LISC’s Michelle Harati looks at how recent federal investments in broadband affordability will help connect more households and expand access to shared prosperity within historically underserved communities.
Since the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, many federal agencies, states, localities, nonprofits, and other stakeholders have been working to ensure these new resources are implemented equitably across the country. With $65 billion dedicated to closing the digital divide, the Infrastructure Law represents the most significant federal investment in internet connectivity, and is a tremendous opportunity to advance digital inclusion work. At LISC, we are working alongside other community organizations to ensure that this expanded funding is directed to disinvested communities and helps close racial gaps in health, wealth, and opportunity.
Supporting Broadband Access
For the digital divide to shrink, all households, whether in rural, urban, or suburban areas, must be able to access reliable, affordable broadband options that strengthen communities through connectivity. The work of digital inclusion is essential to supporting broader efforts to improve educational, financial, health, and housing outcomes. That’s why the Infrastructure Law’s investments in this work were critical: up to 42 million people in the U.S. still lack access, and that deficit disproportionately impacts tribal and low-income communities, and communities of color.
For many of the unconnected, broadband is prohibitively expensive, but the Infrastructure Law’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) offers a solution by providing long-term income support to cover these household expenses. The ACP benefit offers a discount of up to $30 per month toward broadband service for eligible households whose income is at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, or if a household member participates in certain federal assistance programs. Households on qualifying Tribal lands may receive a discount of up to $75 per month, and all enrolled households may also receive a one-time discount to help purchase devices.
The Affordable Connectivity Program and What Came Before
The Affordable Connectivity Program is a long-term initiative enacted with bipartisan support through the Infrastructure Law that replaced the short-term Emergency Broadband Benefit Program (EBB) to help families afford high-quality broadband services. EBB was enacted as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, providing an initial $3.2 billion to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to temporarily help Americans afford internet service during the pandemic. It launched in May 2021 and enrollment ended in December 2021.
Public response to the EBB program demonstrated the longer-term need to address broadband affordability and the pending wind-down of the EBB threatened to disconnect newly connected households. Congress acted by including the ACP within the broader Infrastructure Law, offering low-income households a new benefit that helps pay for broadband service and internet-connected devices. In doing so, they reduced the EBB benefit from $50 to $30 per month for most households, while expanding how families can qualify, among other changes. ACP enrollment opened on December 31, 2021, and remains open for eligible households.
As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Internet for All effort, the ACP aims to close the affordability gap for the estimated 48 million households that qualify and incentivize broadband providers to reach more would-be customers. Since the ACP began enrollment at the start of this year, nearly 13 million households have registered, and more than 1,300 providers are participating in the program. To maximize the benefit, the Administration also secured commitments from 20 leading internet providers to offer ACP-eligible households high-speed internet plans that cost no more than $30 per month. With the ACP’s $30 benefit, this arrangement means families in covered areas can access high-speed internet at no cost.
At LISC, we are committed to encouraging enrollment in the ACP and understand that effective outreach and navigational support are critical. As members of the American Connection Project, we know that connectivity is imperative and how increased access strengthens economic prosperity. To this end, we hosted a webinar with FCC staff that outlined ACP's benefits and trained staff on how to connect community members to this support through partners and practitioners. The Rural LISC team, in partnership with Heartland Forward, created a unique mapping tool that visualizes enrollment in the ACP nationwide to aid in these efforts by providing insights into the reach of this new federal resource.
LISC’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) Enrollment Visualization maps ACP participation in detail, displaying the estimated percentage of eligible households enrolled by ZIP code. The interactive map also hosts information on Rural LISC Digital Navigator partner site locations, terrestrial broadband access, and the new Digital Divide Index (DDI). The DDI, recently developed by Purdue University, indicates the scale at which the digital divide impacts neighborhoods. We celebrate the success of increasing enrollment rates, but the map shows how much work remains to be done to increase the number of families benefitting from the ACP.
ACP Enrollment Map
Anyone can engage with this map by entering a ZIP code, city name, county name, or street address. The map offers a terrestrial broadband layer, indicating whether wired or fixed wireless broadband internet is available in a given area, and a Digital Divide Index layer.
Increasing ACP Outreach
Earlier this month, the FCC, which administers the ACP, voted to establish two outreach programs that recognize the critical role of interagency coordination and public-private partnerships in increasing ACP enrollment. By approving the Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program and Your Home, Your Internet Pilot Program, the FCC demonstrated how federal agencies must use innovative outreach to ensure historically underserved can effectively access public benefits. LISC strongly supports these programs and provided comments on their development because as long as digital exclusion exists, it hinders efforts to build resilient and prosperous communities for all.
Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program
The Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program will provide $90 million to raise awareness and increase enrollment in the ACP among the estimated 35 million remaining eligible households. By investing resources to support ACP outreach, including through grants to both governmental and nonprofit partners, the FCC is working to reduce adoption and affordability barriers to broadband and strengthen the equitable use of technology.
Notably, the ACP Outreach Grant Program will support the on-the-ground work of Digital Navigators and other direct service providers aiding broadband access and adoption. Digital Navigators are critical to integrating digital supports and ACP enrollment within historically disconnected communities. As FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel put it: “[We need] more folks who can spread the word, more partners who can amplify the good that the Affordable Connectivity Program can do and more organizations that can help us reach those in their community, in their own language, in a way that is accessible for all.”
We could not agree more. LISC works with over 130+ Financial Opportunity Centers and 40+ rural community development organizations nationwide to provide digital navigation support and enhance ACP uptake for low-income households. A recent report by Boston Consulting Group and Comcast, A Human Approach to Closing the Digital Divide, demonstrates the evidence for investing in Digital Navigators and points to LISC’s work as an example.
Your Home, Your Internet Pilot Program
The Your Home, Your Internet Pilot Program builds on prior interagency efforts between the FCC and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to increase digital connectivity. It invests $10 million in a one-year pilot to improve outreach and streamline ACP participation for tenants receiving assistance though HUD’s project-based rental assistance programs. This new resource will help address a longstanding need, as many HUD-assisted families lack broadband access, and it will help identify best practices for making broadband affordable for federally-assisted tenants. Five million dollars of this investment will fund up to 20 participants, including government and nonprofit partners serving potential ACP beneficiaries, and five million will support increased collaboration between the FCC and HUD to serve more federally assisted households.
Looking Forward
By scaling investments in the ACP and strengthening the Digital Navigator infrastructure, we can remove the barrier of affordability that has prevented millions of families – disproportionally Black and brown - from high-quality, reliable broadband. We will continue to work with our governmental, nonprofit, private, and philanthropic partners to ensure new public resources are effectively and equitably leveraged. These cross-sector partnerships are integral to addressing the needs of traditionally underserved communities and create the conditions for comprehensive approaches that help reimagine digital inclusion work, including how Community Development Financial Institutions can help expand access to affordable broadband. Taken together, these are critical steps forward on the path toward closing the digital divide and nurturing shared prosperity.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michelle Harati, Senior Policy Officer
Michelle advocates for federal policies to broaden pathways to opportunity, supporting multiple LISC national programs, including: economic development and small business, workforce development and financial capability, creative placemaking, and AmeriCorps. Before joining LISC, she worked with the City of San Diego Economic Development Department as a Community Development Specialist. She was also a Senior Asset Building Coordinator at the International Rescue Committee's (IRC) Financial Opportunity Center in San Diego and served two terms as an AmeriCorps member. Michelle holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a M.P.P. from Georgetown University.
@michelleharati