An Evaluation of the

Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

Education Fund
DTV Outreach & Assistance Campaign

Executive Summary

Prepared by:
Tom Novick
For:
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund
January 2010

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In 2008, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund (LCCR-EF) received grant
funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to conduct
on-the-ground assistance operations in seven cities nationwide to work within targeted communities.
LCCR-EFs role was to conduct outreach and public education efforts on the transition to digital
television (DTV), and to provide direct assistance to those who needed it. Cities were chosen based on
criteria including demographic data, over-the-air (OTA) households, NTIA priorities, and the presence
of Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) member organizations and partners. The seven
cities LCCR-EF selected for on-the-ground operations were Atlanta, GA; Detroit, MI; Minneapolis-St.
Paul, MN; Portland, OR; San Antonio, TX; San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, CA (the Bay Area);
and Seattle, WA.

Certain demographic groups including African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, people who
rely on languages other than English, low-income working families, older Americans, and/or people
with disabilities were affected by the transition in disproportionately higher proportions than the
general population. These households were more likely to rely on OTA transmission for television,
and thus more likely to need a converter in order to continue receiving broadcasts after the switch was
implemented. Because the groups most likely to be negatively affected by the transition were
traditionally marginalized constituencies, LCCR-EF viewed the DTV transition as a civil rights issue.
It believed that as the nation prepared to shut off full-power analog television, it was important to
ensure that individuals in these communities knew that a national transition was taking place, and that
there were concrete things they could do to prepare for it.

LCCR-EF established programs in the seven cities starting in November 2008. A significant
percentage of NTIA funds that LCCR-EF received were passed through as sub-grants to local partners
in these cities. The goal of the campaign was to narrow the gap between national awareness efforts
around the DTV transition and NTIA-implemented coupon program and community-based needs, to
ensure that households most at risk had the necessary tools, resources and technical assistance to
continue accessing free over-the-air television. At that point, the transition to DTV was scheduled to
take place on February 17. The transition was ultimately delayed until June 12, which affected
program planning, but also allowed LCCR-EF to assist a greater number of individuals. Ultimately, the
LCCR-EF campaign team held 2,669 events and assisted 184,297 people in the seven cities. For
purposes of reporting these events ranged from one-on-one consultations to presentations at meetings
or gatherings to tabling and outreach at large public events.

In August 2009, LCCR-EF contracted with Tom Novick to conduct an independent evaluation of its
DTV Outreach & Assistance Campaign. The goal of the evaluation was to both document LCCR-EFs
work and to garner feedback that can help inform future program efforts.

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Executive Summary

The following key findings synthesize consistent feedback, lessons and recommendations from
interviews conducted as part of this evaluation.

The overarching finding of this evaluation is that LCCR-EFs DTV outreach effort successfully
reached large numbers of individuals in target cities and effectively provided direct assistance to
thousands of members of affected populations.

1. Overwhelmingly, participation in the DTV campaign was seen as a valuable experience. The
general perception was that the DTV Transition Campaign successfully prepared and equipped
community members for the DTV transition.

2. There is a strong consensus that local partner organizations gave credibility to the outreach
effort and helped assist populations that might not otherwise have been reached. Many of these
organizations built capacity as part of the DTV outreach effort and universally agreed that they
received good exposure from participating in the Campaign.

3. The DTV Campaign participants unanimously agreed that the opportunity to collaborate with
other organizations in their community was enormously positive. There was widespread
enthusiasm about the prospects for future collaboration.

4. The shifting timeline for conversion, as well as funding uncertainties, had an impact on both
program planning and delivery.

5. The shifting timeline which extended the campaign as well as the scope of the effort stretched
LCCR-EF internally and led to unanticipated challenges including expenses which were not
recoverable.

6. While there was buy-in for the overarching campaign goal to prepare under-served
communities for the DTV transition, there was uneven buy-in and clarity regarding specific,
local campaign benchmarks.

7. Although the majority of the partner organizations understood the need for accountability,
some organizations struggled with the reporting process, which may have contributed to some
confusion and uneven follow-through with reporting.

8. LCCR-EFs training and support was widely appreciated. In particular, partner organizations
found the campaign materials and specific assistance that LCCR-EF provided with the media to
be of critical importance to their success.

