Representatives from 15 nonprofit organizations from across the country met in San Antonio this week to learn how they could better help owners of older television sets who don't pay for cable or satellite service be prepared for the full switch to digital broadcasting in February.

A training session Wednesday at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center came two days after a national civil rights organization announced it was opening assistance centers in San Antonio and six other metropolitan areas to aid residents who have yet to obtain digital converter boxes for their analog sets.

The National Telecommunication and Information Administration is distributing two free $40 coupons to households to purchase the boxes, which will allow older televisions not hooked up to cable or satellite to continue working when analog broadcasts end on Feb. 17.

Last month, the federal agency awarded a $1.6 million grant to the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund to establish the assistance centers in communities whose residents are at greater risk of losing TV service when the digital switch occurs.

San Antonio was selected because of its large minority population, as well as its high number of fixed-income families, according to the civil rights group. Other communities selected include Atlanta; Detroit; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Portland, Ore.; the San Francisco Bay area; and Seattle.

Patricia Gonzales of San Antonio's William C. Velasquez Institute said she fears many in the local Latino community may not be aware of the impending changes.

“It's important for us to reach to them,” Gonzales said. “My community doesn't always have access to the Internet or they're working all day and they can't make that phone call or fill out that application to get the coupon. In those cases, we're going to ... help them through the process.”

The institute, along with the locally based Texas Media Empowerment Project, will help staff the two assistance centers that will open here in January. Representatives from both organizations participated in the training session.

“To some extent, the process is simple, but it's also scary,” said Mark Lloyd, vice president of strategic initiatives at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. “This is a huge change for people.”

Lloyd said by opening the assistance centers, local communities will be able to have a place where they can get information from people they know and trust, and “not just experts in Washington, D.C., or somewhere else.”

He also said the training served not only to educate local civic groups about the changes, but also to allow the groups to exchange ideas.

Lloyd said it is critical that everyone, including the disadvantaged, be able to view TV after digital broadcasting begins.

“This is not just about ‘I Love Lucy' reruns or something else,” he said. “This is really about making sure that people have access to local information that they need and emergency warnings.”