Washington, D.C. —  Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is welcoming notice from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of a $4.15 million investment under the FCC’s Emergency Connectivity Fund for the American Samoa Department of Education. This federal funding is focused on improving connectivity access for schools and libraries.

 “I appreciate the FCC recognizing the connectivity challenges that our students and schools can encounter,” said Congresswoman Amata. “These are welcome funds for our schools in American Samoa. Congratulations to Governor Lemanu Mauga, Lt. Governor Talauega Ale, and especially Education Director Talauega Dr. Samasoni Asaeli as they work with this program on behalf of our students.”

American Samoa’s funding is part of over $50 million announced nationwide in this round of Emergency Connectivity Fund support. 

This funding supports 46 schools, 7 libraries, and 2 consortia across the country, including American Samoa, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Ohio, and the US Virgin Islands. The funding can be used to support off-campus learning, such as nightly homework, to ensure students across the country have the necessary support to keep up with their education. 

In general, eligible equipment within the program includes Wi-Fi hotspots, modems (including air cards), routers, devices that combine a modem and router, and connected devices (laptop and tablet computers). Schools and libraries can also receive funding for commercially available broadband service that provides a fixed or mobile broadband connection for off-campus use by students, school staff or library patrons. In limited instances, a school or library that can demonstrate it has no available service options sufficient to support remote learning may seek funding for the construction of new networks to provide remote learning and the equipment needed for data-casting services.

 “With help from the Emergency Connectivity Fund, millions of students across the country now have online tools to support their education,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “This program is providing funding for nearly 11 million connected devices and 5 million broadband connections throughout the country, and moving us closer toward closing the Homework Gap.”