Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division

Spotlight

September Highlights

National Suicide Prevention Month is in September. As we remember the lives of those lost to suicide, we also acknowledge the millions of people who have experienced suicidal thoughts, and the many individuals, families and communities that have been impacted by suicide. The effort to raise awareness about suicide prevention and share messages of hope has changed significantly with the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Also known as the 988 Lifeline, this resource provides 24/7, confidential support to people experiencing a suicidal crisis or mental health-related distress.

By directly dialing 988 for assistance, various communities can obtain needed assistance. Members of the LGBTQIA+ community can speak to their peers. Persons needing assistance in Spanish will be connected to translators. There are ASL interpreters available for the deaf and hard of hearing communities. Over 200 crisis centers work diligently to help with these efforts. Learn more about the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline from the FCC.

Two FCC-coordinated events will be held in September:

• The FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC) is scheduled to meet in person on Tuesday, September 24, 2024, at the FCC’s headquarters located at 45 L Street NE in Washington D.C. The meeting will be streamed live with open captioning at fcc.gov/live. At this meeting, CAC members are expected to present a report in response to its charge from the FCC. Presentation of the recommendations will be led by the Chairs of Working Group 1 – Technical and Working Group 2 – Outreach and Education.
• The FCC's September 2024 Open Commission Meeting  is scheduled for Thursday, September 26, 2024. The meeting will be streamed live at fcc.gov/live.

October Highlights

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Like in 2023 , various organizations will be raising awareness and sharing messages of hope and encouragement for persons who have experienced this situation. As a reminder, in November of 2023, the FCC approved rules to safeguard domestic violence survivors. The Report and Order  discusses many things, including allowing survivors of domestic violence who have devices and associated telephone numbers with abusers to separate lines from joint plans and maintain affordable service as stated in the  Safe Connections Act of 2022. Earlier this year, the  FCC also adopted an alert code for Missing and Endangered Person. These alerts within the nation’s  Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) help law enforcement agencies galvanize public attention to missing and endangered people of all ages who do not qualify for AMBER Alerts, including those who meet the criteria for Ashanti Alerts. This decision supports efforts to raise critical public awareness of missing Indigenous persons. In addition to the EAS code for TV and radio alerting, the rule facilitates alerts on wireless phones. Missing and endangered persons alerts will be sent through the WEA through the use of existing alerting methodologies, which will ensure a swift implementation of the code.

Please remember that the Consumer Affairs and Outreach team looks forward to hearing from you on these and other consumer-facing topics. To schedule a meeting or for more information, please email Outreach@fcc.gov.

Consumer Education Materials

FCC consumer education materials are available to download in PDF format and print for outreach events.

Tip Cards and Posters
Consumer Guides
Consumer Help Center

Please note: this booklet contains an activity called "TV Pictures In Motion" which involves flipping between two pages. For best results for this activity, we recommend you print this booklet double-sided. If that option does not work for you, the activity is on pages 10 and 12 and can still be done by flipping between those two pages or using loose copies of those pages.

Download booklet: FCC in the Classroom

Additional Kids Activities

Consumer Guide Translations

Many FCC Consumer Guides are available in other languages.

• Guías para el Consumidor (Español)
• Mga Gabay (Tagalog)
• Người tiêu dùng Hướng dẫn (Vietnamese)
• 소비자 안내서 (Korean)
• 消費者指南 (Chinese)