Vice President Biden Announces $25 Million in Funding for Cybersecurity Education at HBCUs

Today, Vice President Biden, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, and White House Science Advisor John Holdren are traveling to Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia to announce that the Department of Energy will provide a $25 million grant over the next five years to support cybersecurity education. The new grant will support the creation of a new cybersecurity consortium consisting of 13 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), two national labs, and a k-12 school district. 

The Vice President will make the announcement as part of a roundtable discussion with a classroom of cybersecurity leaders and students at Norfolk State University. The visit builds on the President’s announcements on cybersecurity earlier this week, focusing on the critical need to fill the growing demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals in the U.S. job market, while also diversifying the pipeline of talent in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The event and announcement is also an opportunity to highlight the Administration’s ongoing commitment to HBCUs.

Details on the Announcement

As highlighted by the President earlier in the week, the rapid growth of cybercrime is creating a growing need for cybersecurity professionals across a range of industries, from financial services, health care, and retail to the US government itself. By some estimates, the demand for cybersecurity workers is growing 12 times faster than the U.S. job market, and is creating well-paying jobs.

To meet this growing need, the Department of Energy is establishing the Cybersecurity Workforce Pipeline Consortium with funding from the Minority Serving Institutions Partnerships Program housed in its National Nuclear Security Administration. The Minority Service Institutions Program focuses on building a strong pipeline of talent from minority-serving institutions to DOE labs, with a mix of research collaborations, involvement of DOE scientists in mentoring, teaching and curriculum development, and direct recruitment of students.

With $25M in overall funding over five years, and with the first grants this year, the Cybersecurity Workforce Pipeline Consortium will bring together 13 HBCUs, two DOE labs, and the Charleston County School District with the goal of creating a sustainable pipeline of students focused on cybersecurity issues. The consortium has a number of core attributes:

• It is designed as a system. This allows students that enter through any of the partner schools to have all consortia options available to them, to create career paths and degree options through collaboration between all the partners (labs and schools), and to open the doors to DOE sites and facilities.
• It has a range of participating higher education institutions. With Norfolk State University as a the lead, the consortium includes a K-12 school district, a two-year technical college, as well as four-year public and private universities that offer graduate degrees.
• Built to change to evolving employer needs: To be successful in the long term, this program is designed to be sufficiently flexible in its organization to reflect the unique regional priorities that Universities have in faculty research and developing STEM disciplines and skills, and DOE site targets for research and critical skill development. 
• Diversifying the pipeline by working with leading minority-serving institutions: As the President stated in Executive Order 13532, “Promoting Excellence, Innovation, and Sustainability at Historically Black Colleges and Universities” in February 2010, America’s HBCUs, for over 150 years, have produced many of the Nation’s leaders in science, business, government, academia, and the military, and have provided generations of American men and women with hope and educational opportunity. 

The full list of participating consortium members are:

Virginia
Norfolk State University (lead)

Georgia
Clark Atlanta University
Paine College

Maryland
Bowie State University

North Carolina
North Carolina A&T State University

South Carolina
Allen University
Benedict College
Claflin University
Denmark Technical College
Morris College
South Carolina State University
Voorhees College
Charleston County School District

US Virgin Islands
University of the Virgin Islands  

California
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

New Mexico
Sandia National Laboratories

FACT SHEET: White House Unveils New Steps to Strengthen Working Families Across America

Tomorrow, the President will unveil new proposals to strengthen the middle class by giving working families the flexibility to balance their families and jobs and giving all Americans the opportunity to earn sick days.  Building on the steps the Administration announced last year during the first-ever White House Summit on Working Families, tomorrow’s announcement includes:

• Calling on Congress, as well as States and cities, to pass legislation that would allow millions of working Americans to earn up to seven days of paid sick time per year;
• Proposing more than $2 billion in new funds to encourage states to develop paid family and medical leave programs and announcing that the Department of Labor will use $1 million in existing funds to help States and municipalities conduct feasibility studies; and
• Modernizing the Federal workplace by signing a Presidential Memorandum directing agencies to advance up to six weeks of paid sick leave for parents with a new child and calling on Congress to pass legislation giving federal employees an additional six weeks of paid parental leave. 

