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.

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:

• Digital Equity Now: A Call to Action for Adult Education Leadership: A blog post summarizing the Digital Equity Act and why the adult education field needs to get involved.
• Getting Started with Digital Equity Act Advocacy for Community-Based Organizations – World Education: A fillable, customizable worksheet to help community organizations connect five core areas of the DEA to their work so that they can better advocate for themselves to their state administering entities and leaders.

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

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 here.