Despite the exponential growth of minorities in America, diversity in technology continues to lag. Participation in the telecommunications industry has fared even worse.
But there is good news: the FCC’s Advisory Committee for Diversity in the Digital Age is trying to change that.
The need for the Diversity Committee at the FCC
“To grow and continue to provide services needed by the American people, the communications sector needs to tap the strength and vibrancy that flows from the diversity of the American people,” said FCC Chairman Michael Powell after creating the Diversity Committee in 2003.
The political winds have not always allowed for an emphasis on its mission to increase diversity of ownership or to create employment opportunities in the communications sector. However, with high unemployment rates – especially among Hispanics and African Americans at 11 percent and 16 percent, respectively – any proposal that would create jobs has gained importance.
Besides the need to decrease minority unemployment, nowadays, diversity is important to the bottom line of American businesses.
According to the Federal Glass Ceiling Commission report, “Organizations which excel at leveraging diversity…will experience better financial performance in the long run than organizations which are not effective in managing diversity.”
But even outside of management and business ownership, lagging minority participation in technology can be detrimental to the development of the next generation of American innovators. Without the means to connect through broadband, or even relate through more traditional telecom streams such as radio and television, minorities will find it difficult to find jobs, develop and grow their small businesses, educate themselves, or find vital healthcare information.
Despite this data, few organizations, private or governmental, in any industry, have successfully developed proposals for diversification…until now.
Making Diversity Happen
Since its inception, the Diversity Committee began making an impact on the digital divide – a term referring to the gap between individuals of different socio-economic circumstances vίs-a-vίs access to communications technologies.
Following the leadership of its first chair, communications industry entrepreneur Julia Johnson, the Committee recommended ways to diversify ownership of FM radio stations, as well as proposed tax incentives for diversity improvements and supplier diversity initiatives.
Today, the Committee is continuing to make a greater impact. Current Chair Henry Rivera is a former FCC Commissioner (also the first Hispanic FCC Commissioner), who has nearly 40 years of legal experience in the telecom industry. In addition to chairing MMTC, Rivera was also named one of the top 12 telecom experts in the U.S.
Under his leadership in 2009, the Committee developed the National Broadband Plan, which focused on broadband adoption, education, and training for low-income and minority families. Also, programs assisting underprivileged communities with access to telephone and Internet services such as E-Rate, Lifeline, and Linkup have also helped to close the digital divide and form partnerships with national nonprofits that help promulgate awareness and demand for broadband for minorities and lower income families.
The Committee made one of its most exciting recommendations in 2010, when it recommended the establishment of an incubator program designed to help promote minority station ownership.
The Future of Digital Diversity
With the recently re-chartered Diversity Committee, there is no doubt that digital barriers will continue to be broken.
Retaining accomplished advocates such as Chairman Henry Rivera, the Diversity Committee has added some of the nation’s greatest proponents of digital diversity to their cadre.
Notable members include David Honig, president and co-founder of MMTC; Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee, director of the Media and Technology Institute at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies; and José Marquez, president/CEO and founder of Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association.
The Diversity Committee’s Future
We have yet to see just how much of an impact the Diversity Committee will have on the future of minorities in telecom. But given its history, mission and talent, it is certain the Committee will be instrumental in continuing to propose legislation and programs that close the digital divide, create opportunities for minorities and disadvantaged people, and promote education, awareness, job creation, and stability.
For the sake of our country’s future economic development, we can only hope that is the case.
Justin Vélez-Hagan is Senior Contributing Writer and Commentator for Politic365.com. He is also the National Executive Director of The National Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce, an international developer of senior living facilities, and is a reservist in the U.S. Air Force.
Kurt Merriweather is the Director of Emerging Business Development at Discovery Communications. In this role, Merriweather is responsible for identifying and incubating opportunities that leverage new audiences, new products and new business models. Merriweather is currently forming a new organization within Discovery that will be dedicated to reaching the channel’s audiences across video, mobile and social media platforms. Prior to his current role, Merriweather worked as Discovery’s Director of Digital Media Business Development, as well as a business director for America Online and senior project manager for several companies.
Elijah Young is a serial entrepreneur who has had a hand in starting nearly twenty businesses since 2003. His most recent venture, 
Jose Mas (and his family) were our very first Multicultural Entrepreneurs of the Week when BBSJ was launched, and we believe he deserves the distinction again. Mas has been CEO of MasTec, a company that is building broadband and telecommunications infrastructure for the entire nation, since 2007. He is the latest in a line of Mas businessmen and women who have built the company from the ground-up into an employer over 10,000 people across the country. In the time since Mas has headed the company, its revenues have doubled and earnings have more than tripled. Last week, Mas was featured on the CBS reality show “Undercover Boss,” which follows senior executives as they work in disguise with lower levels of staff to learn about the inner workings of their companies and how they can improve upon them.
Apple computers and operating systems are widely considered safer and more secure than most other systems, an important factor for consumers in an age where hackers are running rampant online.
Unfortunately, Apple’s recent update to its latest operating system, the Mac OS X Lion, version 10.7.3,
included a security flaw that exposed passwords by storing them outside the encrypted area of users’ devices. When security researcher David Emery discovered the flaw last week, other experts provided tips for users to protect their data until Apple fixed the problem, including changing FileVault passwords and deleting the debug log file, named “/var/log/secure.log,” from the disk drive. Unfortunately, many consumers are simply not that tech-savvy, and they remained at risk until Apple released another update that addressed the problem.
