Your Internet, Owned By You!
Not a Corporation!
Community Internet is a platform cooperative: owned and governed by the communities it serves.
We help neighborhoods build and run their own internet networks, and offer digital literacy courses and other services to help users connect with like-minded members.
● 501(c)(3) Nonprofit | ● Platform Cooperative | ● Creative Commons Licensed
A WAY TO CONNECT
What is community-owned Internet?
Community-owned internet is exactly what it sounds like: internet infrastructure that’s owned and operated by the community it serves — not by a distant corporation answering to shareholders.
Read our plain-language guide on how community broadband networks work, why they’re cheaper and faster than Big ISPs, and what they mean for your neighborhood.
Photo by NYC Mesh
About Our Services
Among our services is a comprehensive ecosystem of three spaces that are designed to foster connection, education, and economic empowerment.
Members can use these to take courses, purchase merchandise, and connect with others.
Meetingplace
Community-owned social networking without surveillance capitalism. Connect, collaborate, and organize around shared values.
✓ Member profiles & private messaging
✓ Interest-based groups & forums
✓ Commons-based peer production
✓ No ads, no data harvesting
Learningplace
A collaborative learning management system where students become teachers — and teachers become co-owners.
✓ Open & structured courses
✓ Peer-to-peer teaching model
✓ Exit-to-community pathway
✓ Skills-based credentialing
Marketplace
A member-owned exchange for products and services that keeps value circulating within the community.
✓ List products & services
✓ Circular economy model
✓ Member-to-member exchange
✓ Revenue stays in community
OUR MISSION
Restoring the Internet as a Public Commons
The Internet was designed to connect us like the sidewalk — open, shared, and equitable. We’re building the infrastructure to make that vision real again through democratic ownership, collaborative governance, and shared prosperity.
Our platform cooperative model ensures that every member has a voice, every teacher has ownership, and every community benefits from the value they create together.
Founded on 50 Years of Cooperative Innovation
Dr. Ron Suarez is a cognitive neuroscientist turned social impact entrepreneur with five decades of experience bridging technology, education, and community ownership.
He founded his first cooperative in 1971, pioneered AI training systems in the 1980s, built and sold a software company for $3.1M, and has served Fortune 500 clients from IBM to Apple. Today, as founder of the Broadband Institute, he’s applying that lifetime of experience to closing the digital divide.
Career Highlights Include Work With
Broadband Institute Foundation
LoudFeed, Inc.
NYC Mesh
Management Sciences for Health
Loomio
OpenCollective
Amazon Web Services
TuneCore
Amazon
IBM
Hewlett Packard
Harvard Business School
Gartner
Florida State University
Federal Express
ESRI
Lockheed Martin
Honeywell
Oracle
Motorola
Raytheon
Sprint
Sony
Schlumberger
Chase Bank
ThoughtWorks
University of Michigan
Wells Fargo
Yale University
USGS
JSTOR
ProQuest
Ford
Sun Microsystems
Chrysler
Apple
New York University
University of Virginia
Broadband Institute Foundation
LoudFeed, Inc.
NYC Mesh
Management Sciences for Health
Loomio
OpenCollective
Amazon Web Services
TuneCore
Amazon
IBM
Hewlett Packard
Harvard Business School
Gartner
Florida State University
Federal Express
ESRI
Lockheed Martin
Honeywell
Oracle
Motorola
Raytheon
Sprint
Sony
Schlumberger
Chase Bank
ThoughtWorks
University of Michigan
Wells Fargo
Yale University
USGS
JSTOR
ProQuest
Ford
Sun Microsystems
Chrysler
Apple
New York University
University of Virginia