Biden-Harris Administration Awards More Than $5.8 Million to Kentucky in ‘Internet for All’ Planning Grants

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that Kentucky received its first “Internet for All” grants for deploying high-speed Internet networks and developing digital skills training programs under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Internet for All initiative. Kentucky is receiving $5,874,236.13 in funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Job Act, signed by President Biden, to plan for the deployment and adoption of affordable, equitable, and reliable high-speed Internet service throughout the state. Through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, Kentucky will receive $5 million to fund various activities including:

• Identification of unserved and underserved locations;
• Increasing capacity of Kentucky's broadband office;
• Broadband-related asset mapping to identify existing activities that support the project’s goal and identification of resources and the gaps in access, affordability, and adoption that the grant funds are intended to address;
• Collaboration with Kentucky's State Digital Equity Plan;
• Local engagement with unserved, underserved, and underrepresented communities to better understand barriers to adoption.

For Digital Equity Act planning efforts, Kentucky will receive $874,236.13 to fund various activities including:

• Conducting community and stakeholder engagement on digital equity;
• Awarding subgrants for engaging with regions of the state and taking community-based actions;
• Development of a statewide digital equity plan that focuses on the communities and populations disproportionally harmed by digital inequity while stimulating workforce development.