“This country needs a Public Internet Channel,” Rey Ramsey, CEO and chairman of One Economy, said at a June 8 press conference in Washington, DC. “This country needs to have 21st-century resources for everyone. This is an issue that’s universal, urban and rural.”

Barack Obama and Jack Kemp are promoting the Public Internet Channel (Michael Temchine, U.S. Newswire Photography)

One Economy was founded in 2001 with a mission of deploying broadband Internet access to low-income citizens. But the organization soon discovered that access alone was not enough.

“The silent twin to our efforts to deploy broadband is that issue of content,” Ramsey said. “What will they see when they go on the Internet?”

Expanding its scope to include content as well as access, One Economy established a Web site called the Beehive, which now brings information about a range of issues to more than half a million users a month. According to Ramsey, “The PiC will be a network of services and tools to build on the Beehive to help people find jobs, healthcare, information on emergency preparedness and opportunities for civic engagement.”

Access Is Just the First Step

“As we think about notions of the digital divide, access was just the first step,” said Angela Glover Blackwell, founder and CEO of PolicyLink and member of the PiC’s National Advisory Committee. “Now it’s about how do we use the technology to bridge the healthcare divide, the education divide…”

The PiC’s goal of encouraging civic participation was stressed by Mayor Martin O’Malley of Baltimore, Maryland, whose city will host the first local prototype site. “It’s not just a tool to make information accessible to everyone,” he said. “It’s also a new opportunity to give people a chance to speak out and get heard. With this new platform, people can be both users and creators of content.”

Barack Obama speaking at the PiC’s press conference. (Robin Weiner, U.S. Newswire Photography)

In order to encourage a broad scope of content, Ramsey said that the channel would invite contributions from a variety of content producers.

The PiC’s network of supporting organizations has not yet been unveiled, but the breadth of involvement by other groups can already be seen in the makeup of the PiC’s National Advisory Committee, which includes constituencies from community development to rural interests to civil rights.

A major purpose of the PiC, according to One Economy senior vice president Alec Ross,  is to unify disparate information sources on the Web. “Navigating to find the right content is challenging for people who are low-income or who have limited literacy,” Ross said in a followup interview. “The information’s out there, and a public-private partnership like the PiC can help create some efficiencies that aren’t there currently.” The PiC will also rely on video content to reach constituents with limited literacy.

From Local to National

Several pilot sites, starting with Baltimore, will be launched during the next year. By creating and acquiring content for the pilot sites with a strong local flavor, the channel’s founders hope to bring users information relevant to their own communities. The pilot sites will be the drivers of what will eventually be a national resource, according to Ross. The national site is scheduled to take off within the next 24 months.

One Economy’s goal is to raise $20 million in private capital for the project. While there are currently no plans to request public funding, the PiC’s founders still view it as a public project. “By calling this the Public Internet Channel, we’re saying that there should be a Web property with a compelling public purpose rather than simply trying to make money,” says Ross.

Both Republican and Democratic politicians appeared at the press conference with Ramsey to declare their support. Senator Barack Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, who will serve as honorary co-chair of the PiC along with Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, said, “The PiC will help make the Internet useful for something other than downloading music. Social entrepreneurs like Rey Ramsey will use the Internet to revolutionize the delivery of information about social services. If we do this right, the PiC will do for accessing social services what Yahoo! has done for accessing entertainment.”

Former Republican Congressman Jack Kemp, a member of PiC’s National Advisory Committee, added, “As we enter this Digital Age, the PiC is an absolutely huge idea, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

“I have this vision of people in Silicon Valley working in a garage. My dream is to make sure that those great minds apply that thinking to some of America’s biggest problems,” Ramsey said. “The PiC is not a government effort. It’s not a nonprofit effort. It’s an American effort. We want people to be online, not in line.”