The FCC is enlisting members of AmeriCorps’ National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) to help consumers prepare for the June 12 analog shutoff.
Members of the AmeriCorps NCCC will focus on groups the FCC has identified for special attention, including low-income individuals, minority communities, non-English-speaking consumers, senior citizens, consumers with disabilities, and individuals living in rural or tribal lands. The FCC and AmeriCorps NCCC have signed an interagency agreement that will allow members to visit homes where individuals need help to connect antennas and analog TVs to digital converter boxes, help consumers apply for the $40 converter box coupons, make presentations at community events, serve in walk-in DTV help centers and otherwise publicize the transition to those consumers who haven’t yet taken the steps to convert to digital.
AmericaCorps NCCC is a full-time, team-based residential program made up of individuals 18-24 years old, and is devoted to strengthening communities and developing leaders through direct, team-based national and community service and is administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, which also oversees Senior Corps and Learn and Serve America.
Teams of 8-12 AmeriCorps NCCC members will serve under the guidance of FCC area coordinators and often will work side-by-side with FCC employees who volunteer to work in communities nationwide. The members will provide assistance in 49 at-risk communities that the commission has targeted as less prepared than the general population. The members will undergo FCC training before being deployed to the field and will gain additional assistance from the FCC coordinators once in their locations. Most of the DTV outreach work is above and beyond the volunteers’ primary service assignments and will be performed mostly in the evening and on weekends.
Denver has been selected as a test market for the partnership and the FCC will begin training members there next week in advance of early digital transitions planned for mid-April by several Denver TV stations.
AmeriCorps is one of several organizations being enlisted to help prepare the public for the transition. The FCC is also negotiating a contract with the International Association of Fire Chiefs as well. The commission is also preparing to issue RFQs to solicit bids for contracts to provide call centers, walk-in help centers and in-home installation assistance primarily in at-risk communities.
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