Digital Ecosystem Forum
The FCC’s Communications Equity and Diversity Council (CEDC) hosted this forum, and Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel delivered opening remarks. The innovation of technology has transformed almost every aspect of our daily lives – from how we learn, communicate, and develop professionally. The Diversity and Equity Working Group of the CEDC brought together industry thought leaders to discuss how the U.S. can provide digital and technology upskilling through multiple avenues, including via non-traditional local and regional anchor institutions, in order to create a more diverse workforce. This half-day virtual forum focused on the future of “work,” with the goal of providing tangible options to ensure that historically underserved populations benefit from next generation technologies. See the Public Notice for the full agenda.
Panel presentations included:
- Your Role in the Ecosystem: Key stakeholders raised awareness about the challenges to, and opportunities for, growth in tech education and employment in the technology sector. The stakeholders included training organizations that have focused on underserved communities, employers with programs assisting underserved communities, and public sector leaders with insights on new tech workforce models at the county and state level.
- Company Roles and Efforts to Upskill the Workers of Tomorrow: Employers with programs for upskilling, certification training, and apprenticeships, with a particular focus on creating a path towards full-time employment, shared their experiences. This segment focused on a discussion amongst employers about ways to make talent recruiting more inclusive and provide greater upskilling opportunities, particularly for underserved communities.
- Public and Private Sector Synergy to Employ the Workers of Tomorrow: This session helped identify successful public and private sector workforce models focused on “future of work” training, job placement, and employer engagement.
- How Are Non-Traditional Anchor Institutions Accelerating Digital Adoption and Upskilling: This session reviewed successful practices that non-traditional anchor institutions have employed, in their capacity as respected local institutions. The discussion focused on a wide breadth of training programs, ranging from junior high school through college, and examined how to maximize partnerships with existing state/federal institutions.
The forum was available to the public via live feed from the FCC’s web page at www.fcc.gov/live and on the FCC’s YouTube channel. The public could also follow the event on Twitter@fcc and via the Commission’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/fcc. Members of the public submitted questions during the panel discussions to livequestions@fcc.gov.
Members of the public may submit written comments to the CEDC using the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System, ECFS, at www.fcc.gov/ecfs. Any comments should be filed in GN Docket No. 17-208.
Related Materials