SFV Today

LOS ANGELES, CA — Yesterday, Congressman Tony Cárdenas (CA-29) joined Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho for a walkthrough of Cárdenas Elementary School to see first-hand the impact of the FCC’S Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) on LAUSD schools. In 2021, Congressman Cárdenas helped secure funding for the FCC’s Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF), a $7.171 billion program funded by Congress as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which helped schools and libraries purchase the tools and services their communities needed for remote learning during the COVID-19 emergency period. The ECF has helped provide relief to millions of students, school staff, and library patrons and will help close the Homework Gap for students who currently lack necessary Internet access or the devices they need to connect to classrooms.

“It gives me such pleasure to be here with you today, highlighting the federal funding that has helped students and families stay connected during remote learning throughout the pandemic,” said Congressman Cárdenas.“These funds helped mitigate the ‘homework gap’ by funding elementary and secondary schools and libraries to provide Wi-Fi hotspots, modems, routers, and internet-enabled devices, including services through such equipment, to students, staff, and patrons. These are critical tools and services our communities needed in order to adapt to remote learning during the COVID-19 emergency period. Closing the digital divide is imperative to ensure equal opportunity for all our children.”

“We believe that having equitable access to technology and connectivity is a fundamental human right,” Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said. “The Emergency Connectivity Fund and the Affordable Connectivity Program have amplified Los Angeles Unified’s ongoing mission to close the digital divide. By providing critical resources to students and families, we can ensure our school communities have access to a modern device and reliable connectivity. We encourage our federal partners to continue funding these programs to ensure our students have the resources they need to achieve their highest academic potential.”

As of May 24, 2023, the FCC reports that the State of California has received approximately $950 million in committed funding from the ECF. This funding has already been applied to connecting approximately 1.5 million devices. Cárdenas Elementary has received 174 computing devices for students’ home use, 131 students were provided LTE service (20 pending activation), and 7 students were provided home broadband service.

For eligible schools and libraries, the ECF Program has covered reasonable costs of laptop and tablet computers; Wi-Fi hotspots; modems; routers; and broadband connectivity purchases for off-campus use by students, school staff, and library patrons. To date, the program has provided support to approximately 11,000 schools, 1,000 libraries, and 100 consortia, and provided nearly 13 million connected devices and over 8 million broadband connections. The program has helped over 17 million students get connected to their schools and teachers.

https://cardenas.house.gov/imo/media/image/7FE303DE-7E1D-426E-81E2-9CA84DA296ED.JPEG

Original source can be found here.