[OPLINLIST] Fwd: [Michlib-l] WHITE HOUSE FACT SHEET: President Obama Announces ConnectALL Initiative
Janelle Thomas
jthomas.spl at gmail.com
Thu Mar 10 08:48:40 EST 2016
An FYI for those who may be interested in learning more about the
President's ConnectALL Initiative.
Best,
Janelle
*Janelle Thomas*
Director, Swanton Public Library
305 Chestnut St.
Swanton, OH 43558
4 <614-752-9178>19-826-2760, ext. 208
w <http://www.library.ohio.gov/>ww.swantonpubliclibrary.org
*This message and any response to it may constitute a public record and
thus may be publicly available to anyone who requests it.*
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary <https://www.whitehouse.gov/taxonomy/term/926>
For Immediate Release
March 09, 2016
FACT SHEET: President Obama Announces ConnectALL Initiative
*Delivering on the Promise of Broadband & Access to Technology for All
Americans*
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/03/09/fact-sheet-president-obama-announces-connectall-initiative
Connectivity is a path to greater opportunity. In today’s world, broadband
and fluency with technology fuel economic growth, provide access to the
world’s knowledge, promote skill development, and build stronger and more
connected communities.
During President Obama’s seven years in office, we’ve seen unprecedented
gains in wiring our nation for the future, including a tripling of the
average home Internet speed, covering 98 percent of Americans with fast
4G/LTE mobile broadband, and doubling the number of schools connected to
high-speed Internet. As a result, we’ve seen a technology sector that
spans coast to coast, the creation of millions of high-paying jobs, and a
revolution in the way students learn in the classroom.
To further our efforts, and to ensure that low-income Americans can seize
the opportunities of the digital age, *President Obama is unveiling
ConnectALL,* an initiative to help Americans from across the country, at
every income level, get online and have the tools to take full advantage of
the Internet. Today, the Administration is submitting its recommendation
<https://www.ntia.doc.gov/fcc-filing/2016/ntia-comments-fcc-lifeline-and-link-reform-and-modernization>
that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reform a $1.5 billion per
year Reagan-era phone subsidy program to turn it into a 21st Century
national broadband subsidy to help low-income Americans get online.
Alongside this FCC filing, the Administration is releasing a new study on
the economic importance of broadband
<https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/page/files/20160308_broadband_cea_issue_brief.pdf>
and calling for nonprofits, businesses, technology experts, and Government
to join a national effort *to reach the ConnectALL goal of connecting 20
million more Americans to broadband by 2020.*
BUILDING ON SEVEN YEARS OF BROADBAND GROWTH
Today’s announcement rounds out seven years of progress expanding
broadband, combining smart policy with unprecedented investment to deliver
faster connectivity to more Americans in their homes, through their mobile
devices, and where they learn and work. As a result, tens of millions more
Americans are online now than when the President took office; his ConnectED
Initiative <https://www.whitehouse.gov/ConnectED> has given over 20 million
more K-12 students access to broadband in their classrooms and libraries;
and 28 communities have come together under the banner of ConnectHome to
ensure kids living in public housing have a reliable way to get online and
do their homework.
ENSURING LOW-INCOME AMERICANS AREN’T LEFT BEHIND
Even with the significant progress we’ve made, more work remains to help
all Americans access the economic benefits of broadband, especially
low-income households. Families earning under $25,000 a year are about
half as likely to have the Internet at home as families that are the most
well-off. *A new Issue Brief
<https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/page/files/20160308_broadband_cea_issue_brief.pdf>
released today by the Council of Economic Advisers* outlines how being
offline is more than inconvenient; it creates specific economic costs,
especially for job-seekers unable to access online job search tools.
Today, because of a digital divide, low-income Americans have a harder time
accessing these tools, and unemployed workers without home Internet access
take a longer time to find employment. Given these costs, we cannot be
satisfied if broadband is out of reach for anyone in America, and today,
President Obama is acting to make that a part of the past.
*So today, the President is launching ConnectALL to ensure more Americans
have the broadband they need to get a job, engage their community, and
deliver opportunity to their children by:*
· *Increasing the affordability of broadband for low-income
Americans.* Today, the Department of Commerce’s *National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)*, on behalf of the
Administration, is filing comments in support of the FCC’s effort to reform
its Lifeline program to address the way people communicate in the 21st
century. When Lifeline was first created under President Reagan, it was
designed to provide low-income Americans with financial assistance to
purchase affordable phone service, so the most vulnerable Americans were
connected to the rest of the country. In 2005, President George W. Bush
expanded the program to include mobile phones. Now in 2016, when we use the
Internet to communicate more than ever*, it is time to modernize Lifeline*
and make sure that all Americans can access the broadband services they
need. The Lifeline reforms the Administration is recommending today would
give the 12 million households currently using the subsidy for phone
service immediate help paying their monthly broadband bill. And it has the
potential to benefit tens of millions more. The modernization we are
outlining:
·
- Encourages consumer choice. The subsidy should be flexible enough to
let low-income Americans choose the service plans that best fit their
families’ needs — whether voice, data plans, or in-home
broadband. We are
recommending a direct and portable benefit that consumers can
use to make
their own choices about what services they need and who they get those
services from.
