The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced $30 million in new funding for the Emergency Connectivity Program (ECP), which provides digital services for students nationwide.
The new funding will go to 200 schools, 15 libraries, and 1 consortium, and will benefit approximately 75,000 students across the country including those in Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Nevada.
“Today’s new funding round is another step in our ongoing work to help get students the broadband access they need to get online and keep up with schoolwork,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a Feb. 1 press release. “The demand for this program shows how important it is to continue working to close the Homework Gap and connect students all over the country.”
Through the ECP, the FCC has provided schools and libraries with three different “application windows” to apply for support. This latest round of funding supports applications from all three application windows.
ECP funding can be used to support off-campus learning, which the FCC said is intended 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 provided over 12 million connected devices and over 8 million broadband connections, according to the FCC.
