The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has committed nearly $84 million in a new round of funding through the Emergency Connectivity Program, which supports the FCC’s work to close the homework gap.
“For a successful education, every student needs after-school access to digital tools for doing homework and engaging with teachers,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “This latest round of funding brings us closer to the goal of closing the homework gap.”
Thus far, the FCC has committed more than $6.3 billion to schools and libraries across the country as part of the Emergency Connectivity Program, which launched last year. The program has provided schools and libraries three different “application windows” for schools and libraries to apply for support.
This most recent round of funding supports applications from all three application windows and will benefit approximately 140,000 students across the country, including students in California, Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. This latest round of funding will support over 180 schools, 20 libraries, and 5 consortia.
Emergency Connectivity Program funding can be used 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.” According to the FCC, the program has provided support to approximately 10,500 schools, 1,000 libraries, and 100 consortia, and has provided more than 12 million connected devices and more than seven million broadband connections.