The challenge of balancing work and family has grown as families have shifted so that today in most families all parents work and all parents contribute to caregiving.  Across married and single parent families, all parents are working in more than 60 percent of households with children, up from 40 percent in 1965.  And today, more than 60 percent of women with children under the age of 5 participate in the labor force, compared with around 30 percent in the 1970s.  Yet the fundamental structure of work has not kept pace with the changing American family, and many families are struggling to balance obligations at home and on the job. In fact, the United States remains the only developed country in the world that does not offer paid maternity leave.

That is why the President is announcing additional efforts to help working families that build on the steps he announced at last June’s White House Summit, including support for states to design paid leave programs and a Presidential Memorandum that established a “right to request” flexible workplace arrangements for Federal workers and directed Federal agencies to expand flexible workplace policies to the maximum possible extent. The White House Council on Economic Advisers also released a report (http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/docs/leave_report_final.pdf) last June on the economic benefits of paid leave. From increasing the minimum wage, to equal pay for women, to workplace flexibility, to child care, to paid leave – President Obama is taking action on issues that impact America’s working families.

EXPANDING ACCESS TO EARNED SICK DAYS

When 43 million private-sector workers are without any paid sick leave, too many workers are unable to take the time they need to recover from an illness. Many workers will go to work sick, putting their coworkers and customers at risk of illness. And even if workers have access to paid sick leave for themselves, they may not be able to use it to care for sick children.  This forces many parents to choose between taking an unpaid day off work—losing much needed income and potentially threatening his or her job—and sending a child who should be home in bed to school. 

Just as importantly, a body of research shows that offering paid sick days and paid family leave can benefit employers by reducing turnover and increasing productivity.  Paid sick days would help reduce lost productivity due to the spread of illness in the workplace. And these policies can benefit our economy by fostering a more productive workforce.  Policies that better support working families can meet the needs of both employers and employees alike, and strengthen America’s economy.  For this reason, it is no surprise that many businesses see the benefit of employees earning sick days.  Two years after passage of a law requiring workers to earn paid sick days in Connecticut, more than three-quarters of employers responding to a survey indicated that they supported the new law, and employers reported that there were little or no negative effects of the new law on their bottom line.

Tomorrow, the President will:

• Call on Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act.  The Healthy Families Act, championed by Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Sen. Patty Murray, would allow millions of working Americans to earn up to seven days per year of paid sick time.  Workers could use this time to care for themselves or a sick family member, obtain preventive care, or address the impacts of domestic violence. 

• Call on States and cities to pass similar laws. While Congress considers the Healthy Families Act, states and localities should waste no time in passing their own laws allowing workers to earn sick leave.  In 2006, San Francisco became the first locality in the Nation to guarantee access to earned sick days.  In 2008, the District of Columbia followed suit, passing a paid sick days law that also included paid “safe” days for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.  In 2011, Connecticut became the first state to pass a statewide paid sick days law.  It was followed by California and this year, voters in Massachusetts supported earned sick days by overwhelming majority.  A number of cities have also recently enacted laws allowing workers to earn and accrue sick leave, including Seattle, Portland, New York City, Newark, San Diego, Eugene, and Oakland.

EXPANDING ACCESS TO PAID FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE

Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), many workers may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off without losing their job to care for a new child, recover from a serious illness, or care for an ill family member (roughly 60 percent  of workers are eligible for the law’s protections).  However, employers are not required to provide paid leave for these purposes and often choose to make it unpaid.  For too many Americans, unpaid leave is unaffordable. Moreover, evidence shows that mothers, who do typically take some time off in order to give birth, are more likely to return to their jobs and to stay in the workforce if they are able to take paid maternity leave. Tomorrow, the President will:

• Outline a new plan to help more states create paid leave programs. Three states—California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island—have launched programs offering paid family and medical leave, and President Obama believes that more can be done to promote state action.  His FY 2016 Budget will propose $2.2 billion in mandatory funding to reimburse up to five states for three years for the administrative costs and roughly half of the cost of benefits associated with implementing a program.  The President’s Budget will also include $35 million in competitive grants to assist states that are still building the administrative infrastructure they would need to launch paid leave programs in the future. 

• Provide new funding for feasibility studies.  The Department of Labor is announcing that, using existing funds this year, it will offer $1 million in new funding for its Paid Leave Analysis Grant Program, providing competitive grants to six to ten states or municipalities to conduct paid leave feasibility studies.  These grants will be administered by the Women’s Bureau and builds on the tremendous response to last year’s grant program that provided a total of $500,000 to programs in three states and the District of Columbia.

