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The Impact of Women Breaking Digital Access Barriers

By: Maci Morin and Michell Morton, Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth

In today's digital world, access to technology and the Internet enables boundless opportunities.  Now more than ever, women and girls are seizing these opportunities to smash barriers and soar to new heights. 

For women and girls, achieving digital equity is more than gaining access to the devices and connectivity that empower them – it is also about safeguarding their journey. 

BEAD Program – Conditional Limited Programmatic Waiver and Clarification of Professional Engineer Certification

A conditional limited programmatic waiver pertaining to the requirement for a professional engineer (PE) certification of the “network design, diagram, project costs, build-out timeline and milestones for project implementation, and a capital investment schedule evidencing complete build-out and the initiation of service within four years of the date on which the entity receives the subgrant” (Section IV.D.2.c).

BEAD Program – Waiver of Subpoint (E) of the Definition of Tribal Lands

A programmatic Waiver of Subpoint (E) of the Definition of “Tribal Lands” in the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). This waiver will eliminate the requirement to show Tribal consent to broadband infrastructure deployment in locations that fall within the scope of subpoint (E) and terminate the requirement to have a binding agreement between a Tribe and a broadband service provider to treat prior governmental support for broadband deployment as “enforceable” in locations described in subpoint (E).

For the First Time, All States will have a Plan to Address Digital Equity

By Angela Thi Bennett, Director of Digital Equity, NTIA

Today, all 50 States, D.C., and Puerto Rico have submitted their Digital Equity Plans to NTIA for acceptance. This is a milestone moment in closing the digital divide. For the first time in our nation’s history, each state will have a plan to connect communities with the resources they need to achieve digital equity. That’s never been true before, and it’s an exciting indicator of how far we’ve come as a nation in acknowledging and addressing this challenge. 

BEAD Financial Capability Alternatives Policy Notice

The BEAD NOFO states that “Eligible Entities may, with the permission of the Assistant Secretary, allow prospective subgrantees that have the ability to issue public bonds (e.g., municipalities) to provide comparable evidence in support of their financial capabilities.” The BEAD Financial Capability Alternatives Policy Notice provides additional guidance to Eligible Entities regarding what information should be included in making such a request and the form such comparable evidence might take.

Stories from NTIA’s Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives and the Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program

The Connecting Minority Communities Pilot (CMC) Program is a $268 million grant program to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) for the purchase of broadband internet access service and eligible equipment or to hire and train information technology personnel.

Stories from NTIA’s Broadband Infrastructure Program

The Broadband Infrastructure Program (BIP) is a $288M broadband deployment program for grantees who have formed partnerships between a state, or one or more political subdivisions of a state, and providers of fixed broadband service to support infrastructure deployment to areas lacking broadband, especially rural areas. The program launched in 2022 when NTIA made its first awards for the program and almost 2 years in, grantees have lessons to share and stories to tell.

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