Our History
In 2015 Marcelo Claure, Sprint’s CEO and the founder of the 1Million Project, read an article about America’s Homework Gap.
Highlighting the fact that five million households with school-aged children in the U.S. are unable to do their homework properly because they do not have Internet access at home, the article included stories of children going to school two hours early to use their school’s network or sitting outside of fast-food restaurants late into the night, just to use access WiFi. Reflecting on how Internet access had shaped his life and inspired by the work Sprint had done with MBKA on ConnectEd, Claure believed more could and should be done. As a first step, he gathered a team to meet with education experts to more fully understand students’ needs. Armed with these additional insights, he then developed a solution that Sprint was uniquely positioned to lead and help deliver. In October 2016 and with the specific purpose of addressing America’s Homework Gap, Claure announced the creation of 1Million Project at a town hall event with President Obama. In less than one year the 1Million Project has evolved from concept to a national program that’s specifically designed to help 1 million high school students who do not have reliable Internet access at home reach their full potential, by giving them mobile devices and free high-speed Internet access.