The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced a new round of funding for the Emergency Connectivity Program (ECP).
The ECP provides funding for digital services for students in communities across the country. The FCC said the newest round of funding, worth more than $20 million, will benefit roughly 190,000 students across the country, including students in California, Florida, Maine, Oklahoma, Washington, and Wisconsin. Through this latest round, more than 90 schools, eight libraries, and five consortia will receive funding.
“Today’s funding round is another important step in our ongoing work to connect all our students to digital tools for communicating with teachers and schools,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “This program has made significant progress in our dedicated commitment to close the Homework Gap across 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 the third application window.
The FCC said that, to date, the program has provided support to approximately 11,000 schools, 1,000 libraries, and 100 consortia, and has provided nearly 13 million connected devices and more than eight million broadband connections.
