State Utility Commissioners and Public Advocates

Organizations and Agencies Working in Related Fields

American Library Association
50 E. Huron
Chicago, IL 60611
Tel: 312.944.6750 or 280.2163
Fax: 312.944.6750 or 280.3257
ala@ala.org
www.ala.org
and
ALA Office for Information Technology Policy
1301 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Suite 403
Washington, DC 20004
Tel: 202.628.8410 or 800.545.2433
www.ala.org/oitp

Created in 1876, American Library Association members include school, public, academic, and research libraries, professional librarians, and individuals from across the country. ALA works "for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all." In Washington, ALA has an office for Information Technology Policy which focuses on issues of telecommunications policy that affect libraries and library patrons, including universal service and first amendment issues.

Benton Foundation
Andrew Blau, Program Director
Communications Policy & Practice
1634 Eye Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: 202.638.5770
cpp@benton.org
www.benton.org

The Benton Foundation's Communications Policy & Practice Program promotes public interest values and noncommercial services for the National Information Infrastructure through research, policy analysis, print, video and online publishing, and outreach to nonprofits and foundations. Its website contains updates on communications policy and upcoming events; a forum for discussion; publications such as bulletins, policy briefings, and working papers; and links to hundreds of online communications and public interest resources.

Center for Media Education (CME)
Jeffrey Chester, Executive Director
1511 K Street, NW, Suite 518
Washington, DC 20005
Tel: 202.628.2620
Fax: 202.628.2554
cme@cme.org
www.cme.org

CME studies and advocates for
the development of public interest telecommunications policy. It focuses primarily on children's needs in the nation's media environment. CME works with national and state advocates from the library, education,
and media community to provide increased access for at-risk children and their families. Its 1997 report, "Connecting C hildren to the Future: A Telecommunications Policy Guide for Child Advocates," helps child advocates understand the importance of promoting state and federal policies that support equitable access to and use of new information technologies, and the linkages between issues they care about and the developing information infrastructure.

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
451 Seventh Street, SW
Washington, DC 20410
www.hud.gov

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is the Federal agency responsible for national policy and programs that address America's housing needs, that improve and develop the nation's communities, and enforce fair housing laws. One of their many programs, Neighborhood Networks, encourages property owners, managers, and residents of HUD-insured and -assisted housing to form teams to develop computer centers where residents can learn job skills and become more economically self-reliant.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
1919 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20554
Tel: 202.418.0200
www.fcc.gov

The FCC is an independent government agency responsible for regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. It also maintains an extensive website with universal service proposals, calendars for hearings and decisions on regulations, and instructions for how to file comments in FCC proceedings. The site also has data on phone subscribership and policies to make phone service more affordable.

National Community Building Network
672 13th Street
Oakland, CA 94612
Tel: 510.893.2404
Fax: 510.893.6657
network@ncbn.org
www.ncbn.org

The National Community Building Network is an alliance of locally driven urban initiatives working to reduce poverty and create social and economic opportunity through comprehensive community-building strategies, including their publication, "Community Builders Guide To Telecommunications Technology." Their website provides daily headlines and policy updates of particular concern to those working to improve their communities.

National Consumer Law Center
18 Tremont Street, Suite 400
Boston, MA 02108
Tel: 617.523.8010
Fax: 617.523.7398
consumerlaw@nclc.org
www.consumerlaw.org

The National Urban Law Center provides support on issues involving consumer fraud, debt collection, consumer finance law, energy assistance programs, and sustainable home ownership programs. The Center addresses legal problems faced daily by low-income and financially distressed families ranging from repossessions, debt collection abuses, home improvement frauds, usury, and bankruptcy to utility terminations, fuel assistance benefit programs, utility rate structures, and utility deregulation.

National Foundation for the Improvement of Education (NFIE)
Carol Edwards, Director of Programs
1201 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: 202.822.7840
www.nfie.org

Created in 1969 by the National Education Association, the NFIE provides grants and technical assistance to teachers, education support personnel, and higher education faculty and staff to improve student learning in the nation's public schools. NFIE is home to The Road Ahead program, a $3 million program to support the use of communications technology in the classroom, funded by proceeds from Microsoft Chairman and CEO Bill Gates' book by the same name.

United States Department of Education
United States Department of Education Technology Initiatives
www.ed.gov or
www.ed.gov/Technology

The United States Department of Education website is a good source of information on Universal Service proposals, statistics on the percent of schools connected to the Internet, and examples of schools with comprehensive technology programs. The site also details the Administration's funding programs and policies on educational technology.

U.S. Office of Technology Assessment
Superintendent of Documents
Government Printing Office
PO Box 371954
Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7974
Tel: 202.512-1800
Fax: 202.512-2250
www.gpo.gov/ota

The Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), which for 23 years had advised Congress on technology issues, closed its doors September 29, 1995 after the 104th Congress voted to withdraw funding. Its website, which contains a number of dated but still excellent reports, can now be found at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School (www.wws.princeton.edu:80/~ota). Printed copies of past OTA reports are available from the Superintendent of Documents at the Government Printing Office.

