What is the name of your solution?
ENPWR U
Provide a one-line summary of your solution.
An ecosystem of community programs to liberate lower income families and give back their power to improve their social and economic position.
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
13.3 million single-parent families have experienced a deterioration in economic well-being following the recession of 2007-2009, and have continued to remain in a lower state of well-being since. Lower-income single parents in our economy often prioritize survival behaviors such as working multiple jobs, giving their children up to family members, or entering into violent relationships and behaviors to be able to maintain financial, food, and housing security. This is crucial as studies have shown children from lower-income families perform worse on academic achievement indicators, and display behavioral problems due to the environment of poverty.
When lower-income single parents go to internet search engines and social media to look up " resources and programs near me", " nonprofit programs near me", or “ programs and resources for children”, to find the help they need to alleviate poverty and support their child's academic achievement, these platforms only filter large organizations and companies who have paid for advertisements, or keywords forward, and do not display a full range of resources directly available in their zip code. Once a parent finds a resource that is fit to help their household it is often expired or not quickly accessible.
What is your solution?
ENPWR U creates an ecosystem of community-oriented programs to liberate lower-income families and give them back their power to access the resources they need to improve their social and economic position.
We provide a two-generation approach to developing a system that supports both parents and their children at the same time. We understand that parents living in poverty have a direct effect on the child’s academic and social achievement. We also see that impoverished environments limit parents' resources, but also limit spaces for children to freely express their creative genius, and have safe zones to build on academic achievement.
Through ENPWR U, parents and students have the power to directly find resources for themselves by simply typing in their zip code, and categorizing resources that will solve their current needs quickly.
We also vet partners who have the ability to address both generations, at the same time. We want the parents and students to receive the necessary educational tools together, to address poverty at the root and a generational level, making sure it does not progress past the child.
ENPWR U has a three-point action plan for resource and wealth equality that we stand by:
1) Build community resource ecosystems amongst nonprofits, forprofits, community organizers to generate community-centric programs that lead to direct approval of the single parents' social capital and their children’s educational and mental well-being.
2) Change and remove the media’s narrative and portrayal on single-parent households and lower-income communities. Lead with empathic storytelling of the truth about what our communities are facing.
3) Educate and hold accountable nonprofits, for-profits, and community organizers on how to not be a gatekeeper of resources and services, and work with each other's own experiences to unify and expand the ecosystem.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
We take a two-generation approach and target single parents and their children ages 10-15 years old at the same time. We aim to center the whole family to create a legacy of educational success and economic prosperity that passes from one generation to the next.
First, we work with single parents who are living in lower-income and poverty. We understand that they are often underserved in resources that provide support in areas such as financial literacy, food, housing, and escaping environmental violence and crime. From surveying these communities we understand that some of their biggest fears are, the displacement of their children, homelessness, hunger, and having to use extreme measures to survive. Our solution will provide a direct connection to resource providers that provide financial and credit education, housing programs, and resources on food pick ups and distributions.
Second, we work with children ages 10-15 who are living in lower income and poverty. We can see that their problems are generational and stem from the environments their parents are within. From this pressure, they are often underserved in resources that provide academic completion support, mental and emotional health, and hunger. Also, because of their environments, they often lack spaces where they can safely express themselves and explore their purposes. Without these spaces, it leads them to feel safe within violent behaviors. Our solution will provide them with a direct connection to academic and trade support programs, mental and emotional health resources, and creative programs that give them safe space to express themselves.
Lastly, we focus on immediacy. Through all the resources we will be providing to single parents and their children, our ecosystem is designed for them to filter and search for resources for daily life or immediate circumstances.
How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?
I am my community, and my community is me.
I take action to support single parents and their children because this is the life my mother lived growing up and becoming a single parent herself one that I lived also. We lived between this line of the middle class, and lower-income and family members such as my Aunt took care of me, while my Mom went to work. I can clearly remember her asking around, and searching for various activities outside of our community because she simply wanted me to understand that there was more outside of our reality of the world.
