Minority groups coalesce to focus on broadband

A coalition of national civil rights organizations today announced a plan to promote broadband adoption and literacy among minority and other disadvantaged communities and to include a joint application for broadband stimulus funding, issuing a report focused on promoting innovation in using broadband to solve education, health care and energy savings challenges.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) had encouraged groups to come together to accomplish joint goals in applying for stimulus funding.

The new Broadband Opportunity Coalition is also working with two other groups,  One Economy Corp. and the Joint Center for Political & Economic Studies, to both promote broadband adoption among people of color within the US and to measure progress and determine the best means of meeting challenges, said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League.

Broadband technology is not only under-deployed in communities inhabited by American minority groups but also under-utilized, Morial said, and part of the  Broadband Opportunity Coalition’s focus will be promoting use of broadband technology to promote better economic opportunities for minorities, including black, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander and Native American populations, all of whom are represented in the coalition, Morial said.

"Today we want to shed light on how historically communities of color are working together in a new and exciting way to leverage the transformational power of broadband and digital innovation and increasing the adoption of these…to create new job opportunities and new wealth, not only in communities of color but for the nation at large," Morial said.