WASHINGTON--The Federal Communications Commission today announced it is committing over $65 million in a new funding round through the Emergency Connectivity Program, which provides digital services for students in communities across the country. Today’s funding commitments support applications from the third application window, benefiting approximately 170,000 students across the country, including students in Alaska, Indiana, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, and Texas.
“With this new round of funding, more kids will have the digital tools they need to connect with teachers and online assignments after school,” said Chairwoman Rosenworcel. “This program is bringing us closer to closing the Homework Gap so all students have the resources they need to do well in school and beyond.”
To date, the Commission has committed over $6.4 billion to schools and libraries across the country as part of the Emergency Connectivity Program, which launched last year. The program has provided schools and libraries three different “application windows” for schools and libraries to apply for support. Today’s announcement will support over 200 schools, 20 libraries, and 2 consortia.
The funding can be used to support off-campus learning, such as nightly homework, to ensure students across the country have the necessary support to keep up with their education. To date, the program has provided support to approximately 10,000 schools, 1,000 libraries, and 100 consortia, and providing over 12 million connected devices and over 8 million broadband connections. Of the over $6.4 billion in funding commitments approved to date, approximately $4.1 billion is supporting applications from Window 1; $833 million from Window 2; and $1.5 billion from Window 3.
More details about which schools and libraries have received funding commitments can be found at https://www.fcc.gov/emergency-connectivity-fund.
Comments
Read what others have to say, and share your own thoughts with the community.