Blog
September 30, 2011 - 1:00pm
This morning Acting Secretary Rebecca Blank addressed the 29th Annual Minority Enterprise Development Week Conference about the importance of Congress passing the American Jobs Act. Dr. Blank emphasized that the American Jobs Act will help a private sector in need of a little boost. It will create jobs. It will prevent the layoffs of teachers and first responders. And it will rebuild the roads, railways and airports that form the very backbone of Commerce. She noted that the Obama Administration knows government can’t solve all the problems facing our country.
September 30, 2011 - 10:00am
Ed. Note: This post is part of the Spotlight on Commerce
series, which highlights members of the Department of Commerce who are
contributing to the president's vision of winning the future through their
work.Angela M. Manso is Chief of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs at the U.S. Census BureauAs Chief of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs at
the U.S. Census Bureau, I serve as the primary advisor to the Director of the
Bureau regarding congressional and intergovernmental matters.Â
I am one of three political appointees at the Census Bureau and
September 29, 2011 - 12:28pm
U.S. Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank
today joined the Obama administration in announcing a national initiative
leveraging resources of five federal agencies to advance clean technology
commercialization. Six winners were announced today of the i6 Green Challenge, an
initiative to drive technology commercialization and entrepreneurship in support
of a green innovation economy, increased U.S. competitiveness and new jobs.
Projects in Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan,
New England and Washington will each receive up to $1 million from the U.S.
September 29, 2011 - 7:08am
Did you know that an astonishing 52 percent of small businesses are home-based? That’s according to the SBA’s Office of Advocacy.
September 28, 2011 - 1:00pm
Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will unleash its Dragon—a NIST invention that bellows showers of glowing embers, or firebrands—at a unique wind tunnel test facility in Japan, where researchers will evaluate the vulnerability of outdoor deck assemblies and materials to ignition during wildfires, a growing peril that accounts for half of the nation’s 10 most costly fires.In a new report, NIST researchers summarize suggestions for test designs and objectives offered by experts at a recent workshop convened in Los Angeles, Calif., with support from the U.S.
September 28, 2011 - 11:00am
Ed. Note: This post is part of the Spotlight on Commerce
series, which highlights members of the Department of Commerce who are
contributing to the president's vision of winning the future through their
work.Anna Gomez is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and the Deputy Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.As
Deputy Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration, I serve essentially as the Chief Operating Officer of the
September 27, 2011 - 5:00pm
Earlier today, Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank announced $102 million for
three Louisiana projects in the Barataria and Terrebone basins, to restore
deteriorated wetlands and barrier island habitats along the state’s coast. These
awards are funded by the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration
Act (CWPPRA) program. U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., Louisiana Coastal
Protection and Restoration Authority Director Garret Graves and Great Lakes
Dredge & Dock Project Director Bobby Guichet also participated in the
announcement.
Great Lakes
September 26, 2011 - 3:30pm
Ed. Note: This post is part of the Spotlight
on Commerce series, which highlights members of the Department of Commerce
who are contributing to the president's vision of winning the future through
their work.
Alejandra
Y. Castillo is the National Deputy Director of the Minority
Business Development Agency.Since joining the Minority Business Development Agency in
April 2010, I serve as the principal advisor to the MBDA National Director and
manage the day-to-day activities of the Agency’s 5 Regional Offices and 48 Minority Business Centers.
These Offices and Business
Centers are vital centers
September 26, 2011 - 10:00am
Every day we consciously buy products whose performance
depends on one or more measured quantities — the wattage and lumens of light
bulbs, that 12-ounce cup of coffee, the fill up at the gas station. Many of us
take for granted that we are getting our money’s worth, and in large part we
are, because the accuracy of these measurements traces back to calibrations and
standards from the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST).Â
But measurement and other precise specifications also play a
much broader, largely invisible economic role. All the sophisticated
September 23, 2011 - 12:31pm
Cross
post by Elizabeth Zimmerman, Deputy Associate Administrator for the
Office of Response & RecoveryToday, we are announcing a new multiagency effort to
strengthen the way the federal family works together to support state, tribal,
territorial and local communities to recover after disaster
strikes.
For the first time, the National Disaster Recovery Framework
defines how federal agencies will work together to best meet the needs of states
and communities in their ongoing recovery, by aligning key roles and
responsibilities among all our partners. The emphasis of this framework is that