WASHINGTON – The Federal Communications Commission announced it is committing $37.7 million in a new funding round through the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program, which provides digital tools and services to support students in communities across the country. The funding commitment supports applications from the third application window, benefiting approximately 100,000 students nationwide, including students in Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington.
“Starting the school year off strong is important, but a student’s continued success is dependent on access to broadband connections and digital tools. That’s why we’re pleased to announce another round of funding to help close the homework gap for students,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.
The announcement will support approximately 220 schools and school districts, 2 library systems, and 4 consortia. The funding can be used to support off-campus learning, such as nightly homework, and online learning programs to ensure students across the country have the necessary support to keep up with their education. More details about the schools and libraries that have received funding commitments can be found here.
Launched in 2021, the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program has provided schools and libraries three different “application windows” to apply for support. Approximately $7.03 billion in funding commitments have been approved to date: Approximately $4.14 billion is supporting applications from Window 1; $834 million from Window 2; and $2.06 billion from Window 3. The funding has provided support to more than 18 million students, 11,400 schools, 1,060 libraries, and 125 consortia, and provided nearly 13 million connected devices and more than 8 million broadband connections.
As a long-term solution to the homework gap, Chairwoman Rosenworcel recently announced her new initiative Learn Without Limits to modernize the E-Rate program to allow for Wi-Fi on school buses and for permanent support to loan out Wi-Fi hotspots.