My experiences led me into a career of community activism and fundraising for non-governmental organizations before I decided to build ENPWR U from the feedback I was getting from community members in my work.
The key component to deliver this solution is our connection to the parents and their children. Our team takes three months in the summers and goes out and re-learn our community. We take a grassroots approach to survey them, and go door to door, meeting them in their households and common places to have genuine conversations to get an understanding of what are the problems that are a priority and what resources aren't being filtered into their environment. We maintain communication with our community members through email as we have found this is the most consistent way to reach them.
Their ideas and agendas are the first priority in guiding the design of our product. We have made the design of our product simple as a search and find with categories that our community members have told us are a priority in their lives. Our product is also searchable by zip code so parents and children can find resources that are closer to them, and alleviates the worries of finding transportation or childcare to go and receive help.
Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?
Facilitate meaningful social-emotional learning among underserved young people.
Where our solution team is headquartered or located:
Dallas, TX, USAOur solution's stage of development:
PrototypeHow many people does your solution currently serve?
130
Why are you applying to Solve?
We are needing help with market barriers such as product-market fit and legal support.
First, with market barriers, we have been operating in a space between directory-based software 501c3s and nonprofit software markets. Companies who are working in this field, often target their directories to help 501c3s in the area of volunteers and tax advice, but do not target community members. On the other hand, the nonprofit software market is also focused on helping build the internal structures or donations of the 501c3 and not the community members. Trying to figure out where we fit being community-minded first in the market has been a challenge that we are needing support on.
Second, because of our scalability and community connections we are starting to prep for fundraising and have been seeking legal advice, but have not found lawyers who understand our community first model, or have directed us on properly building out our departments and staff.
Third, it genuinely feels like we are stuck in without the support of like-minded individuals in this social impact space. We want to be a part of a peer group that wants to make a genuine change and can provide the love and support to do so.
In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?
Business model (e.g. product-market fit, strategy & development)
Who is the Team Lead for your solution?
Jasmine Fain
What makes your solution innovative?
We provide a tech-driven ecosystem to combat resource displacement in communities by leveraging software and data-driven technology. We’re able to categorize the resources to address poverty and educational gaps directly and offer them in a quick and accessible way. We specifically build for low-income and underserved single parents and their children. In the past and currently, these resources have only been available by filtering through search engines, social media sites, word of mouth from knowing keywords to an organization's name, or government funded resources. Also, most competitors in our field focus on the nonprofit or organization first in the areas of volunteerism and donations. We use technology to take the confusion and middle man out of finding accessible resources, and put parents and children first to enable two-way relationships between themselves and resource providers directly, which is becoming an increasing need when emergency or crisis times come up.
What are your impact goals for the next year and the next five years, and how will you achieve them?
Our Solution Goals Over The Next 12 Months:
1) Grow to impact and partner at least 5,000 single parents and children in low-income, underserved populations in the US to resources.
2) Partnerships: ENPWR U will obtain and provide 200+ partners that provide financial, housing, and food security for parents, and academic, mental and emotional, and creative passion programs for children ages 10-15 to help break through poverty environments and provide a linear way to improve households social capital. ( We currently have 80+ resources available on our prototype. )
3) Product and technology: Maintain the current prototype version of the resource ecosystem and plan to build out the next phase of our technology.
4) Content: Establish content partnerships with community organizers and members to create pieces that promote truthful storytelling rooted in justice and the actual lived experiences of parents and their children despite what statistics portray.
Our Solution Goals Over The Next 5 Years:
We want to continue to expand on our three-point plan, and provide solutions in three phases:
1) Liberate single-parent households and their children from poverty and education inequality.
Action: Continue to expand global community resource ecosystems amongst nonprofits, forprofits, community organizers to generate community-centric programs that lead to direct improvement of single parents and their children’s social capital on a global scale.
2) Reduce media stigmas on surrounding underserved and impoverished households, and increase accessibility.
Action: Change and remove the media’s narrative and portrayal by developing in-streaming technology for single parents and children to access resources from anywhere, but also provide resource providers the opportunity to reach communities at any time and from anywhere in the world.
