NTIA Approves $369 Million in Digital Equity Grants

The agency has tapped a total of $619 million from its $910 million funding round.

NTIA Approves $369 Million in Digital Equity Grants
Photo of U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo from the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the E.U.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2025 – The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is set to award another $369 million in digital equity funding, the agency announced Friday.

“Right now, millions of Americans want to use the Internet, but either don’t know how or can’t afford the devices to do so,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement—the department houses NTIA. “The Commerce Department is working to get these Americans the skills and technology they need to take full advantage of their Internet connection so they can better their lives and grow the economy for everyone.”

The money comes on the heels of another $250 million award NTIA made under the same program earlier this month. The agency had made $910 million available from its Digital Equity Competitive Grant program in July, meaning another $291 million is still in the tank.

The program, one prong of the agency’s $2.5 billion in Digital Equity Act efforts, is aimed at tackling barriers to broadband adoption that persist after infrastructure is deployed, like expensive devices or an unfamiliarity with digital services. It proved popular, with the agency reporting more than 700 applications seeking more than $6.5 billion in funding.

Friday’s awards are slated to go to 41 organizations across 46 states and territories. Nonprofits, local governments, certain state agencies, and others were eligible for funding. 

Among the selected projects: an $11.1 million digital navigator service by the City of Dallas, a $10.7 million digital skills program targeted at deaf and hard of hearing people across 32 states, and a $5.1 million effort to stand up telehealth services by the Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation in Kansas. A full list is available here.

The funds will be formally issued after “budget review and processing,” the NTIA said.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the newly appointed chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, has attacked the program, pushing the NTIA to stop work on it in November. He said it engaged in unconstitutional race-based discrimination by targeting funding at programs that would assist racial minorities, among other groups like the elderly and low-income people, in getting online. Unlike the BEAD program, there hasn’t been loud GOP opposition to NTIA’s digital equity programs aside from Cruz’s letter.

The agency has forged ahead though, getting the ball rolling on disbursing funds. Consumer groups had pushed back on Cruz at the time, noting the law standing up the fund includes minority communities among the groups eligible projects could aim to help. 

A separate Digital Equity Act program, available to state and territory governments and which Cruz did not write the agency about, targets the same set of populations. The NTIA has been awarding funds under that program, more than $500 million so far.

Alan Davidson, the head of the NTIA, is stepping down Jan. 20, and his successor hasn’t been named, although it’s reportedly coming soon.

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