More than 51 million households are eligible for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), including over 17 million currently unconnected. This year, EducationSuperHighway had the privilege of working with state and local governments, trusted institutions, and community-based organizations to bring awareness of and grow enrollment in the ACP among eligible households across the United States. Through the hard work of organizations like yours, the ACP adoption rate has reached 42% nationwide!
Your Home, Your Internet Pilot Program
This year, the FCC launched the Your Home, Your Internet pilot program designed to increase ACP adoption among recipients of federal public housing. EducationSuperHighway partnered with grantee recipients in Baltimore, Birmingham, and Charlotte to raise awareness and support enrollment in the benefit.
Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC)
Following a partnership with the Baltimore City Office of Information and Technology, EducationSuperHighway partnered with HABC to bring awareness of the ACP benefit to 19,500 residents. Their efforts, which include mailers, large format banners, and digital kiosks, helped close to 300 people sign up for the benefit in the last month alone.
Housing Authority of Birmingham District (HABD)
Continuing the momentum built by the city’s Connect99 campaign, HABD utilized grant funding to hire community ambassadors to personalize outreach at each property and are well on their way to facilitating over 50 adoption events.
INLIVIAN
Charlotte kicked off the Your Home, Your Internet pilot program nationally with a press event attended by federal, state, and local leaders earlier this year. Since that time, INLIVIAN has partnered with the Center for Digital Equity, to host more than 40 in-person enrollment events and conduct ACP outreach to 6,500 households.
ACP Learning Cohorts
In September, EducationSuperHighway kicked off three cohorts of ACP Outreach grantee organizations from across the country to share knowledge on best practices to increase ACP adoption efforts and maximize community impact. The cohort members are also working to advocate for ACP renewal with 16 of the 25 organizations cosigning a letter sent to congressional leadership in November.
National Cohort
Composed of Tribal Nations, local community-based organizations, local chapters of national non-profits, local governments, and housing authorities, this group represents nine states and has conducted outreach to over 7,000 households.
North Carolina Cohort
Led by the state’s Department of Information and Technology, this group spans nine counties and has held more than 60 outreach events at local fairs, community and faith-based gatherings, and various cohort member sites. Cohort members are following the leadership of Governor Roy Cooper, who authored and garnered support for a bipartisan ACP Support Letter to Congress, advocating for the extension of the ACP.
Oregon Cohort
Through the leadership of the Oregon Broadband Office, the Oregon-based cohort has held ACP outreach events at housing authorities, libraries, CEP schools, tribal gatherings, and a local arts festival. There is also strong advocacy for renewed ACP funding from state leadership, demonstrated through letters to congressional leadership by Governor Tina Kotek as part of a bipartisan governor advocacy effort.
State ACP Act Now Campaigns
This year, EducationSuperHighway partnered with state leaders in Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Rhode Island, and Utah to prioritize ACP awareness and enrollment in their states. The campaigns were designed to empower state and local governments to mobilize trusted institutions and community-based organizations to support ACP-eligible households to enroll in the critical benefit program.
- One of many success stories, Michigan’s Act Now Campaign, garnered over 280 organizations to sign on to the effort, directed more than 3,700 users to the GetACP.org pre-enrollment tool, and achieved a 43% state adoption rate by July – six percent higher than the national average.
- Additionally, 29 governors have indicated that ACP adoption is a priority in their state. See the full list on our ACP Enrollment Dashboard.
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