Here’s a regional outlook on Affordability. 

In our bi-state region–and across the country–many low-income households struggle to afford their internet service. Each month, they must choose which expenses to pay and are often forced to pick rent, utilities and other critical expenses over the internet. They may rack up late fees, making an already too-high bill even higher–and get disconnected for nonpayment, leaving them without this service that is essential in today’s digital economy. 

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is a subsidy program provided by the FCC, and with its (up to) $30/month discount, it has not only lowered the internet bills of eligible low-income households, it has influenced some internet service providers to offer plans that are 100% covered by the discount, making internet service free for those who can select such a plan. 

Notably, the ACP prevents credit checks, upselling and requiring contracts and requires that ISPs refrain from disconnecting service for 90 days. And if a household does end up getting disconnected, they do not need to pay off their balance to restore service.

But, none of this helps if a household is unaware of or unable to sign up for the ACP. Our evidence shows that awareness of this program is very low in our region among both low-income households and community-based organizations. Therefore, we are building on our work over the last two years through the Internet Access Support Program, which has provided up to $225 for past-due bills and an internet subsidy up to $75/month for six months for about 1,200 households in the KC metro, by deploying a number of tactics to increase ACP awareness and enrollment. We also continue to bolster a comprehensive coalition of organizations familiar with serving diverse, low-income households and are experienced in helping their clients connect to other community resources like the ACP.

Tools and resources 

• We are in the process of updating our ACP Sign-Up Manual based on recent changes to the enrollment process – we’ll post it here in May 2023. 
• Share your ACP activities to include in local monthly reports and newsletters
• Contact us to learn more about regional planning or to request an ACP overview or ACP training for your staff
• Download the Greater Kansas City ACP Enrollment Reports by month – prepared by KC Digital Drive. Reports feature YTD numbers as well as all time cumulative enrollment data; information is assembled when new data is released from USAC.
  • Oct 2022 – published on 12/1/22
  • Nov 2022 – published on 1/4/23 
  • Jan 2023 – published on 2/7/23
    
  • Mar 2023 – published 4/26/2023
  • Apr 2023 – published on 5/22/2023 
• Check out our Internet Access Support Program (IASP) to learn more about additional assistance we can provide and subsidies that may be available