Part II: Advocating digital literacy

FierceTelecom: Given all the pressing policy issues confronting the Latino community--including immigration, education, job creation--why should they be concerned about technology and broadband?

Llorenz: Broadband is an enabler for all communities. Jason LlorenzWhen we look at the numerous policies, economic, social challenges that the Latino community have, we know that broadband is one way to address many of them. We know that technology and digital literacy and making sure that we get our community using technology on a daily basis is just one way to help our community to advance. I also think if you take broadband out of the box, it's not just technology for technology sake or broadband for broadband sake, but rather that we believe that technology and those digital skills really have an impact on our communities and increase quality of life.

FierceTelecom: What excites you about technology and how does HTTP fit into that excitement?    

Llorenz: I have spent almost my entire career working on issues that impassion me. When you look at organizations focused solely on Latino issues, the thing that excites me is what can we do tomorrow? What are the possibilities for us that we haven't even invented yet? The thing that's always impassioned me is helping the community to grow and asking what we could tomorrow that we're not doing today? When it comes to jobs, economic development or connecting to the world, the majority of the enriching opportunities of the 21st century technology, the Internet and broadband are at the center of those things. My passion for the technology and the Latino community is perfectly aligned with helping our community to do better, learn better and to grow.

FierceTelecom: What are the challenges in educating the community about the utility of broadband?

Jason LlorenzLlorenz: We have a job to do, which is about educating the community to understand the value of broadband and also to adopt. Even in some communities where broadband is available, you still have a choice of not adopting it because either some communities haven't quite seen the value or don't attribute enough value to it or because of price. Our work has to be focused in both evangelizing technology and digital skills for families so they can think of a high speed Internet connection as an investment in their future. We also have to continue to advocate for policy that we think will ultimately lower prices and create more affordable service offerings through novel business models that are being developed every day. It's definitely a two pronged approach.

FierceTelecom: With the opportunity to lead the direction of HTTP, do you expect to make any changes or introduce anything new to the organization?

Llorenz: It is very early on in my tenure at HTTP, but when you have a coalition that's made up of the most venerable voices in the community. Really, the organizations that make it up or make up the voices for the Latino community across so many sectors of the economy. The biggest thing that pops out in my mind is the opportunities to raise those voices and engage more of the coalition and position the leaders that make up our coalition in advocating for our technology policy.

Part II: Advocating digital literacy