• Propose legislation to provide paid family leave to federal workers. While Federal workers already have access to paid sick leave and vacation time, the government has fallen behind industry-leading companies and offers no paid time off specifically for family or parental leave.  In order to recruit and retain the best possible workforce to provide outstanding service to American taxpayers, the President is proposing legislation similar to the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act championed by Rep. Maloney. The President’s proposal would provide Federal employees with six weeks of paid administrative leave for the birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child.  In addition, the proposal would allow parents to use sick days to care for a healthy child after a birth mother’s period of incapacitation or after an adoption.

• Take action to modernize federal parental leave policy. Tomorrow, the President will sign a Presidential Memorandum directing agencies to allow for the advance of six weeks of paid sick leave for parents with a new child, employees caring for ill family members, and other sick leave-eligible uses.  This will allow mothers the opportunity to recuperate after child birth, even if they have not yet accrued enough sick leave.  It will also allow spouses and partners to care for mothers during their recuperation periods and will allow both parents to attend proceedings relating to the adoption of a child.  Advanced annual leave is to be made available to employees for placement of a foster child in their home.  Finally, the Presidential Memorandum directs agencies to consider a benefit some agencies already offer—help finding, and in some cases providing, emergency backup care for children, seniors, and adults with disabilities that parents can use when they need to go to work but their regular care is not available.  Some agencies provide this benefit through their Employee Assistance Program, and it can help parents with a temporary need for safe care for their children.

President Obama Announces Presidential Delegation to the Plurinational State of Bolivia to Attend the Inauguration of His Excellency Evo Morales Ayma

President Barack Obama today announced the designation of a Presidential Delegation to La Paz, Bolivia to attend the Inauguration of His Excellency Evo Morales Ayma, President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia on January 21, 2015.

The Honorable Tom Malinowski, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, will lead the delegation.

Members of the Presidential Delegation:

Mr. Peter M. Brennan, Chargé d’Affaires to the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Department of State

Ms. Alejandra Y. Castillo, National Director of the Minority Business Development Agency, Department of Commerce 

FACT SHEET: Broadband That Works: Promoting Competition & Local Choice In Next-Generation Connectivity

Last November, the President outlined his plan to keep the Internet open to new competition and innovation by safeguarding net neutrality — which will help ensure no one company can act as a gatekeeper to digital content. But there is more work to do so that every American has access to a free and open internet. This is particularly true in areas where broadband competition is lacking, resulting in high prices and slow service.

Building on his net neutrality plan, tomorrow in Cedar Falls, Iowa President Obama will announce steps he will discuss in the State of the Union to help more Americans, in more communities around the country, get access to fast and affordable broadband. Communities like Cedar Falls have banded together to commit to broadband that works by bringing in new competition, leveraging municipal investments, and forming new partnerships to bring world-class Internet to places like this small Iowa town. 

High-speed, low-cost broadband is paving the way for economic revitalization not just in Cedar Falls, but in places like Chattanooga, TN, Kansas City, MO, and Lafayette, LA — all of which have Internet speeds nearly 100 times faster than the national average and deliver it at an affordable price. To help more communities achieve these results, support economic growth, and promote a level playing field for all competitors, the Obama Administration is:

