The federal government has invested billions of dollars into U.S. broadband infrastructure so that more Americans can get online. But this investment will only see returns if people can and do use the internet access afforded by those broadband networks. There are many reasons why people choose not to or can’t get online, even if the infrastructure is available to them—ranging from low digital skills to distrust of the internet. That’s why the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) passed by Congress in 2021 directed the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to administer the Digital Equity Act (DEA) Competitive Grant Program—through which non-governmental organizations with programs that tackle barriers to internet adoption could apply for funding.

In February, after the NTIA had recommended a number of applicants for the award, New America’s Open Technology Institute (OTI), in partnership with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), hosted an event to hear from some of these awardees about the implementation and intended impacts of their winning programs. Since then, the Trump administration has illegally canceled the DEA, leaving programs and organizations that were primed to address gaps in internet adoption scrambling without the funding they had been promised. Right now, it’s unclear if the funding for these programs will ever be revived, and it’s important to recognize what we lose if it never gets revived. February’s event showcased that, as programs and organizations shared what they planned to do with the DEA funding.

The DEA would have supported programs tackling internet adoption at the local level. During the event, Daiquiri Ryan Mercado, who leads the Digital Equity and Opportunity Initiative, noted that such programs are made up of “the folks who are already trusted leaders in their communities, have a really deep-lived understanding of what the digital divide looks like in their communities, and what solutions are actually going to move the needle to solve it.”

Throughout the panel, grant awardees shared how programs the funding supports would benefit their communities by addressing concerns unique to them. One way to address such concerns is through digital navigators: individuals who support community members in accessing and using the internet. Megan Waiters, a digital navigator at the Community Service Programs of West Alabama, emphasized on the panel that much of daily life is now digital—from banking to medical services. She stated that’s why her program wants “to make sure that we are helping people, especially these vulnerable populations that we serve, get what they need from the digital space.” As part of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance’s cohort of digital navigators, Waiters’ program planned to use DEA funds to expand their digital navigator services, which assist people who live in West Alabama with digital skills classes in partnership with local libraries and provide them with devices such as laptops and tablets.

The panel also included Taylor Stuckert, the executive director of Lead for America’s American Connection Corps, which places digital navigators in local institutions across the country to serve digitally disconnected communities. Stuckert stated during the event that the institutions include “extension agencies, regional planning commissions, counties, municipalities, libraries, or other nonprofits working on the front line of the digital divide at the local level.” Stuckert noted that the organization planned to use the DEA Funds to provide 80 members each year for three years to support community partners in 14 states.

Another panelist, Sara Nichols, energy and economic development manager at Land of Sky Regional Council, stressed that programs addressing internet adoption are critical to helping communities after disasters strike. To illustrate this point, she highlighted how issues contributing to the digital divide were exacerbated after Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina—a region of communities she serves. This led her to launch the Helene Technology Recovery Program, which helped replace communication devices for people who lost them to the storm. With DEA funds, Nichols planned on expanding already existing programs that work to close the digital divide in her state, including a mobile computer lab, a program dedicated to veteran healthcare access, and a digital navigator program.

Beyond programs focusing directly on their communities’ internet adoption, DEA funds would have also been critical to strengthening the American workforce in general. This is the focus of Apprenti, an apprenticeship program that produces new talent for STEM careers. During the event, Apprenti’s executive director Jennifer Carlson shared how the organization works with state and labor offices and a variety of other agencies to help Americans adopt technologies for their jobs. In response to how Apprenti planned to use the DEA funds, Carlson said, “Companies are going to be leveraging these funds through [Apprenti] once they’re distributed so that we can underwrite the training costs that can get their workforce up to a level that can work across every state at the same level.”

Panelists emphasized that there is no point in building broadband infrastructure without the means to ensure access to devices and foster adoption. Stuckert compared not focusing on both deployment and adoption to the following scenario: “If we had built the interstate highway system without building cars and teaching people how to use that system, it wouldn’t have been very effective, and we wouldn’t have seen the commerce and the industry and the economic opportunities that emerge from that.” Panelist Glen Howie, the state broadband director at the Arkansas State Broadband Office, noted that there are three key pillars of sound broadband connectivity, and all three—access, affordability, and opportunity—need effort and attention.

The programs and work that DEA funding would have supported are what make the United States’ investment in broadband infrastructure worthwhile. During the event, Joshua Breitbart, senior vice president of ConnectALL at Empire State Development, stated that “the more people that get connected, the more valuable this is for everybody….This is really about making this infrastructure truly valuable and impactful for every community, for every state and territory, and for everybody who’s invested public or private funds into making these networks available.”

As states work to revive now-canceled federal funding, hopefully DEA funds will be among those that possibly get restarted. As Jessica Dine, a policy analyst who focuses on the issue of broadband access, stated in a recent op-ed: “This administration could oversee one of the most universally beneficial and consequential policies in years—one that would yield measurable benefits in every sector of American life and in every geographic region. There’s still time to bring the program back and take the easy win.”

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