Earlier this month, digital inclusion practitioners across the country received major news. In a significant, albeit partial, victory for our ongoing lawsuit, National Digital Inclusion Alliance v. Trump, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the administration cannot unilaterally terminate the Digital Equity Act’s Competitive Grant Program.
While we object to the court’s decision to sever the consideration of racial and ethnic minorities from the program’s covered populations, the core outcome is clear: The Digital Equity Act Competitive Grant Program will likely continue.
This ruling is a massive win for the communities we serve and the thousands of practitioners who do the hard work of digital inclusion every day.
Why This Program Matters to Our Communities
When the administration attempted to cancel this program and froze its funding last year, it didn’t just halt a federal initiative—it threatened to pull the rug out from under states, local governments, libraries, and community-based organizations that were ready to expand their impact.
The Digital Equity Act is the first major federal investment to acknowledge that true connectivity requires more than just laying fiber-optic cables. It takes digital navigators, affordable devices, and localized digital skills training to ensure that historically underserved communities can fully participate in our modern economy. The Competitive Grant Program is designed to directly fund these community-level solutions.
For digital inclusion practitioners, this ruling means that the promises made in 2021 are still intact. It means that the funding necessary to empower low-income households, veterans, older adults, rural communities, and people with disabilities may finally be allowed to flow to the front lines where it belongs.
Voices of Support: The Field Stands Together
We didn’t fight this battle alone. The broader digital equity ecosystem rallied around the importance of this program, and the media response to the court’s ruling highlights just how crucial this work is to the entire country.
Here is what our partners and allies are saying about the court’s decision:
“Yesterday’s ruling on the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program is, on balance, a victory. The National Digital Inclusion Alliance deserves enormous credit for fighting to get to this point. The court affirmed what should have been obvious all along: the Trump administration had no legitimate basis to hold this program hostage. The only real question now is how quickly NTIA moves to actually implement it.”
— Christopher Mitchell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR)
“Because of NDIA’s litigation against the Trump administration, the Competitive Grant Program will continue. Congress created this program to help people get online and acquire the skills they need to participate in modern life… We are glad that communities Congress intended to serve will once again have an opportunity to receive these funds.”
— Public Knowledge
“Congress was right to recognize the historical disparities in access and adoption of critical connectivity tools — and to address these inequities with thoughtful planning and funding. We disagree with the court’s decision that considering the connectivity needs of racial or ethnic minorities constitutes an unconstitutional race-based classification. The court also found that terminating the entire program was not warranted.”
— Revati Prasad, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society
“NDIA, thank you for continuing to lead on digital inclusion and digital opportunity. Adult learners are directly impacted by these investments. Access to devices, broadband, digital skills, and safe participation online is essential for education, employment, family stability, civic engagement, and economic mobility. Adult education programs are often on the front lines helping learners build the digital and AI literacy skills needed to participate fully in today’s world. NAFTAE stands with efforts to protect digital opportunity and ensure adults are not left behind.”
— The National Association for the Transformation of Adult Education (NAFTAE)
The Fight for Full Inclusion Continues
As our executive director, Angela Siefer, stated following the ruling: “We are proud to have pushed to keep the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program alive. This crucial program provides communities across the country not just with access or technology, but the skills, confidence, and pathways necessary to fully participate and thrive in our digital age”.
While we celebrate the survival of the grant program, we fundamentally object to the government’s position that empowering Black and Brown communities is unconstitutional. Systemic obstacles to digital equity remain a stark reality, and we will continue to advocate for the data-driven truth that digital redlining and historic discrimination have created disproportionate barriers for these communities.
NDIA will see this fight through to the end, advocate for full inclusion, and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with practitioners nationwide until digital equity is a reality for all.