[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 64 (Friday, April 3, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18248-18250]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-07719]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5859-N-01]


Advance Notice of Digital Opportunity Demonstration

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Through this notice, HUD solicits advance comment on a 
demonstration designed to test the effectiveness of collaborative 
efforts by government, industry, and nonprofit organizations to 
accelerate broadband adoption and use in HUD-assisted homes. 
Approximately 20 HUD-assisted communities, selected from across the 
country, are anticipated to participate in the demonstration. The 
purpose of the demonstration is to provide students--and their 
families--the ability to benefit from life-changing opportunities that 
technology affords. Specifically, the demonstration will focus on 
providing students housed with HUD assistance the opportunity to 
improve their educational and economic outcomes through a range of 
efforts to narrow the digital divide.

DATES: Comment Due Date: May 1, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments responsive 
to this notice to the Office of General Counsel, Regulations Division, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW., Room 
10276, Washington, DC 20410-0001. All submissions should refer to the 
above docket number and title. Submission of public comments may be 
carried out by hard copy or electronic submission.
    Submission of Hard Copy Comments. Comments may be submitted by mail 
or hand delivery. Each commenter submitting hard copy comments, by mail 
or hand delivery, should submit comments to the address above, 
addressed to the attention of the Regulations Division. Due to security 
measures at all federal agencies, submission of comments by mail often 
results in delayed delivery. To ensure timely receipt of comments, HUD 
recommends that any comments submitted by mail be submitted at least 2 
weeks in advance of the public comment deadline. All hard copy comments 
received by mail or hand delivery are a part of the public record and 
will be posted to http://www.regulations.gov without change.
    Electronic Submission of Comments. Interested persons may submit 
comments electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
http://www.regulations.gov. HUD strongly encourages commenters to 
submit comments electronically. Electronic submission of comments 
allows the commenter maximum time to prepare and submit a comment, 
ensures timely receipt by HUD, and enables HUD to make comments 
immediately available to the public. Comments submitted electronically 
through the http://www.regulations.gov Web site can be viewed by other 
commenters and interested members of the public. Commenters should 
follow instructions provided on that site to submit comments 
electronically.
    No Facsimile Comments. Facsimile (fax) comments are not acceptable.
    Public Inspection of Comments. All comments submitted to HUD 
regarding this notice will be available, without charge, for public 
inspection and copying between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Eastern Time, 
weekdays at the above address. Due to security measures at the HUD 
Headquarters building, an advance appointment to review the public 
comments must be scheduled by calling the Regulations Division at 202-
708-3055 (this is not a toll-free number). Individuals with speech or 
hearing impairments may access this number through TTY by calling the 
Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339 (this is a toll-free number). 
Copies of all comments submitted are available for inspection and 
downloading at http://www.regulations.gov.

