It’s been forty days since the Trump Administration canceled the Digital Equity Act Programs and rescinded the grants already in the hands of 56 states and territories and on their way to 66+ organizations. Today, June 18th, NDIA submitted a letter to Secretary Lutnick of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Acting Administrator Adam Cassady of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), calling on them to reinstate the Digital Equity Act programs and grants.
The letter was signed by 156 individuals leading 140 organizations serving communities from 39 states and urges the reinstatement of the Digital Equity Act (DEA) Programs that were cancelled on May 9, 2025. The letter describes the work the organizations would have done under the Digital Equity Act Program, created and authorized by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. Signers were recommended for a Competitive Grant Award, were planned sub-grantees of Competitive Grant Awardees, would have been sub-recipients of State Capacity Grant Programs, or supported local digital inclusion programs and organizations like Community Anchor Institutions (CAIs) that carry out the vital digital inclusion work.
You can download and review the letter in full below.
The Digital Equity Act (DEA) programs and grants would have helped residents across the U.S. overcome the barriers that keep them offline so they can use the internet for everything and anything — learning new skills, filling out forms, talking to their doctors, monitoring their child’s homework and assignments, or buying and selling things online. We urge Secretary Lutnick to reverse the cancellation of the DEA and reinstate it immediately.
Angela Siefer, Executive Director, National Digital Inclusion Alliance