Arkansas Loses Millions in Federal Broadband Funds After Trump Decries Grant Program as ‘Woke’

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The U.S. Department of Commerce last week terminated the $1.44 billion Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program (DECPG), which included $10.1 million in funds already distributed to Arkansas and $7 million set to be distributed across the next two years.

UAMS was also set to receive $10.7 million in funding to support health care-related broadband expansion efforts across the state.

The Arkansas State Broadband Office did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment Thursday morning.

According to the termination letter posted on LinkedIn by Jade Piros de Carvalho, the former director of the Kansas Office of Broadband Development, all project activities beyond May 9 will not be reimbursed, and that if states continue activities, they do so at their “own risk.”

The cancellation comes after President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that the Digital Equity Act (DEA), which the DECPG falls under, was unconstitutional, illegal and a “woke” handout.

“As the President determined and as Secretary [Howard] Lutnick agreed, the Digital Equity Capacity Program is unconstitutional and grants issued pursuant to it were created with, and administered using, impermissible and unconstitutional racial preferences,” the letter stated.

The Digital Equity Act aimed to improve high-speed internet access in communities with poor access, specifically rural communities and low-income households.

The funding was set to implement programs outlined in the state’s Digital Skills and Opportunity Plan, a comprehensive approach to addressing the digital skills gap in Arkansas.

The plan relies on federal DEA funding, including the grant program, to implement many of its initiatives.

“ARConnect does not intend to use state funding to accomplish these priorities,” the plan states. Instead, “ARConnect will apply for and leverage federal funding from the DEA and BEAD programs.”

Specific plans that use funds provided by the federal DEA allocation through the DECPG are:

• Strategy 1.4, which creates a temporary, community mini grant program to support the expansion of free Wi-Fi access at organizations and institutions that serve covered populations
• Strategy 2.2, which creates a temporary, community mini grant program to support the expansion of existing digital skills programs at organizations and institutions that serve covered populations
• Strategies 4.1 and 4.2, which create device refurbishment and distribution programs
• Digital Skills Training programs, which create core digital skills curriculum that could be adopted across state libraries and other community institutions, as well as plans to make the curriculum available in languages other than English and to offer training outside traditional business hours

Arkansas still has $1.024 billion in federal Broadband Equity, Access & Deployment (BEAD) funding to deploy, representing the single largest investment in broadband infrastructure in the state’s history. This funding has not been terminated, according to a source with knowledge of the programs.

The $1.25 billion Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program was also terminated. El Centro Hispano and Life Skills for Youth were awarded more than $3 million to expand the state’s digital access and literacy programs in January.