Urban Libraries Council
Joey Rodger, President
1603 Orrington Avenue, Suite 1080 Evanston IL 60201
Tel: 847.866.9999
www.clpgh.org/ulc

The Urban Libraries Council comprises over 100 large public libraries and the corporations that work with them. Its members serve more than half the public library patrons in the country. Among its focal areas are promoting urban libraries as urban assets and supporting their members' efforts to serve urban youth.

Research Organizations

Baruch College Harris
Survey Unit
David Birdsell, Associate Professor
City University of New York
School of Public Affairs, F-2021
17 Lexington Avenue

New York, NY 10010
Voice: 212.802.5957
Fax: 212.802.5968
David_Birdsell@baruch.cuny.edu
www.baruch.cuny.edu

The Baruch College Survey Unit is a multidisciplinary team of scholars and practitioners at the School of Public Affairs. Since its inception in January 1994, the Unit has asked timely questions and supplied timely answers to government, nonprofit, and business policymakers with detailed opinion research and technical analysis and advice on a broad range of programmatic and policy concerns.

Computer Intelligence (formerly ZD Market Intelligence)
Ziff Davis, Inc.
3344 N. Torrey Pines Court
La Jolla, CA 92037
Tel: 619.450.1667
Fax: 619.452.6857
www.ci.zd.com

Computer Intelligence is a source of fact-based information on computer and communications industry trends, product developments, and buyer activity.

Economic Policy Institute
PO Box 383080
Cambridge, MA 02238
Tel: 617.547.2950
query@epn.org
www.epinet.org

The Economic Policy Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that publishes reports to broaden the public debate about strategies to achieve a prosperous and fair economy.

Educational Development Center (EDC)/Center for Children and Technology (CCT)
96 Morton Street
New York, NY 10014
Tel: 212.807.4200
Fax: 212.633.8804
www.edc.org

EDC conducts research on how different groups in society perceive and use technology. One of its projects, "Access By Design," develops approaches to increase access for under-represented groups, proposes ways to make technology more inclusive, and crafts a national agenda to promote equity and diversity in technology policy and practice. This project is a collaboration between EDC's CCT and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Educational Testing Service
Rosedale Road
Mailstop 04-R
Princeton, NJ 08541
Tel: 609.921.9000
Fax: 609.734.5410
etsinfo@ets.org
www.ets.org

In addition to being the source of all those educational tests we had to take in school (SAT, AP, GRE, ad infinitum), ETS also conducts research about trends in education, including education technology.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
www.nces.ed.gov

NCES is the arm of the U.S. Department of Education that collects statistics and publishes reports about the state of U.S. education. The website is an excellent resource for current data about technology use in schools and related demographics.

Nielsen Media Research
299 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Tel: 212.708.7500
Fax: 212.708.7795
www.nielsenmedia.com

Nielsen Media Research conducts research and publishes statistics and demographics about computer ownership and Internet access and usage, including their Fall 1997 CommerceNet/Nielsen Media Research Landmark Internet Demographics Study (see the previously listed "Surveys and Statistics,").

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press
1150 18th Street, NW, Suite 975
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: 202.293.3126
www.people-press.org

Originally a project of Times Mirror (1990-1995) and now sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Center conducts public opinion research pertaining to media and public policy.

Project 2000
Thomas P. Novak
Donna L. Hoffman
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN 37203
www2000.ogsm.vanderbilt.edu

Project 2000 is a research center at Vanderbilt University devoted to studying the commercialization of emerging media.

Quality Education Data (QED)
1700 Lincoln Street, Suite 3600
Denver, CO 80203
Tel: 800.525.5811
Fax: 303.860.0238
www.qeddata.com

While focused on helping corporations better understand the education market, this research company's data is very revealing, especially in terms of how much money schools spend on technology.

Thomas Rivera Policy Institute
241 East Eleventh Steet
Steele Hall, Third Floor
Scripps College
Claremont, CA 91711-6194
Tel: 909.621.8897
Fax: 909.621.8898
trc@cgs.edu
www.cgs.edu/inst/trc.html

The Institute conducts research and publishes reports about issues concerning the nation's Latino communities, including studies about computer ownership and Internet access by Hispanics.

State Utility Commissioners and Public Advocates

Many of the policy issues described in this report will play out at the state level. Advocates who wish to get involved should contact the following organizations to identify state regulators and consumer advocates.

National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC)
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Suite 603
PO Box 684
Washington, DC 20044-0684
Tel: 202.898.2200
Fax: 202.898.2213
www.naruc.org

In addition to educating its members (state utility commissioners) on utility regulation issues, NARUC also represents states in various utility proceedings at the federal level. The NARUC Web site links advocates and citizens to state utility commissioners who may be contacted for information about their state's regulatory activities or for filing complaints.

National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA)
1133 15th Street, NW
Suite 550
Washington, DC 20005
Tel: 202.727.3908
Fax: 202.727.3911
www.nasuca.org

NASUCA is an association of 42 consumer advocate offices in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Members are designated by laws of their respective states to represent the interests of utility consumers before state and federal regulators and in the courts.

Last updated: 7 July 1998 jss
http://www.benton.org/Library/Low-Income/resources3.html