The FCC Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) has committed more than $13.9 million to support students in the United States, with a focus on those in California, New York, Illinois, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia.
The program covers broadband and devices for use by students outside school. It is administered by schools and libraries.
The latest commitment will support about 52 schools and school districts and five libraries and library systems. This commitment all was from the third of three application windows.
So far, about $6.7 billion of the eventual budget of $7.17 billion has been awarded. Approximately $4.14 billion has been committed from Window 1, $834 million from Window 2 and $1.77 billion from Window 3.
The program, which is administered by schools and libraries, is providing support to approximately 18 million students, 11,000 schools, 1,050 libraries, and 120 consortia. It has provided almost 13 million connected devices and is responsible for more than 8 million broadband connections.
“In or out of session, connecting students to digital resources remains vital to their academic success. Libraries and schools ensure students have access to the internet year-round. That’s why we are pleased to announce another round of funding that will empower libraries and schools to provide students the digital tools needed to close the Homework Gap,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a press release about the FCC Emergency Connectivity Fund awards.
On May 31, the FCC said that it will provide more than $15 million to support students in California, Delaware, Indiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Nebraska, New York and Pennsylvania. The funding will be utilized by about 50 schools and five libraries. The commitments were the first and third application windows.