o
- Coordinates Enrollment with other Government Programs*. *Those
eligible for Lifeline are oftentimes eligible for other government
assistance. Coordination will increase the efficacy and
functionality of
the program’s administration while also letting those who
need it most know
about the resources available to them. The proposed reforms
would allow
Americans to obtain education about or simultaneously enroll
themselves in
the revamped Lifeline program when they enroll in another
state-administered public assistance program, such as Medicaid,
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and
Tribally-Administered
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TTANF).
·
· *Initiating a national service effort to deliver digital literacy
skills.* To increase access to digital literacy training, the *Corporation
for National and Community Service (CNCS)*, the Federal agency that engages
millions of Americans in service and in developing community solutions, and
the *Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)*, which is the primary
source of Federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 35,000
museums, are collaborating on a Digital Literacy Pilot Project. AmeriCorps
VISTA members will support libraries, museums and associated community
organizations located in tribal and rural communities. The goal is to build
capacity and increase digital literacy efforts, complementing the
Administration’s work to increase broadband adoption among low-income
households.
o
- Additionally,* Make School*, a two-year college alternative that
teaches advanced coding and product development, is
announcing the creation
of a new tool that will teach the basic, but vital, skills
needed to get
people online and experiencing the benefits that the Internet
has to offer.
o
· *Increasing access to affordable devices*. In order to promote
the reuse of equipment no longer needed by the federal government, *the
General Services Administration (GSA)* will lead an inter-agency effort to
re-engineer the *Computers for Learning* program to expand access to
devices for more organizations that help provide digital literacy and
training for low-income Americans. Computers for Learning allows schools
and nonprofit organizations to take advantage of unneeded federal computer
equipment. In 2014, 38 Federal Agencies donated thousands of devices, and
the program’s reforms are designed to significantly increase these numbers.
·
· *Announcing the development of a tool to support broadband
planning*. To empower more communities with strategies to support and
accelerate local broadband planning efforts*, NTIA’s BroadbandUSA* program
is launching the *Community Connectivity Initiative,* which will create a
comprehensive online assessment tool to help community leaders identify
critical broadband needs and connect them with expertise, tools, and
resources for overcoming the challenges to expanded broadband deployment
and adoption.
·
- *The American Library Association; Blandin Foundation; ConnectME
Authority; EveryoneOn; ICMA, The International City/County Management
Association; National Association of Counties; National Association of
Telecommunications Officers and Advisors; National Digital Inclusion
Alliance; National League of Cities; New America’s Open Technology
Institute; Next Century Cities, NetworkMe, NTCA-The Rural Broadband
Association; Schools, Health, and Libraries Broadband
Coalition (SHELB); *
and* US Ignite* have come on board to collaborate with NTIA to
design and develop the tool.
- In addition, initial communities who will support the
development of the tool include *Ammon, ID; Arvada, CO; Baltimore,
MD; Bettendorf, IA; Boston, MA; Charlotte, NC; Greenbelt, MD
; Hopewell,
VA.; Hot Springs, AK.; Hurst, TX; Kansas City, MO.; Kenmore,
WA; Lenexa,
KS.; Oak Harbor, WA; Putnam, CT; SeaTac, WA; Red Wing, MN;
Sammamish, WA; *
and* Seattle, WA. *
- The Community Connectivity Initiative will build on NTIA’s
extensive work with communities across the country,
supporting broadband
planning, infrastructure deployment, public computer centers,
and a wide
range of community applications.
o
· *Bringing together private sector companies helping to deliver
affordable connectivity**.* Companies are also lending their support for
low-income families in their service areas. Today, Cox Communications is
announcing it will host more than 200 events across the nation for
low-income K-12 families, automatically qualifying attendees for their
low-cost broadband option. Later this year, the company will partner with
Univision to promote internet adoption through live programming, public
service announcements and community events in such markets as Phoenix, Las
Vegas, and San Diego.
·
· *Marshaling philanthropic support for digital inclusion**. *To
increase access to resources to support digital inclusion efforts under way
in communities across the country, later this year the Administration will
convene leaders in the philanthropic, non-profit, and private sectors to a
summit focused on building on our progress to date and delivering on
ConnectALL’s vision of connecting 20 million more Americans to broadband by
2020.
Joelle Tessler
Manager of Stakeholder Relations and Outreach
BroadbandUSA
Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
U.S. Department of Commerce
jtessler at ntia.doc.gov
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