Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program

A report from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) covers the progress of six broadband grant programs administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). As of October 31, 2025, over $46.2 billion in grants has been awarded to support expanding broadband infrastructure. This is an increase of $2.4 million (0.01 percent) since our last status report. The six broadband grant programs have received a total of nearly $50 billion in appropriations since December 2020.

Five Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) received federal broadband funding. Each faced different terrain: different communities, different levels of trust, different local economies. So each built something different. This is what they built, and what happened. Across all five sites, we found the same underlying logic model at work: local context shaping decisions about infrastructure delivery, adoption strategy, and economic pathway, and those decisions galvanizing regional impacts.

The Department of Commerce immediately suspended regular agency operations. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will continue to perform critical activities during a lapse in appropriations: 1) managing the federal use of spectrum; and 2) promoting the stability and security of the Internet’s domain name system. During a lapse in appropriations, NTIA requires continuous and frequent engagement with defense and emergency management agencies to execute its role as the manager of federal spectrum.

On March 27, 2025, the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing to consider the confirmation of Arielle Roth, President Donald Trump's nominee for Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. If confirmed as the Assistant Secretary and head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Roth would oversee $48.2 billion in broadband infrastructure and adoption funding Congress allocated through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Howard Lutnick, a wealthy donor to President Trump who has been chosen to lead the Commerce Department, defended Mr. Trump’s plans to impose broad tariffs and said he would take a tough stance on technology sales to China during his Senate confirmation hearing. If confirmed, Lutnick would lead on trade policy and oversee a broad portfolio of government programs touching on business promotion, technology and science.

The Trump administration is spurring confusion as it seeks to implement a sweeping freeze of federal assistance, undermining laws Congress has enacted in recent years.

In early 2022, the U.S. Senate confirmed Alan Davidson to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information—and to lead the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). In the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Congress charged the NTIA with administering $48.2 billion in federal investments to close the digital divide—including the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment​ (BEAD) Program.

In an open letter, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. shared a summary of the progress the Biden-Harris administration made over the last four years. The focus of the letter is on economic recovery and the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. A key tenet is President Biden's Investing in America agenda, which aimed to mobilize historic levels of  investments in the United States and revitalize U.S. infrastructure, including broadband internet access. Here is a look at President Biden's broadband accomplishments as he prepares to leave office.

The Biden-Harris Administration’s Internet for All initiative addresses the Nation’s digital divide by bringing high-speed Internet availability, device affordability, and digital literacy to left-behind communities. Some of those programs and their impacts:

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month by showcasing one of its Internet for All grantees that embodies this year’s theme: "Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together." At Universidad Ana G. Méndez, Carolina Campus (UAGM-CC) principal investigator and agent of change Dr. Luis Rosario-Albert leads the effort to connect Carolina County, Puerto Rico residents to Internet services and digital skills training through the UAGCM-CC Broadband Digital Inclusion Project (BDIP).