The Federal Communications Commission announced this week it is committing nearly $42 million in two new funding rounds 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 application windows, benefiting approximately 100,000 students, including students in Arizona, Delaware, Idaho, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin.

“This is the time of year when families stock up on school supplies, and internet access should be on that list.  Yet we still have too many students who lack the ability to connect with school after hours,” said Chairwoman Rosenworcel.  “This latest round of funding will help more students get the online access they need for a successful education, and bring us closer to closing the Homework Gap.”

To date, the Commission has committed over $5.7 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.  Today’s announcement includes over $4.4 million from the first and second application windows providing support in the upcoming school year for 5 schools.  For the third application window, the Commission is committing nearly $37 million that will support over 230 schools, 30 libraries, and 5 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.  To date, the program has provided support to over 10,000 schools, 900 libraries, and 100 consortia, and providing nearly 12 million connected devices and over 7 million broadband connections.  Of the over $5.7 billion in funding commitments approved to date, approximately $4.1 billion is supporting applications from Window 1; $831 million from Window 2; and $811 million 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.