• March 7, 2023

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On March 1, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced it is committing over $20 million for schools and libraries through the Emergency Connectivity Program. This program provides connectivity and devices to support students in communities across the country for off-campus learning, such as homework, to ensure they can keep up with their education.

According to the FCC, approximately 190,000 students nationwide will benefit from this new funding commitment, including students in California, Florida, Maine, Oklahoma, Washington, and Wisconsin.

“Today’s funding round is another important step in our ongoing work to connect all our students to digital tools for communicating with teachers and schools,” said FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel. “This program has made significant progress in our dedicated commitment to close the Homework Gap across the country.”

The Homework Gap is what is referred to as the barriers students face when working on off-campus educational activities and assignments without reliable wireless connectivity at home. The Emergency Connectivity Program was created during the COVID-19 pandemic by the American Rescue Plan Act to support these educational activities and assignments.

This latest FCC funding announcement will support over 90 schools, eight libraries, and five consortia. To date, this program has helped over 17 million students nationwide, supporting approximately 11,000 schools, 1,000 libraries, and 100 consortia. With over $6.6 billion in total approved funding commitments, the program has provided nearly 13 million connected devices and over eight million broadband connections.

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Sources:

fundsforlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Additional-20-Million-in-ECF-Support-Committed.pdf

telecompetitor.com/fcc-awards-20m-to-six-states-in-emergency-connectivity-funding/