Transforming Immigrant Digital Equity (TIDE)

Digital Equity Act News and Updates

For the latest updates on the Digital Equity Act, sign up to receive alerts from Internet for All and BroadbandUSA, and/or follow the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on social media.

7/21/23

States have started to release the drafts of their State Digital Equity Plans for public comment! Read our newest blog post – Read, Write, Advocate! State Digital Equity Plans Now Out for Public Comment – to learn where to find more information about your state’s plan and public comment process and why it’s critical for adult education leaders, advocates, and learners to act now.

If your state has already published its plan, our State Digital Equity Plan checklist for adult education and immigrant inclusion identifies three key areas for adult education engagement and can serve as a starting point for your comments. Read our blog post to access the checklist.

6/12/23

World Education has been collaborating with adult education leaders and providers, immigrant service providers, and federal and state offices this past year to ensure the Digital Equity Act will benefit adult learners. Read our latest blog post for our response to the recent Request for Comments on the DEA.

1/9/23

As of December 23, 2022, all 50 states have received their State Planning Grant funds! States now have a year from the time they received funding to create their Digital Equity Plan. Without a complete Digital Equity Plan, states will not be able to apply for implementation funding via the State Capacity Grant.

TIDE has compiled lists of resources on how to get started for both state and local offices and community organizations, including the following:

The TIDE team is also in the process of developing a guide for DEA administering entities and adult education leadership to ensure that adult learners are meaningfully included in every state’s Digital Equity Plan, to be released in early 2023.

7/13/22

Screencap of Twitter post from NTIA showing all 50 states have signed on to BEAD and DEA

On July 13, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) confirmed that all states and territories have signed on to both the State Digital Equity Planning Grant (the first program of the Digital Equity Act) and the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program.

Read NTIA’s official press release.

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