New FCC office targets Native Americans

by Gautham Nagesh - 08/12/10 8:49 PM ET

The Office of Native Affairs and Policy will serve as the official FCC point of contact for American Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Villages,
Native Hawaiian Organizations, and other Native and Tribal entities. The office
will work with the Commission, private stakeholders and the
communications industry to develop FCC policies
regarding Tribal Nations and Native communities.

“The Office of Native Affairs and Policy is a historic milestone and the culmination of many years of effort by leaders in Indian Country and at the FCC,” Blackwell said. “There is a lot of good hard work that remains on the path ahead. As Tribal Nations and Native communities exercise their sovereignty and self-determination to ensure a bright future for their generations, the entire agency now has a new capability to engage with them.”

Blackwell, an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation,
previously worked at the FCC as a senior attorney and liaison to Tribal
Governments from 1999 to 2005. He holds a B.A. in government from
Dartmouth College, a J.D. from University of Virginia and has since
worked for Chickasaw Nation Industries, which oversees a family of
companies owned by the Chickasaw Nation.

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