Feds formally pull $5.56 million from Alaska digital equity grant

The U.S. Department of Commerce has formally taken back $5.56 million it awarded Alaska for digital skills classes, refurbished devices and wider internet access. A Sept. 4 modification left $67,466 on the award, about 1.2% of the original $5.63 million, federal award records on USAspending.gov show.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration ended the State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program nationwide on May 9, 2025. Alaska's in-state grant round ended with it. No pass-through awards went to the six applicants who had asked for $8.4 million. The records reviewed do not say what the remaining $67,466 covers.

The Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development received the award in November 2024. The Alaska Broadband Office ran it as the Alaska Digital Empowerment Capacity Grant Program, a round meant to pass the money to other groups. That round opened Dec. 13, 2024, and closed April 12, 2025. Awards were expected in mid-July 2025.

The state plan behind the grant called for affordability strategies, statewide digital literacy classes taught in person, a program to refurbish, hand out and maintain devices, and broadband access at libraries and other community anchor institutions. Its eight covered populations include low-income households, people with disabilities, aging Alaskans, veterans and rural residents.

Deputy Director Lisa Von Bargen told the Statewide Broadband Advisory Board on June 16, 2025, that the federal grant was the in-state program's only funding source, according to the board's approved minutes, which record no board discussion. The state's FY2027 budget document says the program "ended for FY2025 and beyond."

The award's period of performance ran from Dec. 1, 2024, to May 9, 2025. The records reviewed do not say why the money stayed on the books until September 2026, 16 months after the termination.

The award was also smaller than the state had budgeted. The FY2025 capital budget expected up to $15 million under the program's formula and carried $15 million in federal receipt authority, with no state match. An earlier $567,800 federal planning grant paid to write the plan, which Alaska submitted on Jan. 27, 2024.

The records reviewed do not show whether any of the plan's programs will go forward with other money. The federal record was last updated Sept. 21.