[[Page 18249]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Camille E. Acevedo, Associate General 
Counsel for Legislation and Regulations, Office of General Counsel, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street SW., 
Room 10282, Washington, DC 20410-7000, telephone number 202-402-5132 
(this is not a toll-free number). Persons with hearing or speech 
impairments may access this number through TTY by calling the Federal 
Relay Service at 800-877-8339 (this is a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Knowledge is a pillar to achieving the American Dream--a catalyst 
for upward mobility as well as an investment that ensures each 
generation is as successful as the last. Nations and local communities 
that cultivate access to global knowledge will thrive in an 
increasingly complex and technologically oriented world, while those 
that do not will struggle to keep pace. The adoption, associated 
programming, and use of broadband technology are powerful tools to 
increase access to knowledge. In the summer of 2013, President Barack 
Obama unveiled ``ConnectED,'' a bold plan to transform teaching and 
learning in American public schools through technology--built atop a 
challenge to ensure that 99 percent of students have access to high-
speed broadband in their classrooms by 2018.\1\ Many low-income 
Americans do not have broadband Internet at home, contributing to the 
estimated 66 million Americans who are without the most basic digital 
literacy skills.\2\ Without broadband and the skills to use technology 
at home, children will miss out on the high-value educational, 
economic, and social impact that high-speed Internet provides.
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    \1\ https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/k-12/connected.
    \2\ http://www.connectednation.org/sites/default/files/mn_digital_literacy_final.pdf.
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    Making this issue even more acute is the fact that the jobs of 
tomorrow will require robust technology skills. For example, over 80 
percent of Fortune 500 companies require job seekers to respond to 
online postings with a working email address.\3\ The digital divide in 
broadband access and use disproportionately affects certain Americans: 
Those who earn less than $25,000 annually; individuals who did not 
finish high school; and African Americans and Hispanics.\4\ HUD serves 
these populations. Eighty-four percent of households with HUD 
assistance make less than $20,000 per year, and 63 percent are African 
American or Hispanic (46 percent and 17 percent, respectively).\5\
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    \3\ http://www.fcc.gov/blog/fcc-chairman-announces-jobs-focused-digital-literacy-partnership-between-connect2compete-and-28.
    \4\ http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/broadband-technology-fact-sheet/.
    \5\ Using data extracted from HUD's Inventory Management System 
(IMS)/Public and Indian Housing Information Center (PIC) and Tenant 
Rental Assistance Certification System (TRACS), HUD computed 
estimates of residents' race/ethnicity and household income.
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    Research conducted by the National Telecommunications and 
Information Administration of the Department of Commerce has 
highlighted several significant barriers that deter the adoption of 
broadband technology by the communities HUD serves.\6\ These barriers 
include:
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    \6\ http://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/esa_ntia_us_broadband_adoption_report_11082010_1.pdf.
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    <bullet> Cost: The high cost of broadband installation and the on-
going provision of service.
    <bullet> Perception: Unease about the Internet due to safety and 
privacy concerns.
    <bullet> Relevance: The inability to see how the Internet relates 
to home or work life.
    <bullet> Skills: The absence of digital literacy skills needed to 
use online tools and services effectively.

II. Demonstration

    Every student living in public or assisted housing should have 
access to the opportunities broadband Internet connectivity can 
provide. This demonstration is designed to encourage and create the 
platform for communities to collaborate with their Internet service 
providers, other businesses, foundations, nonprofit organizations, 
educational leaders, digital literacy organizations, and others to 
narrow the digital divide in their communities and to test the 
effectiveness of a collaborative set of actions that address the 
barriers described above.

1. Making Broadband More Adoptable

    Through the demonstration, HUD will build upon existing work with 
private industry, public housing agencies (PHAs), local governments, 
philanthropic foundations, and nonprofit service providers. The 
demonstration will continue this collaborative work to improve the 
lives of students housed with HUD assistance by providing the forum by 
which cross-sector organizations can come together to design and 
implement local interventions to narrow the digital divide.

2. Criteria for Participation

    The number of communities served at the outset of this 
demonstration will depend on the number of communities that commit to 
narrowing the digital divide and that meet the criteria described 
below.
    HUD's goal is to identify a sample of communities from urban and 
rural locations that possess both small and large populations and have 
the capacity to effectively and expediently implement the demonstration 
for students housed with HUD assistance. HUD seeks participation by 
communities where local leadership has already taken steps to support 
the goals of the demonstration, as measured by both the community's 
participation in other complementary Federal initiatives enhancing 
Internet access in communities, as well as local broadband plans and 
strategies for implementation. Participation in the demonstration by 
these communities will build upon existing efforts already underway to 
expand Internet access, thereby building the comprehensive community-
school-home synergy that is a primary goal of the demonstration.
    HUD will use the following criteria to assess communities that have 
expressed an interest in participating in the demonstration:
    <bullet> The mayor or equivalent executive elected official of the 
community, and the PHA executive leader, must formally announce a 
commitment to narrow the broadband digital divide and in so doing 
demonstrate the connectivity gap that exists in their community among 
distinct neighborhoods and demographics.
    <bullet> Communities should develop a plan to promote and expand 
broadband access, adoption, and use.
    <bullet> To ensure presence of local support and leverageable HUD 
infrastructure for implementation of this demonstration, communities 
should be currently participating in two or more Federal place-based 
initiatives, such as: The Choice Neighborhoods program; the Promise 
Zones program; the Promise Neighborhoods program; the Byrne Criminal 
Justice Innovation program; the Strong Cities, Strong Communities 
program; the STEM, Energy and Economic Development program; or the 
Building Neighborhood Capacity program.
    <bullet> Communities should be broadly committed to realizing the 
``ConnectED'' vision in their public schools, including having clear 
plans to reach school connectivity goals by 2018--with substantial 
progress already underway.
    <bullet> Communities should have more than one Internet service 
provider, in