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 9. The majority of organizations viewed volunteers as playing a significant role in meeting DTV
campaign benchmarks.

10. There was uneven clarity regarding the overall campaign structure, with some concerns voiced
about the way that expectations were set and communicated between the campaign and local
organizations, and timeliness of feedback.

11. LCCR-EF staff felt that the campaign gave the organization an opportunity to experiment with
cross-division staff teams and new organizing and outreach models.

Evaluation Methodology

Three primary techniques were utilized to conduct this qualitative evaluation:

A. Interviews
At the beginning of the evaluation, I conducted initial framing interviews with LCCR-EF staff and
consultants to help design the overall evaluation and interview protocol. We then conducted 58 in-
depth personal interviews, both in-person and by phone. In these interviews, we spoke with a diverse
group of participants, stakeholders and experts, including LCCR-EF staff members, staff at partner
organizations, consultants, and outside observers at both the national and local level. These
conversations yielded a wealth of information. (A full list of interviewees is attached in the Appendix.)
Respondents were promised confidentiality in order to encourage frank conversations; input from all
participants could not have been more open or forthcoming. People shared their thoughts and
observations with remarkable candor in order to help develop an honest and comprehensive evaluation
and to improve future efforts. Quotes used in this report are unattributed, and are only cited when they
reflect a majority opinion.

B. Site Visits
Three site visits were conducted in order to gain a more in-depth understanding of the programs in
those communities: Seattle, Bay Area and Minneapolis. The evaluator attended the wrap-up
roundtables in each of the cities and also conducted one-on-one interviews with key participants.

C. Document Review
LCCR-EF produced and disseminated extensive documentation that clarified and explained the
program. We conducted an in-depth desk review of relevant written materials, including grant
proposals, budgets, overall field plans, outreach materials, and other documents provided by LCCR-
EF. Documents reviewed also included individual city campaign plans, weekly progress reports, and
summaries of roundtable wrap-ups from each city.

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Summary of LCCR-EF 2009 DTV Outreach & Assistance Campaign

Outreach & Assistance Campaign Mission

LCCR-EF received a grant from NTIA in the fall of 2008 to conduct a public education and organizing
campaign on the transition to digital television (DTV) and to provide on-the-ground assistance
operations in seven cities nationwide. LCCR-EF believed that working with those most affected by the
transition - underserved communities and constituencies who would otherwise be left behind made
assisting these communities important and relevant to LCCR-EFs mission. LCCR-EF believed that,
as the nation prepared for the shut-off of full-power analog television, the organization and its partners
could effectively reach deep into communities to help affected individuals know that a national
transition was taking place, and that there were concrete things they could do to prepare for it.

The LCCR-EF proposal to the NTIA outlined three major points, which would ultimately become the
goals and objectives of the ground operation:

1. Improve both the application and redemption rates for the DTV converter box coupon program
managed by the NTIA;

2. Assist vulnerable populations to locate and purchase the appropriate converter box; and

3. Provide technical assistance to vulnerable populations to ensure the converter box was
properly set up in their homes.

With these objectives in mind, LCCR-EF set out to target the following populations: African
Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, people who rely on languages other than English, low-income
working families, older Americans, and/or people with disabilities. The cities chosen for these
outreach activities were: Atlanta, GA; Detroit, MI; Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN; Portland, OR; San
Antonio, TX; San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, CA (the Bay Area); and Seattle, WA.

LCCR-EFs history of successful local and state-based coalition-building and outreach to diverse
communities in these cities gave them confidence that they would be able to hit the ground running in
order to help community members prepare for the DTV transition. This was particularly important
given the relatively short timeline; OTA broadcasts were originally scheduled to end on February 17,
little more than eight weeks from the launch of the program.

