To sustain digital adoption programs, we need to look beyond grant funding

A wave of funding cuts risks digital skills training, device access, and navigator programs that help unconnected Americans get online and meaningfully use the internet. Meeting this challenge will take creativity and cross-sector partnerships — but if we succeed, it could power the digital inclusion sector’s next chapter. It’s been a hard year for digital inclusion. The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) has ended. The Digital Equity Act (DEA) funds so many fought for have been cancelled. And non-deployment dollars from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program remain in limbo. This is a difficult moment — but also a clarifying one. It’s forcing us to reckon with the limitations of our current funding model and opening the door to build something more resilient. Necessity is the mother of invention and now is our moment to innovate.

[Samantha Schartman Director of Philanthropic Programs at Connect Humanity. Calum Cameron is Connect Humanity's Communications Manager.]