CEDC Approaching End of Charter, Preparing Final Reports
The FCC’s Communications Equity and Diversity Council is preparing final reports and recommendations to the FCC as the advisory committee’s two-year charter approaches its end, said CEDC Chair Heather Gate at the group’s penultimate meeting Thursday. CEDC working groups updated the body on several planned forums and reports on best practices for digital upskilling, improving diverse access to capital, and providing broadband to underserved populations. The reports will eventually go to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel who will take them “under advisement,” said CEDC Designated Federal Officer Jamila Johnson. The agency didn't comment on whether the CEDC would be rechartered.
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The committee has two events planned to gather further information for its final deliverables to the agency.
On March 6, the Diversity and Equity Working Group plans a Digital Ecosystem Forum on the future of work, to “provide tangible solutions to ensure that historically underserved populations benefit from next-generation technologies,” said Working Group Chair Chris Wood, LGBT Tech executive director. The event will include panels on digital skills treeing and using nontraditional anchor institutions such as coffee shops or churches to reach minority populations. “We’ve heard over and over that we need to meet people where they are,” said Stephens College President Dianne Lynch, a CEDC member.
On March 23, the Digital Empowerment and Inclusion working group scheduled a public event on efforts to connect underserved communities with broadband during the COVID-19 pandemic. The event is intended to gather information on best practices for providing emergency broadband to help future efforts, said CEDC member Vickie Robinson, Microsoft general manager-Airband Initiative. The event dovetails with efforts by the same working group to conduct “listening sessions” with advocacy groups and government and private sector leaders who were involved in those efforts. There’s a need for data on such efforts, said CEDC member Christopher Ali, associate professor-University of Virginia Department of Media Studies. Early findings show a tension between the need to perform outreach and the lack of resources to do so, he said.
The Innovation and Access working group is preparing reports on barriers to entry and access to capital for diverse owners, and a toolkit designed to be used by states to implement digital upskilling programs, said that working group's chair, Robert Brooks of WHUR-FM Washington. It’s important for groups involved in those programs to be structured from the beginning to include metrics and data they can use to demonstrate success, Lynch said. Federal funding of broadband programs won’t last forever, and that data will be needed to move to foundation funding, she said. Gate said she has encountered entities wary of promoting federally funded digital literacy and other programs because the funding will inevitably run out. Efforts to promote digital literacy and broadband access can also be affected by disparities in resources and interest in different communities, said CEDC Vice Chair Nicol Turner Lee, director-Brooking Institution's Center for Technology Innovation, calling the issue an “incongruent landscape.”
The CEDC’s final meeting will be in June.