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Loans are forgivable (they don’t need to be repaid) if a borrower meets certain requirements, such as using at least 60% of the loan for payroll costs. Given the average PPP loan amount is $59,000, forgiveness can be financially significant to a borrower.

For families without home internet, schools and libraries with the internet have been lifelines for connecting students to their online classes. The Emergency Connectivity Fund, a new program created by the American Rescue Plan Act in March 2021, is providing a total of $7 billion to schools and libraries to pay for laptops, tablets, modems, Wi-fi hotspots, routers, and other broadband devices.

Health care providers have used telehealth, or telemedicine, during the pandemic to deliver care to patients in their homes. The $450 billion COVID-19 Telehealth Program funded telecommunications services, information services, and devices, such as computers, smartphones, or tablets, needed for connecting to home care.

Households struggling to pay rent or utility bills received relief from the December 2020 passage of the $25 billion Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA1) program. State and local governments began receiving ERA1 funding in January 2021. The American Rescue Plan Act added $21 billion more to the program (ERA2)

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was a new Small Business Administration (SBA) loan program created by the CARES Act to help small businesses keep their workers on payroll. The program provided a total of $798.7 billion to 11.7 million businesses, keeping around 90 million jobs on payroll.

When the pandemic hit, broadband access became crucial for keeping Americans safe and connected. Households relied heavily on home internet for online school, work, and medical appointments. The sudden shift highlighted the glaring inequality in home internet availability to underserved communities.

Between February 24 and March 9, 2021, only small businesses and non-profits with fewer than twenty employees could apply for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. Our data shows more than 436,438 loans totaling $13.8 billion were approved during that two-week window.