FCC Announces $55 Million in Emergency Connectivity For Schools and Libraries

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The FCC announced yesterday it is committing nearly $55 million in new funding rounds through the Emergency Connectivity Program, which provides digital services for students in communities across the country.  The funding commitments support applications from all three application windows, benefiting approximately 125,000 students across the country, including students in California, Indiana, Michigan, Puerto Rico, and Texas.  

“With the school year in full swing, kids need to be able to connect with teachers and homework assignments when they are away from school grounds,” said Chairwoman Rosenworcel.  “Our latest funding commitments will provide this support, and continue our ongoing progress to close the Homework Gap.” 

To date, the Commission has committed over $5.9 billion to schools and libraries across the country as part of the Emergency Connectivity Program, which launched last year.  Today’s announcement includes nearly $775,000 from the first and second application window and over $54 million from the third window.  Funding from all three rounds 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, 900 libraries, and 100 consortia, and provides nearly 12 million connected devices and over 7 million broadband connections.  Of the over $5.9 billion in funding commitments approved to date, approximately $4.1 billion is supporting applications from Window 1; $833 million from Window 2; and $947 million from Window 3.  

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