling)

-- Household (baby supplies to cash for utilities)

-- Employment (job training to resume help)

Users can find, manage, save, and track the services they are using. One Degree shows people resources that they are eligible for and the next steps to utilize them. Users can add ratings and reviews, and share opportunities with friends or family by email and text. This resource is live and available in L.A. County, but we want to launch a full campaign to grow usage and reliance on this powerful tool to improve lives. There are many of the LIVE metrics this activation will improve, but the three selected include:

√ Number of households below the self-sufficiency standard

One Degree gives families the tools to find social services that will help them close the gap to self sufficiency. For many families, these crucial services are the safety net they need in order to build a path out of poverty.

√ Resilient communities

One Degree’s platform is always available, no matter the neighborhood and on whatever device they might rely upon. The One Degree platform is intended to serve a broad spectrum of people who are seeking social services or help — even those who may be at-risk of falling into poverty for the first time in their lives.

√ Residents receiving coordinated healthcare services

One Degree’s tools give residents and clinicians tools to address social determinants of health such as homelessness, food insecurity, child care resources, job training, and more.

This is a unique moment in time: the rapid adoption of internet usage among low-income and at-risk populations has created an opportunity to radically transform the way communities address their own social needs. More than 90% of people making less than $30,000 a year have a cell phone, and 60% have a smartphone. One Degree is leading the way on designing and serving products for millions of underrepresented people and how they seek and consume services right now.

One Degree’s primary target population is technology-enabled, at-risk, young people (ages 18-34) and low-income families. This is a market segment typically marginalized and overlooked by mainstream technology companies, and includes an estimated 48 million people throughout the United States.

Our activation strategies include (but are not limited to):

-- Social media outreach including Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, and other emerging platforms where our audience spends time

-- Highly scalable and targeted digital advertising

-- In-person trainings and tabling at community centers, neighborhood festivals, and other gatherings across L.A. County with help from our collaborators

-- Partnerships with community based organizations (CBOs) to arm them with marketing materials so they can help spread the word and encourage their staff and clients to use One Degree

We will measure success by how many L.A. County residents not only use the platform to find resources, but utilize them to improve their lives.

Below are the top metrics we will use to analyze our work in L.A. County, and assess our progress.

-- Unique Users: The number of unique Angelenos who visit 1degree.org tools.

-- Active Users: The number of unique people that engage with our products on some level.

-- New Members: The number of unique people each month who create their own One Degree accounts.

-- Indicator of Relevance (IOR) Uniques: The number of unique people each month who took a specific action that indicates the information they found was relevant to them. Those actions include bookmarking a resource, downloading a document or housing application, sharing a resource, rating or reviewing a resource, etc.

-- Indicator of Access (IOA) Uniques: The number of unique people each month who took a specific action that indicates they not only found relevant information, but then also took steps to connect with that resource as a result of finding it on One Degree.

-- Utilization of Resources : Indicates that not only has a member accessed a resource - such as submitting an application - but that they received that service or resource - such as getting into housing. We are beginning to measure this on our platform through a number of pilots and beta features.

User research and community feedback are also essential tools to gauge the success of our activation.