Advocates Hail Funding for ACF Outreach as 'Game Changer'

Funding in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to continue a modified version of the emergency broadband benefit program is being hailed as a game changer by advocacy groups for including language allowing the FCC to provide grants for outreach efforts (see 2111080067). Under the EBB program, the FCC wasn't allowed to use funds for this purpose (see 2102260058).

Having access to grants for outreach efforts is “incredible”, said Alejandro Roark, Hispanic Technology & Telecommunications Partnership executive director. It’s “something that we were really pushing hard both with the FCC and with Congress,” Roark said. It's “the game changer,” said Internet Innovation Alliance co-Chair Kim Keenan. The FCC “did a yeoman’s job” in building partnerships for the EBB program, Keenan said, “so just imagine what they can do if they had even just a little money” to spend on outreach efforts.

“It’s definitely a game changer,” said Fallon Wilson, Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council vice president-policy. It showed that the feedback the FCC received made its way to Congress so “community partners can really do the on-the-ground enrollment,” Wilson said: “We had a challenge, but now Congress has rectified it and now the FCC can really double down and increase numbers in enrollment.”

The FCC “has learned a great deal over the course of its pandemic connectivity programs,” emailed a spokesperson Tuesday: “It’s clear from our collaboration with thousands of EBB outreach partners that supporting their work will be critical to building trust in the Affordable Connectivity Program.” The agency is “grateful Congress provided funds to support the trusted leaders and organizations who’ve made [EBB] a success and will be equally as vital for community-driven enrollment efforts for the Affordable Connectivity Program,” she said.

Many of the outreach efforts for the EBB program were done digitally due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Roark said, and these grants could support pop-up in-person events. “Any influx of cash really just allows local community-serving organizations to be innovation partners,” he said, noting his group is determining how much money will be needed for these efforts and waiting for more information about how the grants will be administered: “There’s still, I think, a lot of questions.”

Funding for outreach efforts will “help ensure that we have more of those organizations doing the good work that they’ve been doing over the course of the last year,” said Ryan Johnston, Next Century Cities policy counsel-federal programs. NCC is “very hopeful" the funding will "get more people signed up for the program,” Johnston said.

County officials are “well suited” to get the word out about the new program, said Mark Ritacco, National Association of Counties director-government affairs: “I don’t think there’ll be any shortage of local officials who want to get this subsidy in the hands of their residents and want to participate in getting the word out.”

Once the grants become available, “you have to have all options on the table” when considering how to approach eligible households, Wilson said. That includes social and traditional media, as well as trusted institutions and members of a community, she said. Johnston agreed but said having someone to guide a consumer through the application process in person is “incredibly important.”