Media Contact: 
Anne Veigle
anne.veigle@fcc.gov

For Immediate Release

FCC ANNOUNCES OVER $1.7 MILLION IN EMERGENCY CONNECTIVITY FUNDING FOR SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES
To Date Program Has Provided Over 17 Million Students with Digital Connections in Ongoing Work to Close the Homework Gap
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WASHINGTON, March 15, 2023—The Federal Communications Commission today announced it is committing over $1.7 million in a new funding round through the Emergency Connectivity Program, which provides digital services for students in communities across the country.  Today’s funding commitments support applications from all three filing windows benefiting approximately 5,000 students across the country, including students in California, Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, and New York.

“Closing the Homework Gap means we need to connect all our students to digital tools for communicating with teachers and schools,” said Chairwoman Rosenworcel.  “Today’s funding round is another important step toward reaching that goal.” 

The Emergency Connectivity Program, which launched in 2021, has provided schools and libraries three different “application windows” for schools and libraries to apply for support.  Today’s announcement will support approximately 15 schools and 2 libraries.  In this funding round, nearly $456,000 will support applications from the first two application windows, and $1.3 million for applications from the third application window.

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.  [To date, the program has provided support to approximately 11,000 schools, 1,000 libraries, and 100 consortia, and providing nearly 13 million connected devices and over 8 million broadband connections.  Of the over $6.6 billion in funding commitments approved to date, approximately $4.14 billion is supporting applications from Window 1; $833 million from Window 2; and $1.65 billion from Window 3.  

More details about which schools and libraries have received funding commitments can be
found at https://www.fcc.gov/emergency-connectivity-fund.

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Media Relations: (202) 418-0500 / ASL: (844) 432-2275 / Twitter: @FCC / www.fcc.gov 

This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.  See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).