(C) Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural This story was originally published by Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Commentary: Broadband Subsidy Enrollment Ends Today; Millions Are at Risk of Losing Internet [1] ['Chhaya Kapadia', 'Chris Sadler', 'The Daily Yonder'] Date: 2024-02-07 The Affordable Connectivity Program will freeze enrollment today (February 7, 2024) because funds are running out for this enormously effective federal program that helps people pay their internet bills. Already, roughly 23 million low-income households across America have received notices that the price of their internet service will go up by as much as $30 in a few months—and that includes more than 8.7 million households in the United States’ heartland region. An estimated 20+ million people lack access to broadband internet in the diverse landscape of small towns, urban centers, and rural areas that comprise America’s heartland (an area that comprises 20 states in the central divisions of the southern and midwestern Census regions). For many millions more, the monthly costs of broadband can be high due to infrastructure costs and lack of competition, which leaves families struggling to choose between spending on internet service and putting food on the table. Unequal broadband access profoundly impacts all regions of the country. It is a technological and economic problem with effects that cut across political divides. The ACP is an extension of the Emergency Broadband Benefit from the Covid-19 pandemic’s early stages, which has helped narrow this digital divide by providing participating households a subsidy of $30 per month ($75 on Tribal lands) for their internet bill if their income level is at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines or they participate in certain other assistance programs. Despite a bipartisan majority of voters supporting the ACP (62% of Republicans and 96% of Democrats), millions of households in the heartland will be at risk of no longer being able to pay for broadband internet service if Congress allows funding to run out. A graphic produced by the Don’t Disconnect Us campaign lays out significant dates in the timeline leading to the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program, which has provided $30 a month ($75 on tribal lands) to support broadband subscriptions for lower-income families. (www.dontdisconnectus.org) Low population density and high deployment costs have limited the availability of broadband internet service in the smaller towns and rural areas of this swath of the country. Congress recently addressed the need to bring broadband to unserved and underserved areas through $42.45 billion in funding via the Broadband, Equity, Accessibility and Deployment (BEAD) Program. Half of the 10 largest allocations will go to states considered part of the heartland—Missouri, Michigan, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas—with the largest state allocation overall of $3.3 billion going to Texas. While investments like BEAD will help increase availability of connectivity and choice through infrastructure investments, the other side of the broadband adoption equation is affordability of service. Simply put, internet insecurity is real, so people can only be said to have meaningful access to the internet if they can afford to pay the bill month after month. Nationwide, 43% of eligible households are enrolled in the ACP, while half of those eligible had not even heard of the program a year ago. To spur more awareness and enrollment in the ACP, the FCC launched the ACP Outreach Grant Program to support community outreach efforts. Across heartland states, enrollment rates vary from 14-17% in the more rural states of North and South Dakota (where network scarcity and population density issues can inhibit enrollment) to 57-59% in Ohio and Louisiana, respectively. Organizations and Native American groups in heartland states have been granted $25.2 million of the $66 million planned for ACP Outreach Grants but would lose access to that money if the ACP runs out of funding. This would also jeopardize the jobs of digital navigators who were employed by that funding. Working through local community organizations and institutions to spread the word about the ACP and help sign up people via digital navigators has been an enormously successful outreach practice in the heartland, as in other parts of the country. Many communities have worked tirelessly to connect residents to ACP benefits, and an interruption in the benefit will harm their trust in those institutions and in their government, which once lost is even harder to regain. Organizations like Heartland Forward, the American Connection Corps, and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) have been helping address disparities in internet affordability that can improve the lives of millions in the heartland. However, the ACP is set to run out of funding in April. This program is a social and economic investment that will allow all residents of the heartland to fully participate in life in the digital age. Failure to extend the ACP with new funding will reduce the efficacy of the huge connectivity investments made in the heartland through BEAD and leave a large digital equity gap in the center of our country. A lack of reliable, affordable connectivity doesn’t need to be endemic or inevitable to the heartland or any other region of America; the digital divide is a solvable public problem. With one in every six American households set to have the cost of their internet service go up, Congress can and must renew the ACP. We have the tools to solve this 21st century challenge, if we can find the political will to make it so. Chhaya Kapadia is chief of staff for New America’s Open Technology Institute. Chris Sadler is a former education data and privacy fellow at the institute. Related Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. 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