Digital Equity Act of 2021 Programs
The Digital Equity Act provides $2.75 billion to establish three grant programs that promote activities consistent with the Act. They aim to ensure that all people and communities have the skills, technology, and capacity needed to reap the full benefits of our digital economy. The three programs are:
- State Digital Equity Planning Grant Program: A $60M formula grant program for states, territories and Native Entities to develop State Digital Equity Plans.
- State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program: A $1.44 billion formula grant program for states, territories, and Native Entities.
- Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program: A $1.25 billion grant program. It will fund annual grant programs for five years to implement activities consistent with the Act.
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NTIA Receives More Than 250 Comments to Inform Digital Equity Act Programs
By: Angela Thi Bennett
Affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet service has become essential for individuals and communities in an increasingly digital world. To further the development of the upcoming phases of the Digital Equity Act, we issued a Request for Comment on March 2, 2023. The comment window closed on May 1, 2023, and a wide range of stakeholders from across the country submitted 252 written submissions. NTIA also hosted four public listening sessions reaching more than 400 stakeholders to obtain responses from those who were unable to provide written comments.
The comments and listening sessions will help inform the design and implementation of the $1.44 billion State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program and the $1.25 billion Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program. All written comments received are available on regulations.gov.
Digital Equity Programs Request for Comment
Biden-Harris Administration Awards $1.4 Million to the Northern Mariana Islands in ‘Internet for All’ Planning Grants
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