The FCC will vote next month on a proposal to establish a one-year pilot program aimed at boosting awareness of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) among recipients of federal housing assistance. The program, to be known as Your Home Your Internet, would have a budget of $10 million.
The ACP pays $30 a month toward the cost of internet connectivity for low-income households and pays up to $100 toward the cost of a computer or other connected device. It kicked off at the beginning of this year to replace the Emergency Broadband Benefit program.
The ACP, which was created in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, has a budget of $14.2 billion, including $100 million to promote the program.
Of the $10 million budget proposed for the Your Home Your Internet program, up to $5 million would be made available in the form of grants through the Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program for government entities and third-party organizations serving federal housing assistance recipients and selected to participate in the program.
An additional amount up to $5 million would be available to fund the commission’s own outreach, including outreach conducted in collaboration with Housing and Urban Development and other federal agencies serving federal housing assistance recipients.
The Your Home Your Internet Order
As a fact sheet included with the draft order explains, the Your Home Your Internet program would:
- Identify potential enhancements to the Affordable Connectivity Program, including improvements to the ACP application process, the effectiveness of which will be tested through the pilot.
- Solicit proposals from pilot program applicants about ideas to help spread awareness of the ACP and increase enrollment among federal housing assistance households.
- Allow approved pilot participants access to the National Verifier, the system that checks and confirms a household’s eligibility for the Affordable Connectivity Program, to assist federal housing assistance recipients in completing their applications.
- Set forth the pilot program application guidelines and criteria for interested entities.
- Encourage pilot participants to also participate in the ACP Navigator Pilot established by the Commission in the January 2022 ACP Order.
- Set guidelines for measuring success of the pilot.
The vote on the Your Home Your Internet program is on the agenda for the next monthly FCC meeting, which is scheduled for August 5.
