National Digital Inclusion Alliance

The US Department of Labor (DOL) is considering the essential role of digital skills and broadband in the workforce. The National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) emphasized that digital skills are key to digital equity in our recent comments in response to DOL’s Digital Literacy and Resilience Request for Information. NDIA’s comments highlighted models of digital skills programs operating within the framework of holistic digital inclusion strategies. NDIA emphasized five overarching points:

In the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Congress recognized that digital discrimination is a real and present problem for many people and charged the Federal Communications Commission with developing rules to prevent and eliminate it. NDIA and Common Sense Media submitted comments in response to the FCC’s recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for the forthcoming digital discrimination rules. Examples of discriminatory practices to look out for: Pricing, Performance, Customer service, Network maintenance, Contract terms and conditions, and Marketing.

It has been just over a year since the Digital Equity Act (DEA) was signed into law as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and the $2.75 billion it provides is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to design systems that will enable true digital equity. Congress and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration outlined specifics for states to include in their digital equity plans.

Do you know someone who should be recognized for their work in digital equity? Or someone who has brought a fresh, innovative perspective to the field? The National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) is now accepting applications for the Charles Benton Digital Equity Champion Awards.

On November 10, 2022, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officially opened the application window for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) Outreach Grant with the release of the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Applications are due January 9, 2023, at 11:59 PM EST. If you’re interested in applying for a grant, we encourage you to start the process as soon as possible, as there are several steps you will need to take. The NOFO includes information on eligibility, funding allocation, funding prioritization factors, and guidance on how to prepare for receiving grant f

The Federal Communications Commission is engaging the public in a few ways in its effort to learn about different perspectives on digital discrimination. Beginning with the Notice of Inquiry (NOI), the FCC asked for input on how to implement the digital discrimination section of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). In May, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) submitted comments on our perspective of how the FCC should implement rules to prevent and eliminate digital discrimination.

In Fall 2022, states, territories, and the District of Columbia (DC) will receive Digital Equity Act (DEA) Planning Grant awards – and, with approximately a year to develop their state digital equity plan, they’ll start the process quickly. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act requires states, territories and DC (or the administering entities) to engage with a variety of stakeholders in creating the plan, including community anchor institutions, county and municipal governments, local educational agencies, and nonprofit organizations.

The National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) awarded 18 grants to recipient organizations, who will together launch the National Digital Navigator Corps. The grants are part of support from Google.org, which will go toward hiring community-based digital navigators alongside programmatic and technical support to further develop NDIA’s digital navigator model for rural and Tribal communities. The grants, which total more than $6.6 million, are for two-and-a-half-year periods and range between $320,540 and $389,840 each, depending on the need and proposal. Seven of the grantees are Tribal-le