Help shape the new Emergency Broadband Benefit

blue wires broadband
(Source: Wikimedia / CC)

A new program to help more people afford to stay connected to the Internet during the pandemic is making its way to the public.  

Known as the Emergency Broadband Benefit, the program was funded by Congress in early 2021 to enable eligible households to receive a discount on the cost of broadband service and on certain connected devices during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Federal Communications Commission will host a virtual roundtable tomorrow, Feb. 12, to gather public input on how to structure the $3.2 billion program.

Two panels during the roundtable will focus on outreach and consumer enrollment and provider participation and consumer choice. 

Questions for the panels can submitted to outreach@fcc.gov

Leaders from related industry, nonprofit, and advocacy groups will participate, including Erica Myers, leader of Microsoft’s Airband Initiative in rural America; Travis Noland, Manager of Government Relations, Cherokee Nation; Jonathan Nez, President, Navajo Nation, and Francella Ochillo,  Executive Director of Next Century Cities, a nonprofit that works to expand affordable and reliable high-speed broadband connectivity.

Watch the roundtable 10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. EST. 

Learn more about the Emergency Broadband Benefit program: 

Drawing Resilience: Maureen Hearty

Maureen Hearty transforms objects, space, and community, seeing art as a tool for action, education, and opportunity. The majority of her community-based work today is on the eastern plains of Colorado, considered one of the most sparsely populated areas in the United States. In Joes, Colorado (pop. 78), she is activating space using art, music, and the collection of story. In 2020, Maureen and her friend Kristin Stoltz were awarded an NEA grant for a project titled “Arts for a Prairie Seas: Farming Fluxus.”

Read More »