The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced $5 million in additional funding for the Emergency Connectivity Program (ECP), which provides digital tools and services to support students across the country.
The latest round of funding will benefit roughly 14,000 students from 23 schools and school districts in California, New Jersey, and Wisconsin. The schools and school districts can use the funding to purchase devices and broadband connection with the goal of supporting off-campus learning.
“In this digital era, broadband connections and digital tools are vital to students’ everyday lives and learning,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “These connections and tools will only grow in importance as they continue to provide access to new and dynamic ways of learning. That’s why we’re pleased to announce another round of funding to help close the Homework Gap for students.”
Since it was launched in 2021, the Emergency Connectivity Program has provided schools and libraries with three different application windows to apply for support. This latest round of funding will support applicants from the third application window.
To date, ECP has provided support to approximately 18 million students, 11,500 schools, 1070 libraries, and 128 consortia, and provided nearly 13 million connected devices and over eight million broadband connections.
