American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)

Detroit Digital Inclusion Director Joshua Edmonds is departing the city to head up a nonprofit organization that also works in the digital equity space. Edmonds has taken a position as CEO of DigitalC, a Cleveland-based nonprofit focused on getting people connected to high-speed, affordable Internet. He started with the city in December 2018 and was named Detroit’s director of digital inclusion in January 2019, making him one of the first people in the country to head up digital equity work within a municipal government.

The Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI), a division of the MassTech Collaborative, and the Baker-Polito Administration are proud to announce the launch of two new programs focused on bridging digital equity gaps in the Commonwealth: the Digital Equity Partnerships Program and the Municipal Digital Equity Planning Program.

Tennessee is awarding $446,770,282 in grants for the expansion of internet access across the state. The broadband infrastructure grants will provide broadband access to more than 150,000 unserved homes and businesses across 58 counties. Funding for these grants comes through the Tennessee Emergency Broadband Fund – American Rescue Plan Act (TEBF-ARPA), which utilizes a portion of the state’s ARPA funds to address the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and work toward a strong recovery.

The Federal Communication Commission Chairwoman is aiming to publish a first-draft map of its nationwide broadband coverage map in November. First, though, comes a "challenge period," when state, local and tribal officials, as well as internet carriers, can examine and potentially correct the underlying data. For Nate Denny, Deputy Secretary of Broadband and Digital Equity at the North Carolina Department of Information Technology, this phase represents an opportunity to further hone the state's plan for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Broadband Equity, Acce

Broadband is the future of New Hampshire, we reported in June as the state was one of the first to win approval from the U.S. Treasury for plans to use Capital Projects Fund support to extend the reach of broadband networks. On September 8, we learned that New Hampshire is once again leading the way—now it is the first state to gain approval for a second wave of Capital Projects Fund support. New Hampshire's plans are designed to connect 80% of locations in the state still lacking high-speed internet access.

The US Department of the Treasury has approved an additional $66 million in broadband funding for New Hampshire under the American Rescue Plan’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund (CPF). New Hampshire was among the first four states to receive CPF funding from the Treasury, which approved its first award of $50 million in June.

Syracuse, NY, is requesting proposals for the design, implementation, and maintenance of a municipal broadband network. The pilot program, which will be paid for through American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, aims to help bridge the digital divide by providing affordable internet for low-income residents, while also supporting smart city applications.

North Carolina is currently putting to work over a billion dollars from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding through a number of programs, including the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) grants to connect the 1.1 million households in the state unable to access the internet. Around $380 million in GREAT funding is designed to incentivize deployments to unserved rural parts of the state. The state also has a Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program to address high-cost areas where service providers are traditionally reluctant to go along with money going to uti

North Dakota is the 19th largest state in terms of land area with more than 70,000 square miles yet is the 3rd smallest in terms of population with fewer than 800,000 residents. In too many rural areas of the U.S., residents struggle to get connected because commercial telecommunications providers are unable to recoup the cost of building infrastructure.

According to publicly available information on state and local ballot initiatives up for a vote in 2022 elections, broadband is on the ballot statewide for voters in Alabama and New Mexico, as well as for some voters in Colorado. Voters in Alabama will weigh in on the "Broadband Internet Infrastructure Funding Amendment," which, if approved, will amend the state's constitution "to allow local governments to use funding provided for broadband internet infrastructure under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and award such funds to public or private entities." Voters in New Mexico have a simi