STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER MIGNON L. CLYBURN Re: Schools and Libraries Universal Service Support Mechanism, CC Docket No. 02-6. The E-rate program has been instrumental in connecting schools throughout the nation to broadband. For students who would otherwise have been shut out of the incredible opportunities high- speed Internet has to offer, E-rate now has them integrated into the digital world and has expanded their educational opportunities at school. Based on this success, we would be remiss if we did not seek additional ways to efficiently expand its reach. Today’s item reflects such thinking. Broadband’s ability to improve lives goes far beyond a strictly “educational” context. Computer terminals at public access points that sit dormant waste an important opportunity to help members of the public search for jobs, research health information, or communicate with their friends and families from across the globe. I hope that many schools will use this opportunity to partner with their communities to promote broadband use and adoption for the benefit of their local citizens. Small steps, such as this one, can go a long way towards bridging the adoption gap in the near term as we work to make broadband more accessible to and affordable for all Americans. I commend the Bureau for identifying this important opportunity. This is the kind of creativity that we must bring to the challenge of ensuring that all Americans are able to have meaningful access to broadband.