As noted earlier, the national switch to DTV was postponed from its planned February date. On
January 8, Obama transition team co-chairman John Podesta asked Congress to delay the change.
Citing concerns raised by consumer groups, Podesta said the government funds to support the change
were woefully inadequate, and asked that the planned date for DTV transition be reconsidered and
extended. Nielsen, which tracks TV audiences, found that more than 6.5 million households were not
ready for the transition. Many senior citizens and non-English speakers were in that group. Funds for
coupons to help consumers purchase converter boxes had run out, and more than 3.7 million

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consumers were on a waiting list to receive $40 coupons to buy converter boxes. On February 4,
Congress approved a four-month delay. While the extension gave coordinators and assistance centers
more time to work with affected communities, it also had an impact on planning and program
implementation.

Campaign Organization

Local Coordinators and Assistance Centers

To reach targeted communities in each city, local coordinators were contracted with to oversee the
citys campaign activities and work with local partner organizations to coordinate outreach. LCCR-EF
contracted with M+R Strategic Services, a national public affairs and consulting firm, to help devise
the field program, identify and hire local coordinators, and supervise them. Every city also had at least
one partner organization that was designated an Assistance Center. DTV Assistance Centers were
considered hubs of the various activities that educated targeted populations, aided with coupon
programs, and provided technical assistance for setting up converter boxes. Because of the anticipated
short timeline, partner organizations in many cities were chosen before coordinators were hired.

Before starting, LCCR-EF convened all the local coordinators and designated staff from most of the
Assistance Centers in San Antonio. Goals included training the coordinators on all proposed activities;
providing an opportunity to network with individuals working on the transition at the national level;
identifying resources and tools available to support local outreach plans; and creating city-specific
campaign plans.

The city coordinators were responsible for overall city-level campaign coordination. This incorporated
a variety of specific tasks, including:
Identifying and providing technical assistance to the lead DTV partner organization in their city;
Providing technical assistance and support to the assistance centers and organizational partners;
Organizing and preparing outreach events;
Identifying the kind of assistance needed in the cities, and determining appropriate materials and
trainings;
Creating and maintaining training schedules;
Coordinating with local ethnic media outlets in order to form new partnerships for DTV
readiness and rapid response, or to leverage existing partnerships to provide information to
distinct target populations; and
Preparing monthly progress reports and final reports quantifying trainings held, materials
distributed and numbers of underserved targeted individuals reached.

LCCR-EF and M+R Strategic Services worked closely with the local coordinators and partner
organizations to establish the Assistance Centers and ensure that all benchmarks were met. The
Assistance Centers were community hubs for information and technical assistance about the transition,
and were often the sites of trainings, events, special programs, and outreach activities targeted to the

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population(s) each partner organization served. The Assistance Centers also housed converter box
demonstration sites; coupon applications; LCCR-EF materials on the transition; and other resources for
the community to use to better understand the transition. These assistance centers received sub-grants
from LCCR-EF to cover outreach and training-related costs.

Each local coordinator worked to establish partnerships with additional community-based and service
organizations that had roots in targeted constituencies in order to more effectively reach affected
populations. The goal of these multiple partnerships was to ensure that the on-the-ground operation in
each city was able to connect with diverse targeted constituencies. Partners conducted a range of
outreach and assistance activities to reach individuals where they lived, worked, relaxed, and shopped.
These included, but were not limited to, nursing homes; assisted living facilities; workplaces; places of
worship; recreation facilities; shops and social settings. LCCR-EF provided some of these partner
groups with modest financial compensation to support their outreach efforts. They also worked with
other interested entities including local representatives of the Federal Communications Commission
and local broadcasters associations. The level of interactions between LCCR-EF contractors and these
groups varied by location, but in most cases there was good working relationship.

Campaign Goal, Objectives and Activities

The goal of LCCR-EFs campaign was to narrow the gap between national awareness efforts around
the DTV transition and NTIA-implemented coupon program and community-based needs, in order to
ensure that the households most at risk for losing service had the necessary tools, resources and
technical assistance to continue accessing free over-the-air television broadcasts after June 12, 2009,
the revised transition date. To accomplish this goal, LCCR-EF engaged existing partners, and
equipped these partners with the appropriate training, tools and materials. LCCR-EF established at
least one local DTV Assistance Center in each city. These Assistance Centers were resources for, and
reached out to, members of targeted populations and communities, educated them about the transition
and how to prepare for it, and provided assistance. Assistance Centers also convened and trained local
organizations and institution leaders, along with LCCR-EF staff and on-the-ground coordinators;
established goals by identifying and reviewing the targets populations in their cities; coupon
application and redemption rates; and unique challenges that existed in their cities; established
agreements regarding goals and timetables; and conducted events surround the campaigns core
objectives.

