About BBOC
On April 1st, the Broadband Opportunity Coalition (BBOC), received a $28.5 million grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the United States Department of Commerce through the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). BTOP was created in February, 2009 through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), commonly referred to as the Stimulus or Recovery Act. The groups’ promised federal funding will be leveraged with approximately $23 million in matching contributions for a total project award of $51.5 million.
The BBOC is partnership amongst several of the country’s leading civil rights organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Urban League, the National Council of La Raza, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Asian American Justice Center, and One Economy.
OE convened the BBOC with the aim to create a sustainable information and support ecosystem that will overcome barriers to broadband adoption and leverage technology to produce enhanced socioeconomic outcomes.
The ultimate goal is to expand digital opportunities in communities of color. The bulk of this effort will manifest itself in the Connect Today, Change Your Tomorrow Campaign, a first-in-kind national awareness campaign focused on increasing broadband adoption.
As part the campaign, the BBOC and its partners will work to expand affordable broadband access, digital literacy training and online resources to non-adopters across the countries—which are overwhelmingly people of color.
The crucial aspect of the Connect Today, Change Your Tomorrow Campaign is the Public Service Announcements (PSAs) outreach campaign. Via radio and television, the BBOC members will work with broadcasters to disseminate carefully designed PSAs built around a simple theme: broadband is a basic necessity and adoption is an economic imperative. These PSAs target under-adopting minority and low income populations in communities across 23 major markets and the District of Columbia.
The goal is to reach 20 million people with these PSAs and change the lives of millions of low-income residents and minorities by bringing them to broadband.
About Cambia tu Futuro
The Broadband awareness campaign is a project in partnership with One Economy and the BBOC, the BBOC is a group of the country’s leading civil rights organizations. The campaigns goal is to promote broadband adoption in the underserved communities
About LULAC
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is a volunteer-based organization that empowers Hispanic Americans and builds strong Latino communities. Headquartered in Washington, DC, with 900 councils around the United States and Puerto Rico, LULAC’s programs, services and advocacy address the most important issues for Latinos, meeting critical needs of today and the future. For more information, visit www.LULAC.org.
About NCLR
NCLR—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org