The First Bucket of Digital Equity Act Funds is Open

This is the second in a four-part series about the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) digital equity and broadband grant Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) announcements from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Sifting through the Digital Equity Act (DEA) NOFO, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) identified the following highlights:

• The NOFO opens up DEA planning dollars to Tribal organizations and territories;
• The NOFO explicitly encourages states to link their BEAD and DEA programs and planning processes;
• The NOFO provides more guidance on what should be in a “State Digital Equity Plan” (and it’s pretty good guidance at that); and
• The NOFO provides (tentative) dollar amounts that each state (the 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington (DC)) can expect to receive for planning.

[Amy Huffman is Policy Director at NDIA.]