On February 16, 2012, the Obama Administration selected the DC Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) for national acclaim as a “Champion of Change.”

Assistant Secretary of Commerce Larry Strickling recognized the District for its DC Community Access Network (DC-CAN) at the February 15th “White House Champions of Change” event.

DC-CAN is a 100 gigabits per second, open-access citywide broadband network that the District is building with federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant funds. DC-CAN will bring affordable broadband to community anchor institutions and will pave the way for affordable broadband to residents in underserved areas of the city.

“We’re dedicated to building the most reliable, accessible public communications infrastructure possible for the nation’s capital,” said District Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Rob Mancini. “We’re proud and honored to have our efforts generously supported and recognized by the federal government.”

District CTO Mancini and Deputy CTO Tegene Baharu represented the District at the February 15th White House Champions of Change event, headlined “Rebuilding America’s Infrastructure.” The event profiled leaders across the nation for innovative projects that use federal ARRA grants to strengthen America’s infrastructure and create jobs.

“With DC-CAN, the nation’s capital is also the nation’s first 100-gigabit city,” said Deputy CTO Baharu. “We greatly appreciate the federal support that makes this achievement possible and look forward to completing the network through our federal partnership.”

DC-CAN is one of several OCTO ARRA-funded initiatives to bridge the District’s digital divide and create jobs as part of Mayor Gray’s overall “One City” campaign.

Learn more about the White House Champions of Change program.

Learn more about DC-CAN.