LCCR-EF summarized the campaigns core objectives in three words: Apply, Buy and Try. Each
Assistance Center and partner organization conducted some or all of the following activities under the
different objectives.

Objective 1 Apply

Assistance Centers helped members of groups affected by the DTV transition participate in the coupon
program by distributing coupon application forms, as well as public education materials about the

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coupon program and the digital converter box; conducting coupon application drives; conducting
Help Your Neighbor events and outreach to assist individuals whose coupons may have expired or
been lost, or who may not received their coupons in time to be prepared for the June 12 transition;
and/or recruited and trained community leaders to provide coupon program information (including
expiration date information) and assistance.

Objective 2 Buy

Assistance Centers provided members of targeted populations with guidance in redeeming coupons
toward the purchase of converter boxes. The Centers conducted events and activities focused on
converter box functions (e.g. analog pass-through, enhanced closed captioning) and shared tips for
purchasing converter boxes (e.g. call ahead to ensure the retailer has the box you want, ask a retail
clerk whether additional cables/components are needed); provided technical assistance to help
community members know which local retailers were accepting coupons, and which converter boxes
those retailers tended to have in stock; and/or formed Coupon Redemption Partnerships between
retailers, service providers, community organizations, nursing homes/assisted living facilities, and
transportation networks that helped community members get to certified retailers to redeem their
coupons (and/or, where possible, bringing retailers to them.) In several instances, local coordinators
and assistance centers negotiated no-cost converters. Retailers would agree to provide the converter
boxes at $40. For consumers with coupons, there would be no additional cost to acquire the converter.
In return, the assistance centers and staff would direct consumers to these no-cost retailers.

Objective 3 Try

Assistance Centers provided training and direct assistance to help individuals who were affected by the
transition properly install the converter boxes and related equipment. The Centers trained and engaged
community leaders to assist community members in properly installing converter boxes and related
components; conducted converter box demonstrations and hands-on exhibits; and/or providing one-on-
one technical assistance and troubleshooting to members of target populations who needed help.

Selection of Targeted Cities

As mentioned earlier, LCCR-EF conducted on-the-ground operations in Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis-
St. Paul, Portland, San Antonio, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Seattle. When selecting cities,
LCCR-EF used the following criteria to determine their viability:
Was it an NTIA red flagged media market?
How many OTA households were in the market and what percentage of the population were
OTA households?
What were the coupon request rates and coupon redemption rates?
What is the demographic data of the markets?

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 Were there LCCR-EF member organizations or trusted partners with connections to the
affected communities?
What were the on-the-ground abilities and/or capacity of these organizations?

Each city LCCR-EF selected for on-the-ground efforts met most, if not all, of these criteria.

Timeline
When LCCR-EF first envisioned this campaign, it was seen as an intense, brief, final push campaign
to conduct the above-mentioned activities in the seven cities. This campaign was scheduled to run
from December 2008 to March of 2009, taking the work through the original February 17 transition
date. This period would ultimately come to be Phase 1 of the campaign.

As noted earlier, in early February 2009, Congress worked out an agreement to push the transition
back to June 12. LCCR-EF continued their program activities through April while waiting for
additional funding to extend their work through the new transition day.

In May 2009, LCCR-EF received additional funding to continue the work and implemented Phase 2 in
all seven cities. This phase of work ran from May through August 2009.

In total, LCCR-EF coordinators were on the ground from November/December 2008 to August 2009.

Outcomes
In Phase 1 of the campaign, the LCCR-EF campaign team held 1,996 events and assisted 130,855
people in the seven cities.

In Phase 2 of the campaign, the LCCR-EF campaign team held 673 events and assisted 53,442 people
in the seven cities.

From December 2008 through August 2009, the LCCR-EF campaign team held 2,669 events and
assisted 184,297 people in the seven cities. 1

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For purposes of reporting events ranged from one-on-one consultations to presentations at meetings or gatherings to tabling and
outreach at large public events.