Digital Equity Funding Available

Action Alert: Digital Equity Competitive Grant Opportunity – September Deadline

On July 24, 2024, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA ) announced a nearly billion Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for its Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program. All local governments including cable commissions should be preparing for the NTIA competitive grant opportunity supporting digital equity. You may have heard that NATOA is looking into spearheading a nation-wide application process. We would encourage you to look into that option. For those of you in cable commissions, you may want to reach out to your member cities to see if they are interested in submitting a joint application.

Proposals must include at least one of these activities:

• Develop and implement digital inclusion activities that benefit one or more of the Covered Populations
• Facilitate the adoption of broadband by the Covered Populations to provide educational and employment opportunities
• Implement training programs for the Covered Populations that cover basic, advanced, and applied skills
• Implement workforce development programs
• Make available equipment, instrumentation, networking capability, and digital network technology for broadband services to Covered Populations at low or no cost
• Construct, upgrade, expand, or operate new or existing public access computing centers for Covered Populations through community anchor institutions; or
• Undertake any other project or activity the Assistant Secretary finds to be consistent with the purposes of the Competitive Grant Program

We believe the cost to local governments for complying with the new DOJ rules for ADA compliance would also be an eligible cost. Here is a link to more information:

Successful applicants can recover their costs in preparing the application up to $50,000. Last year we helped local governments obtain non-competitive mini-grants through the Minnesota Office of Broadband application for help with the development of the state’s digital equity/opportunity plan. There should be another grant opportunity related to that effort sometime soon. So, if you need some help, please let us know. There may also be an opportunity to join other joint applications.

The timelines are very tight. Applications are due in September!