FREE PLATFORM • NO ADS • COMMUNITY OWNED
Your Internet, Owned By You!
Not a Corporation!
Join 400+ communities across America building internet networks they actually own.
Faster speeds, lower prices, no corporate middleman.
● 501(c)(3) Nonprofit | ● Platform Cooperative | ● Creative Commons Licensed
A WAY TO CONNECT
What is Community 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
OUR PLATFORM
Three Spaces, One Community
A comprehensive ecosystem designed to foster connection, education, and economic empowerment—
all owned and governed by its members.
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.
HOW IT WORKS
From Participant to Owner
Our “Exit to Community” model creates a pathway where engaged members progressively become the owners and governors of the platform.
01
Join
Create your member profile and connect with others based on shared skills and interests.
02
Learn
Take courses, join groups, and develop skills through our peer-to-peer learning system.
03
Teach
Share your expertise. Become a group leader or course instructor in the Learningplace.
04
Own
Graduate into cooperative ownership. Help govern the platform you helped build.
WHO WE SERVE
Working cooperatively will promote #DigitalEquity
We provide training and resources both to individuals seeking digital skills and to communities organizing their own broadband networks.
Our goal is to foster equitable access and sustainable community ownership of internet infrastructure.
LEADERSHIP
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