3) Eliminate resource displacement in the US by 50% by 2025.
Action: Expanding to create accelerators and training programs that take a dual approach in training nonprofits, for-profits, and community organizers on how to not be a gatekeeper of resources and use each other's own experiences to unify and expand the ecosystem.
How are you measuring your progress toward your impact goals?
1) Liberate single-parent households and their children from poverty and education inequality.
Indicators:
The proportion of the population living below the national poverty line, by sex, age, household ratio, and education/trade status.
Growth rates of household expenditure or income per capita among the bottom 40 percent of the population and the total population.
The proportion of children ages 10-15 years old completing lower secondary education and achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics, by sex.
The proportion of children ages 10-15 years old not being charged with first offenses in our justice system.
2) Reduce media stigmas on surrounding underserved and impoverished households, and increase accessibility.
Indicators:
A proportion of the population reporting having personally felt discriminated against or harassed within the previous 12 months on the basis of a ground of discrimination prohibited under international human rights law.
The proportion of the population whose social awareness of resources available in their zip code is increasing.
3) Eliminate resource displacement in the US by 50% by 2025.
Indicators:
The dollar value of all resources made available to strengthen the statistical capacity of parents and children in underserved communities.
The proportion of nonprofits and companies that (a) have conducted at least one impact report in the last 2 years; and (b) have distributed at least 75 percent of their resources to parents and children.
The proportion of the population living in underserved communities with limited access to basic services such as food and housing security.
What is your theory of change?
Theory of Change for ENPWR U
Ongoing Problems
11.3 Million single-parent households and their children living in poverty or resulting in survival behaviors and a lack of education because of poverty.
Companies/media using people’s experiences against them and for profit.
Community resources are not directly accessible via the internet or social media.
Key Audience
Single Parents
Children ages 10-15
Lower Income Households / Living in poverty.
Entry Point to Reach Our Audience
Local Nonprofits / Community Organizers
Recreation Centers
Government Assistance Buildings
Schools / Academic Centers
Steps Needed to Bring About Change
Local awareness campaigns, and community surveys.
Organizing partnerships to provide financial, food, and housing security to parents, and academic, mental, and creative support to children.
Building an email list to stay in contact with community members.
Measurable Effects of Our Work
Parents and Children visit the website and register for partners' resources to educate themselves.
The ecosystem becomes national.
Community members actively refer others to us through email subscribers.
Wider Benefits of Our Work
Parents and Children get the resources and education they need to improve their social capital and education.
The ecosystem becomes global, and ALL people can get help from our site.
Healthy relationships with communities, and giving them the power to quickly access resources that make a change.
Long Term Change
Liberate single-parent households and their children from poverty and education inequality.
Reduce media stigmas surrounding underserved and impoverished communities.
Eliminate resource displacement in the US by 50% by 2025.
Describe the core technology that powers your solution.
Our ecosystem consists of a listing software intended to directly connect parents and children to community resource providers, and allow them to filter through available resources. This use of technology makes it highly scalable and accessible to reach a large number of people as community members are able to look for resources by their zip code and dropdown categories. In our next phase, we plan to build streaming software so resource providers can provide their content from anywhere in the world, and improve our geolocation services to pinpoint resources more clearly to communities.
Which of the following categories best describes your solution?
A new application of an existing technology
Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:
Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your solution address?
In which countries do you currently operate?
In which countries will you be operating within the next year?
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
How many people work on your solution team?
1
How long have you been working on your solution?
2
What is your approach to incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusivity into your work?
ENPWR U’s core word is Echad meaning “one” in Hebrew. We acknowledge that unity is what liberates people from social and economic challenges. We understand that through our own individual experiences we can create a better ecosystem for us all to live within.
ENPWR U holds seven core values that shape our principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and are committed to the anti-racism and equality work we do.
ENPWR U core values are central to our focus. We strive to include and provide equity to:
Faithful Relationships
We understand that change takes respect of experiences and working with people and not against them. We are willing to get to know our customers one on one to gain a genius understanding of how we can help.
