Tag Archives: Emergency Connectivity Fund

OPPORTUNITY: Common Sense is looking for Emergency Connectivity Fund Stories

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Common Sense reports…

The Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) is a federal program that allows schools and libraries to provide laptops, tablets, and home internet service to students and library patrons who would otherwise lack them. It was created, in part, based on our research into the homework gap. To date, the ECF has connected over 12 million people nationwide. However, the fund will soon run out of money, and, when it does, the millions of students and patrons it is connecting may fall back into the digital divide.

Here’s the info for MN…

In Minnesota, there are 52,474 Home internet connections 192,276 Laptops and tablets and $66,210,500 ECF awards

There will be issues if the funding ends, but you can help especially if you know (or are) someone who has taken advantage of the funding…

 If the ECF ends, the connectivity represented in this map will, too. Help us highlight the ongoing need for student connectivity by sharing your story below.

16 MN Organizations get funding in latest Emergency Connectivity Fund awards to schools and libraries

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The FCC reports…

The Federal Communications Commission today announced that it is committing $125,962,023.72 in its ninth wave of Emergency Connectivity Fund program support.  This round of funding will support over 270,000 students and provide funding for 340 schools, 20 libraries and 6 consortia, which are approved to receive over 330,000 connected devices and over 39,000 broadband connections.  Since its June 2021 launch, the program has committed over $4.5 billion supporting all 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the District of Columbia.

“Today’s announcement will bring more connectivity to students and libraries in our communities, helping to close the Homework Gap and support library patrons who lack internet access,” said Chairwoman Rosenworcel.  “The Emergency Connectivity Fund is making billions of dollars in investments in our schools and libraries to support success in the digital age, no matter who you are, or where you live.”

The funding can be used to support off-campus learning, such as nightly homework, to ensure students across the country have the necessary support to keep up with their education.  Total commitments to date are supporting over 10,800 schools, 875 libraries, and 125 consortia for nearly 9.9 million connected devices and over 4.9 million broadband connections.  Today’s announcement includes nearly $27 million in commitments from Window 1 applications and over $99 million in commitments from Window 2 applications.

Here are Minnesota folks who got funding this round:

  1. FARIBAULT SCHOOL DISTRICT 0656          FARIBAULT
  2. MARTIN CO WEST SCH DIST 2448              SHERBURN
  3. PIM Arts High School      EDEN PRAIRIE
  4. MINNEHAHA ACADEMY NORTH MINNEAPOLIS
  5. MONTICELLO SCHOOL DISTRICT 882        MONTICELLO
  6. WATERTOWN-MAYER SCH DIST 111         WATERTOWN
  7. NORTH LAKES ACADEMY               FOREST LAKE
  8. STEPHEN 0011-31-016 ANOKA
  9. NEW LONDON-SPICER SCH DIST 345        NEW LONDON
  10. FERTILE-BELTRAMI SCH DIST 599               FERTILE
  11. Little Crow Telemedia Network  HUTCHINSON
  12. BAGLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT 162    BAGLEY
  13. Runestone Education District      ALEXANDRIA
  14. ECHO CHARTER SCHOOL -DIST 4026         ECHO
  15. BADGER PUBLIC SCHOOL DIST 676            BADGER
  16. OGILVIE SCHOOL DISTRICT 333   OGILVIE

You can see the full list of fund recipients and more on the FCC website.