Low-income

Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted (OH-R), who is also Director of the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation (OWT), awarded four training providers located throughout the state with $592,215 to support 410 broadband or 5G-related credentials through the Individual

With the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program's (BEAD) $42 billion to expand high-speed internet access across the country, Lehigh County officials will audit municipalities to assess the state of residents’ internet access and report the county’s needs to the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority.

The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition and New America’s Open Technology Institute (OTI) released

To date, over 12 million low-income households participate in the Affordable Connectivity Program. However, a significant number of qualifying households have not yet enrolled in the Affordable Connectivity Program. The Federal Communications Commission believes that to achieve the program’s full potential and reach as many eligible households as possible, households must be clearly informed of the program’s existence, benefits, and eligibility qualifications, and how to apply.

Over 10 million people living in 5.2 million households rely on some form of federal rental assistance. Every household that receives federal public housing assistance is eligible to participate in the Federal Communications Commission's Lifeline program and, by extension, the FCC's Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP).

Wilmington (NC) is looking to launch an initiative that would build out a hometown workforce connecting residents to jobs. Specifically geared toward local employers’ needs, the nonprofit program would “bridge the digital divide” by offering computer literacy training to low-income individuals. Matthew Bauer, vice president for Connected Communities WRC, presented an overview of the proposed strategy to the Wilmington city council at its August 1 agenda briefing.

The Federal Communications Commission has created the “Your Home, Your Internet” pilot program designed to raise awareness of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) among households receiving federal housing assistance.

Tim Hebb lives in one of more than 1.6 million households in Los Angeles that qualify for a new federal subsidy program for high speed internet service. And according to the Biden administration, he ought to be able to use that $30-a-month subsidy to get free access — 20 of the largest U.S. broadband providers had agreed to provide connections with up to 100 megabits-per-second download speeds for no more than the subsidy amount.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), administered by the Federal Communications Commission, provides eligible households up to $30/month (or $75/month on Tribal lands) off internet bills, as well as a one-time $100 discount off a connected device. In May 2022, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris announced commitments from internet service providers across the country to offer high-speed plans that are fully covered by the ACP—meaning millions of working families can now get high-speed internet without paying a dime.

In November 2021, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Black Brilliance Research Project (BBR), and Community Informatics Lab at Simmons University launched the six-city Digital Equity Action Research (DEAR) Fellowship. The DEAR Fellowship helped young adults, ages 19–24, learn participatory action research skills to examine and address the root causes of digital inequities in their communities. Participatory Action Research (PAR) is different from traditional research paradigms.