Sustainable Solutions
We do not take more than we need, and our ecosystem liberates communities instead of using the members for company gain.
Liberation
We will not accept the bare minimum for our communities, and will fight to give people the power and resources to obtain freedom in their social capital and education.
Transparency
We will not hide the truth about what happens in or to impoverished and underserved communities, and will have open practices for all to see how we help make change.
Empathic Storytelling
We will not use and abuse the lived experiences of others for profit or notoriety. We seek to genuinely tell their stories.
True To Our Roots
Our Hebrew and African culture and principles are our heartbeat and will be celebrated openly with joy. Yahuah meaning “ I am HE who breathes life.” is the model we follow to breathe life into impoverished and underserved communities.
Systemic Justice
We aim to dismantle systems so that our community can unify together to create new blueprints.
What is your business model?
Beneficiaries
Single parents and children who are living in poverty.
Type of Intervention
Our resource ecosystem.
Key Resources
Our Brand and community relationships.
Sponsors and partners network to provide resources.
Key Activities
Connecting parents and children to resource providers and partners.
Providing educational content support and awareness.
Developing in-house programs with providers and partners for communities to use.
Partner + Key Stakeholders
Nonprofits, For-Profits, and Community Organizations
They work within the fields of:
Finance
Housing
Food Distribution / Food Banks
Middle School Education / Academic Support
Mental Health
Children Arts and Creative Activities
Cost Structure
Biggest Expenditures
Technology Development for Online Platform
Marketing
Operational Staff
Surplus
Where we Plan To Invest Our Profits
Marketing
Technology Development for Online Platform
Team Expansion
Internal Resource Expansion
Revenue
Sponsorships/Partnerships: 50%
Fees Paid per person for Program Matching: 50%
Beneficiary Value Proposition
Parents have the ability to be able to increase their social capital, and have a stable foundation to start building wealth from.
Children's ability to increase academic achievement rates, explore post-educational opportunities and have creative safe spaces to escape from poverty.
Impact Measures
1) Liberate single-parent households and their children from poverty and education inequality.
Indicators:
The proportion of the population living below the national poverty line, by sex, age, household ratio, and education / trade status.
Growth rates of household expenditure or income per capita among the bottom 40 percent of the population and the total population.
Proportion of children ages 10-15 years old completing lower secondary education and achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics, by sex.
The proportion of children ages 10-15 years old not being charged with first offenses in our justice system.
2) Reduce media stigmas on surrounding underserved and impoverished households, and increase accessibility.
Indicators:
Proportion of the population reporting having personally felt discriminated against or harassed within the previous 12 months on the basis of a ground of discrimination prohibited under international human rights law.
Proportion of the population whose social awareness of resources available in their zip code is increasing.
3) Eliminate resource displacement in the US by 50% by 2025.
Indicators:
Dollar value of all resources made available to strengthen statistical capacity to parents and children in underserved communities.
Proportion of nonprofits and companies that (a) have conducted at least one impact report in the last 2 years; and (b) have distributed at least 75 per cent of their resources to parents and children.
Proportion of population living in underserved communities with limited access to basic services such as food and housing security.
Customer Value Proposition
Directly access underserved parents and children if they don’t know how to approach those communities.
To equitably distribute funding and resources to statistically underserved parents and children.
To display their resources and solutions as the best alternatives to education inequality and poverty.
Channels
Local Nonprofits, For-Profits, and Community Organizations centers and spaces.
Recreation center
Government assistance buildings
Door to Door knocking
Schools
Common Place Centers ( Grocery stores, fast food restaurants, laundry facilities, etc. )
Do you primarily provide products or services directly to individuals, to other organizations, or to the government?
Individual consumers or stakeholders (B2C)What is your plan for becoming financially sustainable?
We plan to become financially sustainable by operating on a market linkage business model, in which we are focused on facilitating the relationships between our resource providers, single parents, and their children.
We generate revenue through sustained sponsorships/partnerships and fees paid per person who is matched to a program by a resource provider.
Solution Team
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Jasmine Fain Founder / CEO, ENPWR U
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Our Organization
ENPWR U