Outgoing Gov. Tom Wolf announces funding for 'Internet for All' initiative - CBS Pittsburgh

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HARRISBURG (KDKA) - On Thursday, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced that the Commonwealth volition person $6.6 cardinal from President Joe Biden's "Internet for All" initiative.

These are the archetypal funds to beryllium awarded of the much than $100 cardinal that volition beryllium managed by the Pennsylvania Broadband Authority.

"Pennsylvania's deficiency of affordable, accessible broadband is 1 of the biggest challenges holding our system back," said Gov. Wolf. "This $6.6 cardinal is the opening of a generational alteration waiting for Pennsylvanians. With guidance from the Pennsylvania Broadband Authority, organisation volition beryllium cautiously targeted for guaranteed progress."

Of the backing coming to Pennsylvania, $5 cardinal volition beryllium utilized to grow high-speed net entree done backing planning, infrastructure deployment, and adoption programs, and $1.6 cardinal from the Digital Equity Act that ensures communities person the skills, technology, and capableness to enactment successful a integer economy.

The backing volition beryllium administered done the PBA and past week the authorization released its "Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Statewide Broadband Plan" which you tin work close here.

That authorization was created done a bipartisan effort successful December 2021 and works to span the integer disagreement successful Pennsylvania.

"Families surviving without broadband look important barriers successful acquisition opportunities, employment opportunities, and entree to basal needs specified arsenic healthcare done telemedicine," said Western Beaver County School District and Blackhawk School District Superintendent Dr. Rob Postupac. "For excessively agelong now, those successful our agrarian communities person had to unrecorded successful integer darkness. The clip has travel to tackle this issue."

The program volition absorption connected including up to 800,000 unserved Pennsylvanians who bash not person entree to broadband internet.