The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it has committed more than $68 million in a new funding round for the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program, which provides digital tools and services to support students nationwide.
This latest round of funding will benefit roughly 110,000 students, including students in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Indiana, Washington, Arizona, and New Mexico. The funding will support 184 schools and school districts, 13 libraries and library systems, and two consortia.
“A good night’s sleep, a hearty breakfast, and access to digital tools are essential for a good day at school. That’s why we’re pleased to announce another round of funding to help close the Homework Gap as students begin the new school year,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.
Funding from the Emergency Connectivity Fund can be used to support off-campus learning, such as nightly homework, and summer online learning programs. The FCC said its goal is to ensure students across the country have the necessary support to keep up with their education.
As part of its funding process, the ECP had three application windows that schools and libraries could apply under. This latest round of funding will go towards applications from the third application window.
ECP funding can be used to support off-campus learning to ensure students across the country have the necessary support to keep up with their education. The FCC reports that to date, the program has provided support to approximately 18 million students, 11,100 schools, 1050 libraries, and 120 consortia, and provided approximately 13 million connected devices and over 8 million broadband connections.
