The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) awarded another $24 million in funding for the Emergency Connectivity Program (ECP), which provides digital services to students nationwide.
Since the start of the program in 2021, the FCC has granted a sum of $6.6 billion to schools and libraries across the country. The ECP funding caps at $7.1 billion.
This new round of funding – announced on Feb. 15 – will benefit 50,000 students from Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Texas, and Wisconsin.
“We need all our students to have access to digital tools for connecting with teachers and keeping up with homework assignments,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a press release. “This program continues to make progress in our ongoing work to close the Homework Gap.”
The Feb. 15 award of $24 million will support over 140 schools, 8 libraries, and 3 consortia.
“The 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,” the FCC said.
According to the agency, the program has given support to approximately 11,000 schools, 1,000 libraries, and 100 consortia, and provided nearly 13 million connected devices and over eight million broadband connections to date.
