Schools/Universities

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded seven grants totaling over $118.8 million as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. These grants will fund high-speed internet infrastructure deployment, use, and adoption projects to improve connectivity across Tribal lands. The awarded tribal lands are as follows:

Over the past two years, school districts have sent kids home with laptops and tablets in unprecedented numbers. Thousands of these devices and the internet connections that power them have been purchased through two federal subsidy programs overseen by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) known as E-Rate and the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF).  Giving students these devices has led to a dramatic increase in screen time and made it more difficult for parents to protect their children from exposure to objectively harmful online content.

On July 22, 2022, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) first Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program (CMC) grants were announced totaling over $10 million in funds for five minority-serving colleges and universities.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau seeks comment on the proposed eligible services list (ESL) for the schools and libraries universal service support mechanism (more commonly known as the E-Rate program) for funding year 2023. The FCC has included its proposed eligible services list here and invites stakeholders to comment.

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

When it comes to broadband, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is about more than money. For example, Congress also directed the Federal Communications Commission to consider the impact of the law's $65 billion broadband investment on the FCC's existing broadband support programs under the umbrella of the Universal Service Fund (known to wonks as the USF).

Two new programs will help leaders and local government officials address their community’s needs in practical, efficient, clear-eyed ways, with sensitivity to all the things that make their community unique: the "Urban Digital Equity Bootcamp," (UDEB) and the "Let's Get Going Broadband Program" (LGGB).

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

Since the EdConnect program launched in 2020, more than 16,000 low-income students in Hamilton County, Tennessee, and 28,000 of their family members have received free internet in their homes. The effort works to close the digital divide and involves parents more in the education of their children.

The Federal Communications Commission announced it is committing nearly $68 million in two new funding rounds through the Emergency Connectivity Program, which provides digital services for students in communities across the US. These funding commitments support applications from all three