FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 6, 1999
Contact: Morrie Goodman
202/482-4883

Ranjit De Silva
202/482-7002
Internet: www.ntia.doc.gov
 

WASHINGTON - Commerce Secretary William M. Daley today announced the award of a $90,027 contract for a study on the status of telecommunications capabilities of the nations's 116 historically black colleges and universities as part of a Clinton-Gore Administration initiative to help develop an information technology infrastructure that is accessible to all Americans.

Daley said the study, to be conducted by the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, will enable the Commerce Department to identify the technology and telecommunications needs of black college and university communities and help determine how the department can better assist them in accessing the Internet.

"Access to information resources is critical to taking courses, researching, finding a job or public information," Daley said. "In a society that increasingly relies on computers and the Internet to deliver information, it is important to ensure that all Americans have access to information technology so that they can continue to be a part of our economic growth and prosperity."

The study is part of several initiatives the department is undertaking to try to close the "digital divide"--the gap between those with access to information technology and those without. The department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, in a report issued in July, said that while more Americans than ever were connected to the Internet the gap between the information "haves"and "haves nots" persists and has widened significantly in the last few years, with minorities among those lacking access.

The contract for the study was awarded by the Commerce Department's NTIA. Besides helping NTIA determine the computer capabilities of the black colleges, the study will, among other things, help promote telecommunications innovation, research and engineering, foster the institutions' continued growth in the economy and increase opportunities for their participation in NTIA- supported projects.

The NAFEO is the only membership organization of all 116 historically and predominantly black colleges and universities in the nation and administers a number of programs that seek to strengthen their institutional capacities.