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Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives

NTIA launched the Minority Broadband Initiatives (MBI) in 2018 in partnership with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to work on solving broadband deployment challenges in vulnerable communities. In August 2021, NTIA established the Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives to codify NTIA’s work on the MBI. The OMBI, established within the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth, fulfills requirements of the Connecting Minority Communities provisions enacted into law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.

The OMBI will continue NTIA’s efforts to collaborate with federal agencies; state, local and tribal governments; Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions; and any interested stakeholders to promote initiatives related to expanding connectivity and digital opportunities for anchor communities.

Related content


Department of Commerce’s NTIA Releases Final Rule for $268 Million Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program

June 15, 2021

WASHINGTON – The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today released the Final Rule for the Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program, which will direct $268 million for expanding broadband to eligible historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges or Universities (TCUs), and minority-serving institutions (MSIs).

MBI Helps HBCUs and TCUs Navigate Distance Learning Regulations

December 22, 2020

NTIA’s Minority Broadband Initiative (MBI), in partnership with the United States Distance Learning Association and the Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education, recently held a teleconference to brief Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) on new Department of Education distance learning regulations due to be implemented July 1, 2021.

Participants included 256 representatives of 63 HBCUs and 24 TCUs, including distance learning coordinators, chief academic officers, chief information officers and faculty. In addition, the presidents of several institutions attended the teleconference.

The Western Association of Schools and Colleges also described how the accreditation process is adapting to challenges facing schools during the pandemic. A representative from the Center for Higher Education Transformation stressed that these changes should be made consistently and that our regulatory system should help promote innovation in higher education rather than make it more difficult.

You can watch the teleconference in its entirety. For more information about the MBI, or to learn more about NTIA, follow us on Twitter @NTIAgov or visit our website at www.ntia.gov.

 

 

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