NTIA Awards CSD With $14.9 Million Broadband and Training Contract
CSD’s Project Endeavor will create approximately 60 new contact center jobs in South Dakota and help train up to 200,000 deaf and hard of hearing individuals on specialized broadband technologies.
Sioux Falls, S.D. (July 20, 2010) — The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced on July 19 that CSD has been awarded a sustainable broadband contract as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The contract, totaling $14.9 million over two years, enables CSD to implement a nationwide marketing initiative consisting of a combination of discounted broadband, technology training, and public access to videophones at anchor institutions for the underserved key population of deaf and hard of hearing people. CSD has named this two-year campaign Project Endeavor.
CSD expects to add 60 new staff, most of them proficient in sign language, to its contact center in Sioux Falls for voice, text, and video-enabled call support. CSD will also provide web-based visually accessible training content, along with a primary-residence connect plan that includes the last mile provider of choice available in that area. Project Endeavor will distribute customer premise equipment — like netbooks — to enable visual communications and access to next-generation remote video services. Overall, Project Endeavor provides a gateway to remote interpreter or captioning services, employment and job-seeking skills, and more readily available human services, by bringing broadband access to deaf and hard of hearing people who do not currently have that access.
The initial thrust of Project Endeavor is qualifying individuals for the program and then negotiating the last mile Internet service for qualified consumers who will receive Internet connectivity at a subsidized price, with a small monthly fee, depending on income levels. Some individuals who qualify will receive a netbook at no cost that is custom-detailed for video usage.
CSD looks forward to working with its two main partners — CoSentry (www.cosentry.com) and SDN Communications (www.sdncommunications.com) — as well as a number of community anchors and other deaf/hard of hearing and disability organizations in general to make Project Endeavor a success.
Another element to Project Endeavor involves CSD providing public access videophones (PAV) at community anchors like libraries, vocational rehabilitation offices, social security offices, schools, etc. The PAV is a next generation public phone with a video screen and keyboard, capable of making traditional phone calls, along with IP relay or video relay service calls. By placing PAVs in these community anchors, deaf and hard of hearing people currently without broadband access will be able to connect with CSD’s contact center at these various public facilities to register and qualify for Project Endeavor.
The contact center, besides qualifying consumers for Project Endeavor, is also available to help the consumers learn to maximize the equipment and broadband services in general. The Project Endeavor Web site will display a number of “how to” videos — filmed in American sign language, captioned and voiced over — so consumers can quickly learn how to maximize the entire scope of broadband services now available to them.
“CSD would like to thank President Obama’s administration and the NTIA for making such a public show of support for deaf and hard of hearing Americans who are currently on the wrong side of the digital divide,” said Ben Soukup, CSD chief executive officer. “Project Endeavor empowers deaf and hard of hearing people currently without broadband access to have the same opportunities to education, training, research and entertainment as mainstream America, and overall, brings this key population ‘into the now.’”
Project Endeavor fulfills CSD's mission of providing access, awareness and independence on issues affecting deaf and hard of hearing individuals by providing consumers with an avenue to gain broadband access and all of the freedoms that go along with that access in the digital age. To learn more about CSD, go to www.c-s-d.org, and be on the lookout for the launch of Project Endeavor in the months ahead.
About CSD
CSD (a.k.a. Communication Service for the Deaf, Inc.) was established in 1975, primarily to provide sign language interpreting services to deaf and hard of hearing adults in South Dakota. Today, CSD employs over 1,500 individuals in offices across the nation, providing a broad continuum of social and human services programs, as well as telecommunications relay services. CSD is a private nonprofit agency dedicated to providing quality services; ensuring public accessibility; and increasing awareness of issues affecting the deaf, hard of hearing and individuals with speech disabilities.