• Calling to End Laws that Harm Broadband Service Competition: Laws in 19 states — some specifically written by special interests trying to stifle new competitors — have held back broadband access and, with it, economic opportunity. Today, President Obama is announcing a new effort to support local choice in broadband, formally opposing measures that limit the range of options available to communities to spur expanded local broadband infrastructure, including ownership of networks. As a first step, the Administration is filing a letter with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging it to join this effort by addressing barriers inhibiting local communities from responding to the broadband needs of their citizens. 
• Expanding the National Movement of Local Leaders for Better Broadband: As of today, 50 cities representing over 20 million Americans have joined the Next Century Cities coalition, a nonpartisan network pledging to bring fast, community-supported broadband to their towns and cities. They join 37 research universities around the country that formed the Gig.U partnership to bring fast broadband to communities around their campuses. To recognize these remarkable individuals and the partnerships they have built, in June 2015 the White House will host a Community Broadband Summit of mayors and county commissioners from around the nation who are joining this movement for broadband solutions and economic revitalization. These efforts will also build on the US Ignite partnership, launched by White House in 2012, and which has grown to include more than 65 research universities and 35 cities in developing new next-generation gigabit applications.
• Announcing a New Initiative to Support Community Broadband Projects: To advance this important work, the Department of Commerce is launching a new initiative, BroadbandUSA, to promote broadband deployment and adoption. Building on expertise gained from overseeing the $4.7 billion Broadband Technology Opportunities Program funded through the Recovery Act, BroadbandUSA will offer online and in-person technical assistance to communities; host a series of regional workshops around the country; and publish guides and tools that provide communities with proven solutions to address problems in broadband infrastructure planning, financing, construction, and operations across many types of business models.
• Unveiling New Grant and Loan Opportunities for Rural Providers: The Department of Agriculture is accepting applications to its Community Connect broadband grant program and will reopen a revamped broadband loan program, which offers financing to eligible rural carriers that invest in bringing high-speed broadband to unserved and under served rural areas.
• Removing Regulatory Barriers and Improving Investment Incentives: The President is calling for the Federal Government to remove all unnecessary regulatory and policy barriers to broadband build-out and competition, and is establishing a new Broadband Opportunity Council of over a dozen government agencies with the singular goal of speeding up broadband deployment and promoting adoption for our citizens. The Council will also solicit public comment on unnecessary regulatory barriers and opportunities to promote greater coordination with the aim of addressing those within its scope.

Background: A National Need, And Solutions That Are Working

Today, too few Americans have affordable and competitive broadband choices, but some communities around the country are choosing to change that dynamic. As a result – as outlined in a new report being issued today – cities like Lafayette, Chattanooga, and Kansas City, have broadband that is nearly one hundred times faster than the national average, yet still available at a competitive price. By welcoming new competition or building next-generation networks, these communities are pioneers in broadband that works, and tomorrow in Cedar Falls, Iowa, the President is highlighting their remarkable success stories and providing municipal leadership and entrepreneurs new tools to help replicate this success across the nation. 

Americans in even our busiest cities often find only one or two providers offering broadband service, and often none providing them with fast, fiber-optic connections — despite the fact that many of cities are already equipped with fast fiber-optic broadband. At the same time, in too many places, residents do not have access to broadband in their home, or their speeds continue to lag while their monthly bills continue to grow.

Both of these challenges are driven by the lack of broadband choice in many American markets. In fact, three out of four Americans have no competition or no service at speeds increasingly required for many online services. Rarely is the problem a lack of demand — too often, it is the capital costs of building out broadband infrastructure and a combination of laws that prevent communities from providing incentives to attract providers. Competitive markets translate to lower monthly prices, better products, and better customer service. In cities across the country, new competitors entering markets have provided consumers with new and often faster alternatives, spurring investment from incumbents and providing consumers with more choice.

Many of the communities that have taken aggressive steps to improve their broadband have residential and business Internet speeds among the fastest in the world — faster, even, than in San Francisco, New York City, or Los Angeles: 

What sets these top-performing cities apart is that they have all taken dramatic steps to bring in more competitors, and enter into new partnerships to deliver top-quality broadband. Some specific examples of how creative thinking and partnerships are delivering faster, better broadband across the country include:

Chattanooga, TN — After investing in a visionary 1 gigabit per second broadband network, the City of Chattanooga is transforming itself into a regional center for technology and innovation. Today, Chattanooga is attracting entrepreneurs and computer programmers from around the country and boasts new business incubators and state-of-the-art public facilities. Investors have responded in kind. Since 2009, Chattanooga has gone from hosting close to zero venture capital to at least five organized funds with investable capital of over $50 million.

Wilson, NC — Through inspired leadership and the community mobilization, Wilson has been transformed from “the ‘World’s Greatest Tobacco Market’ to ‘North Carolina’s First Gigabit City,’ delivering speeds up to 100 times the national average, at a price North Carolinians can afford.  Unanimously approved by the city council, Mayor Bruce Rose believes this infrastructure “is absolutely essential to improve the economy and quality of life.”

Kansas City, MO — Kansas City was the first city to successfully compete for Google Fiber, the search giant’s entry into broadband service to homes and businesses, and today is being nationally recognized for attracting new start-ups, retaining existing business, and providing better municipal services and education as a result of this new and affordable broadband.

The new report released today by the National Economic Council and Council of Economic Advisers examines these remarkable stories in greater depth.