[[Page 18250]]

order to ensure a competitive marketplace in the provision of Internet 
services that leads to more affordable and higher quality services for 
households.
    The criteria are meant to create optimal conditions to accelerate 
the adoption and use of broadband technology. However, the criteria may 
be applied with reasonable flexibility to ensure that a diverse set of 
communities are considered for participation in this demonstration. As 
the demonstration proceeds, HUD will assess expressions of interest 
from communities and the availability of HUD staffing resources to 
support participation by more than the communities identified at the 
start of the demonstration. Additionally, as the demonstration 
proceeds, HUD will assess the effectiveness of the selection criteria 
on an ongoing basis. As a result of these assessments, HUD may expand 
the number of participating communities, revise the selection criteria, 
or both to reflect HUD's experience in implementing the demonstration.

3. Stakeholder Meetings

    In advance of commencement of the demonstration, HUD will sponsor 
or co-sponsor one or more meetings of communities, cross-sector 
entities, and other stakeholders to facilitate the sharing of 
information and identifying communities interested in participation in 
the demonstration. HUD will reach out to communities that have formally 
declared a commitment to close the digital divide and otherwise meet 
the criteria described above to participate in those meetings. HUD 
therefore encourages interested communities to take the necessary steps 
to meet the criteria as quickly as possible in order to be best 
positioned to realize the benefits of these discussions.
    HUD may partner with an existing entity that has a national 
organizational presence sufficient to provide a strong coordinating 
function across communities, government, and the private and nonprofit 
sectors. The entity should have significant expertise in next-
generation wireline and wireless networks. It should possess strong 
existing relationships with industry, foundations, universities, and 
nonprofit and non-governmental agencies. And, finally, it should have 
community project experience, including educational and outreach 
activities in underserved populations.

III. Evaluating the Demonstration

    HUD intends to build on the outcomes of the demonstration, with the 
goal of extending the demonstration on a nationwide basis. HUD will 
work with entities across the government and the broader research 
community to rigorously measure outcomes associated with work to narrow 
the broadband digital divide. The participating communities and cross-
sector entities are expected to participate in any efforts designed to 
identify and share best practices from the demonstration with other 
HUD-assisted communities. In addition, participating communities and 
entities will be required to collaboratively develop and subsequently 
measure and report outputs and outcomes.

IV. Solicitation of Public Comment

    In accordance with section 470 of the Housing and Urban-Rural 
Recovery Act of 1983 (42 U.S.C. 3542), HUD is seeking comment on the 
demonstration. Section 470 provides that HUD may not begin a 
demonstration program not expressly authorized by statute until a 
description of the demonstration program is published in the Federal 
Register and a 60-day period expires following the date of publication, 
during which time HUD solicits public comment and considers the 
comments submitted. The public comment period provided allows HUD the 
opportunity to consider those comments during the 60-day period, and be 
in a position to commence implementation of the demonstration following 
the conclusion of the 60-day period.

    Dated: March 30, 2015.
Juli[aacute]n Castro,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-07719 Filed 4-2-15; 8:45 am]
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