Hi. I’m Sarah Jane Tribble, KFF Health News’ chief rural correspondent. My reporting focuses on how people get their healthcare, how they pay for it, and how government-funded efforts like the Digital Equity Act affect rural Americans. If you have rural health tips, you can reach me at sjtribble@kff.org.
By Sarah Jane Tribble
When President Donald Trump took to social media last year to call a federal grant program “racist” and “illegal,” the ramifications were quick.
Nearly $26 million meant for the nonprofit National Digital Inclusion Alliance was never delivered, making it impossible for the digital advocacy organization to pass it on to more than a dozen other organizations and tribes working to teach digital skills and expand internet access. The groups included the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, El Centro Hispano in Arkansas, Portland Community College in Oregon, and Community Service Programs of West Alabama, according to the NDIA.
The alliance sued and won a partial victory against the Trump administration this summer. In a 35-page opinion, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates said the grant program had to continue but agreed with the administration that it was unconstitutional for the government to use race or ethnicity as a basis to award money.
“It was definitely disappointing,” said Angela Siefer, the executive director of the NDIA, which focuses on improving digital and internet skills nationwide. “With this administration it’s really worrisome.”
Under the decision, the NDIA will need to reapply for grants under a new process that removes the racial and ethnic criteria. A 60-day comment period for the new grants opened last month and ends in October.
The NDIA’s initial grants were meant to go toward digital navigator programs, in which community workers teach technology and internet skills.
The $2.75 billion Digital Equity Act, passed by Congress in 2021, lists exactly whom the money should benefit, including low-income households, older people, some incarcerated people, rural Americans, veterans, and members of racial or ethnic minority groups.
Rural residents live sicker and die younger on average than people in the rest of the country when they live in counties lacking high-speed internet access and healthcare, an analysis by KFF Health News found.
Computer Reach, a nonprofit in western Pennsylvania that was slated to receive Digital Equity Act grant money, has cut staff and programs. Executive Director Dave Sevick said his organization, which started in 2001, has refurbished more than 24,000 computers, giving them away to families it finds through schools and churches.
“We’re aware that affordability is the biggest issue around, and this doesn’t make it any better for folks,” Sevick said. “We’re helping a little bit by getting a free computer out to people.”
Read more from the "Dead Zone" series.
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