Congress’ 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law included $2.75 billion for the Digital Equity Act (DEA), which would have been the largest investment in digital inclusion efforts. Along with the other broadband provisions in the law, the DEA would be the most active systemic approach to closing the digital divide in US history. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) oversees all the grants under the Digital Equity Act.
On May 8th, 2025, the President canceled the DEA via a social media post, claiming it to be unconstitutional. The following day, the Administration terminated the DEA grants. NTIA/NIST (out of the Department of Commerce) sent letters to Competitive grantees with contracts, as well as all states and territories, terminating the awards. On May 20th, NTIA sent emails to organizations that had applied for an award or were recommended for an award, noting that “All Digital Equity Competitive and Digital Equity Capacity grant awards have been terminated, except for grants to Native Entities, which are pending further legal review.”
To advocate for reinstating DEA, we need more people to understand what these programs will achieve, such as help people talk to their doctors, take online classes, get jobs, avoid online scams, connect wit family and community, etc.
NDIA has created a suite of resources and tools that can be used to advocate and raise awareness of the DEA.
Digital Equity Act Advocacy Resources
This document equips you to speak with your local, state, and federal policymakers about the DEA. It provides background information about the DEA, its current status, and talking points that include specific impacts and why digital inclusion programs matter.
This template guides you through a phone call with policymakers at any level of government—local, state, or federal. It provides a framework for clearly communicating the need for DEA programs and advocating for specific actions.
This template is designed to help you write an email or letter to policymakers. It provides a framework for clearly communicating the need for digital inclusion and advocating for the Digital Equity Act (DEA) programs to be implemented as intended.
These one-pagers, available for all U.S. states and territories, will equip you to discuss and advocate for the protection of DEA in your specific state or territory. Each one-pager includes background information on DEA, the funding each state/territory would receive under DEA, and data highlighting who in your state is most impacted by the digital divide.
This document provides instructions for identifying your current federal, state, and local elected officials. You can use a few sites to determine who represents you at each level of government. NDIA provides thorough instructions for accessing and using the sites to locate federal, state/territory, and local officials. Knowing your representatives is key to sending advocacy communications.
This document outlines the total federal funding allocation to states and territories under the Digital Equity Act as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
These templates are designed to help you prepare for outreach and engagement with your Members of Congress. You’ll find one template for creating profiles of your members in the Senate and a second for your Member of the House of Representatives.
This document contains two templates: a Template Invitation Email for inviting signatures and a Template Letter to Congress. Sending a letter to your elected officials is a critical way to encourage them to support the Digital Equity Act and other programs critical to your work, while the Template Email Invitation invites partner organizations to sign on to the letter and show strength in numbers.
This document contains two templates: a Template Invitation Email for inviting signatures and a Template Letter to Congress. Sending a letter to your elected officials is a critical way to encourage them to support the Digital Equity Act and other programs critical to your work, while the Template Email Invitation invites partner organizations to sign on to the letter and show strength in numbers.
This document will help you develop ideas for a celebration for receiving digital inclusion funds. Celebration events help foster community, build relationships, and recognize achievements. They can help boost public support for digital inclusion initiatives, increase awareness of the project’s positive impact on bridging the digital divide, and ultimately lead to more effective policy implementation.
Congratulations! You received (or will receive) a digital inclusion award! This template will help you create an agenda for an event to celebrate the award.
NDIA’s partner organization, Free Press Action Fund, designed this document to support you in meeting with your Congress member while they are on break and at home in your district. To use this template, replace the text in the [brackets] with your text, and modify it to tell your story and the story of your community. In addition, we provide some tips in highlighted italics.
Find your representatives at community events! NDIA’s partner organization, Free Press Action Fund, designed this section to help you find and direct conversations with your representatives at community events while they are on break and at home in your district.
Request an in-district meeting with your representatives. NDIA’s partner organization, Free Press Action Fund, designed this document to help you request a meeting with your representative while on break and at home in your district. It provides a framework for requesting a meeting and a meeting request email/letter template.
All the Resources in One Document
Want all of the DEA resources in one file? Download this PDF if you can’t access Google Docs or simply want all of your resources in one place.
Want all of the DEA resources in one file? Download this Word document if you can’t access Google Docs or you simply want all of your resources in one place.
Word’s formatting settings differ on the Word desktop and web app. To view this document in the web app (in a browser vs. the app you install on your computer) with correct formatting, go to “View” and select “Reading View.”
Visit the Digital Equity Act (DEA) webpage to learn more about the significance of DEA, the program comprising DEA, and a comprehensive timeline for its rollout.