One Degree is a technology driven nonprofit organization that helps low-income families access the resources they need to achieve social and economic mobility and, ultimately, improve their lives. Their platform has become the go-to tool for help-seekers – and the people who support them, such as case managers and social workers – throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles County.
They currently operate two major products: One Degree and One Home. Thousands of people in the Bay Area rely on One Degree’s core platform (www.1degree.org) to access health care, food banks, employment services, and much more. Through One Home (www.OneHomeBayArea.org), they are working to ensure every family has a safe and stable home by making it easy to find and apply for affordable housing.
Their Mission
One Degree’s mission is to empower people to create a path out of poverty for themselves and for their communities. They see a world without poverty, where everyone can find the help they need quickly and easily, and can hold their service providers accountable.
Their Story
Rey Faustino, One Degree’s founder and CEO, was inspired to start the organization through his experience growing up in a working class Filipino immigrant family in Los Angeles. While his parents worked multiple jobs to make ends meet, like many new immigrants, his family still faced the challenges of meeting their basic needs, such as health care, educational programs, and immigration services. Knowing where to go for help was simply too hard.
After moving to the Bay Area to work at a nonprofit organization serving low-income high school students, Rey saw that very little had changed in the social service sector in 20 years. While technological advancements and companies like Facebook, Google and Yelp were thriving, nonprofit and social services continued to use three-ring paper binders, and technology was not being used to benefit vulnerable communities. Rey founded One Degree to ensure everyone has access to the critical, life-saving resources he and his family needed.
