Digital Equity/Digital Inclusion

The Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) awarded a $4.5 million Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act Recovery Assistance grant to the Port of Lewiston, Lewiston, Idaho, to expand internet connectivity for commerce, public health and safety and learning in North Central Idaho. This project will support the construction of a 95-mile segment of fiberoptic cable running from Moscow to Grangeville. This EDA grant will be matched with $1.1 million in local funds and is expected to create 120 jobs, according to grantee estimates. 

Seattle residents don’t have to be at a Seattle Public Library (SPL) branch to use the internet.

The St. Louis Public Library is adding 8,000 hotspots and 1,500 Chromebooks for city patrons who don't have internet or computer access at home. Residents can check out these devices for free for more than a year. Money for the library's total 17,500-device program comes from the federal Emergency Connectivity Fund. Through an earlier allocation by the fund, the library had already bought and loaned 4,000 Chromebooks and 4,000 hotspots. Because of the new funding, due dates for those devices have also been extended until Sept. 30, 2023.

Indiana Governor, Eric Holcomb (R-IN) and Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch (R-IN) are leading the largest broadband investment in the state's history. Ball State University researchers found that thousands of homes across the state--urban and rural, low-income, and non-English speaking--experience the brunt of lacking access to broadband internet access. To combat this, Lt. Gov Suzanne Crouch created the Office of Broadband Opportunities in 2018 to identify needs and eliminate roadblocks to broadband deployment and digital literacy in the state.

In Texas, the Odessa City Council voted to allow the installation of infrastructure for citywide broadband internet under its streets by SiFi Networks in a deal worth more than $100 million. Under the terms of the 30-year contract elected officials agreed to, SiFi has access to all public rights-of-way to install, maintain and operate the fiber optic infrastructure necessary for an open access network.

Pershing County, Nevada is one of many rural communities throughout the US that will receive new, fiber optic, high-speed internet connections through the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) ReConnect Program.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced that Louisiana is the first state to receive planning grants for deploying high-speed Internet networks and developing digital skills training programs under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Internet for All initiative. Louisiana is receiving $2,941,542.28 in funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Louisiana will receive $2 million from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program to fund:  

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded $105,846,128.07 in grants awarded from the Internet for All initiative to five Tribal entities in Arizona. The grants will fund high-speed internet infrastructure deployment projects through the Internet for All Initiative’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program for Hopi Telecommunications, Inc., Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona, San Carlos Apache Tribal Council/Triplet Mountain Communications, Inc., and White Mountain Apache Tribe.

With President Biden signing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into law in November 2021 and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) subsequently releasing Notices of Funding Opportunity which outline the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, Digital Equity Act (DEA), and Enabling Middle Mile Grant Infrastructure Program in May 2022, EducationSuperHighway and various organizations across Massachusetts are working to bring affordable broadband to the State. The organization has partnered with Springfield and Worcester (MA) Publ

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) allocated over $45 billion to states for broadband deployment through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) and Digital Equity Act (DEA) programs. This historic investment presents an opportunity to close the digital divide across the country, but we must make sure that the 20-25% of unconnected households living in multi-family and public housing, primarily in urban and suburban communities, are not left offline. EducationSuperHighway has established the "No Home Left Offline Coalition." In the coming months, the coalition wil