The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced it has committed another $183 million in funding through its Emergency Connectivity Program to help close the “homework gap” by providing digital services for students nationwide.
The FCC said the funding will benefit roughly 470,000 students across the country, including students in Alabama, Florida, Maryland, New York, Texas, and Washington.
“We’re making progress closing the homework gap, but we need to make sure every student has after-school access to the digital tools they need for schoolwork and engaging with teachers and classmates,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a Nov. 2 press release. “Today’s announcement is another important step in this ongoing work to connect all our kids.”
The Emergency Connectivity program, launched last year, has provided funding through three different application windows, and this latest round of funding will fund applications from all three funding windows. The latest round of funding will support approximately 325 schools, 40 libraries, and one consortium.
According to an FCC press release, funding recipients can use the money “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 FCC has provided support to over 10,000 schools, 900 libraries, and 100 consortia through the Emergency Connectivity Program. This translates to providing approximately 12 million connected devices and 8 million broadband connections.
