Meet Roxanna — NHMC’s Fall 2018 Univision Policy Fellow

Roxanna Barboza is a second year Master of Public Administration candidate and undergraduate senior studying Public Policy at the University of Southern California (USC). As a first-generation Chicana college student, she is committed to bridging the digital divide by focusing on policies that enable the development of information and communications infrastructure in rural communities.

She comes from the outskirts of a rural community called Lost Hills, California in the Central Valley where her family and herself have dealt with the lack of internet access. Because of her personal experience, this has led her to take initiative on closing the digital divide by having interned in the summer of 2017 at the U.S. Department of Education for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics and interning this past summer at the Federal Communications Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau and the Office of Workplace Diversity. In addition to her NHMC Fellowship, she is a Policy intern for the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association and is conducting research for USC’s Institute for Communication Technology Management on the future of 5G in California’s Central Valley.

At USC, she is the Community Engagement Director for the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), sister of Kappa Delta Chi Sorority Inc., Young People For Fellow, and is currently in the process of founding the Central Valley Network which will educate the USC community on California’s Central Valley issues, empower the Central Valley students to attend USC through mentoring services, and provide a sense of home for these students.

Barboza is a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association’s Southern Chapter where she is helping with programming to promote the rural digital divide awareness in the Los Angeles area, Taft College Alumni Committee, and Latina Leaders of Kern County.

In her spare time, she enjoys playing tennis on campus and going on random road trips that have led her to experience spectacular views. She was featured in Charles Schwab’s #OwnYourTomorrow campaign and has been a relentless advocate for communities of color. As a fellow, she hopes to gain a better understanding of federal regulatory law and the perspectives of internet service providers, consulting firms, and the government in regard to rural broadband deployment.

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Working closely with the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s (NHMC) policy staff, at least one student each semester will work as a fellow fighting for better media representation for Latinos. Fellows are guided through legal and policy research, analysis, writing and public speaking. They build skills while enhancing NHMC’s advocacy with members of Congress, the Federal Communications Commission and other agencies. NHMC’s Policy Fellowship Program is sponsored by Univision Communications, Inc.

To learn more about the fellowship program, visit www.nhmc.org/policy-fellowship-program.