April 19, 2024 

The Affordable Connectivity Program edition. One of the 21st century’s many enduring racial and class barriers is the digital divide. As of 2021, Black and Latino adults were almost twice as likely as White adults to lack broadband access. For many, whether you have access to high-speed internet too often depends on the color of your skin or the zip code in which you live – both strongly correlated with poverty. 

By the end of 2021, however, things began to change. Congress and President Biden created the Affordable Connectivity Program, which would become the largest internet affordability program in U.S. history and one that has especially benefited Blacks, Latinos, rural residents, and people living on Tribal lands. 

The way the ACP works is pretty simple. It is a $14.2 billion program that assists eligible low-income households struggling to afford monthly internet service. Participants receive a discount of up to $30 a month to pay for internet service and up to $75 a month for households on qualifying Tribal lands. 

One in every six households in America now benefits from the program. The ACP ensures that households have the connections they need for work, school, health care, and more. 

But money for ACP will run out next month unless Congress acts, and millions of people with low incomes will lose access to the internet. A bipartisan measure to extend funding for the program has been introduced in the House (H.R. 6929), and a whopping 227 House members – including 20 Republicans — have signed on as cosponsors, a clear majority. But House Speaker Mike Johnson has failed to bring it to a vote, and, although also introduced by Senator Peter Welch (D-VT), it hasn’t seen action in the Senate yet either. 

Access to the internet should not be a function of the color of one’s skin or the zip code where one lives or the size of one’s bank account. More than 70,000 CHN supporters already have written Congress to demand that funding for the ACP be extended. You can join them here.