Second ECF Window to Open Sept 28

August 25, 2021

Today the FCC announced that total demand for the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) is $5.137 billion, which is about $2 billion less than the total $7.17 billion available.  In light of how many schools were closed this summer, the rise of the Delta variant which is causing more schools to return to remote learning, and other schools and libraries that expressed they did not have enough time to apply, the FCC will open a second ECF application window for services/equipment that were or will be purchased between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022 (same eligibility period as Window 1).  The second window will be open for 15 days – from September 28 to October 13, 2021.

This is a great opportunity for those schools and libraries that missed the original Window 1 deadline, have determined that more students and library patrons have unmet needs than originally anticipated, or needed more time to obtain vendor surveys and quotes to determine costs of bringing internet to student homes where internet is currently not available.  If you start planning now, it will give you 50 days before the deadline to determine unmet need and complete these tasks.

To date, we still do not have a publicly available database that shows exactly what equipment and services were requested from PA schools and libraries.  As soon as that data is made available, I will crunch the data and send to the listserve.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

– Julie

Julie Tritt Schell
Pennsylvania E-rate Coordinator
717-730-7133 – o
jtschell@comcast.net
www.e-ratepa.org