New federal law allocates one billion dollars for digital skills

According to the weekly digest of the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, a new law, the American Rescue Plan,  signed by President Biden March 11, 2021, allocates $1 billion to establish two new grant programs which will help Americans build digital skills.

Could some of these funds be used by adult foundational skills programs to improve adult learners' digital skills?

David J. Rosen

 

Comments

Hello Integrating Technology colleagues,

Sorry, the article I referred to began by describing a law that was passed yesterday, but then, at the end, described a bill that was introduced and must wend its way through Congress. "In addition to the American Rescue Plan, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) led the charge on the reintroduction of the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act. The $94 billion proposal would bring broadband service to areas where it doesn’t exist, improve speeds in places where connectivity is sluggish, and help families who are struggling to pay their monthly bills." It was in this section of the article that $1 billion for digital literacy was mentioned. https://www.benton.org/blog/american-rescue-plan-broadband-and-social-safety-net You may want to read the article -- perhaps more carefully than I did!

David J. Rosen