Approximately 91,000 Vermonters (14.6%) live in poverty. Vermont households pay an average of more than $60 per month for Broadband service (making Vermont 47th in the country for affordability). Education, health care, employment, and support services are harder and harder to get without Broadband. For families with few resources, the affordability gap is not just an inconvenience; it is a barrier to wellbeing.

In 2021 Vermont received $150 million in federal dollars to construct fiber networks. Vermonters stepped up to form Communications Union Districts (CUDs) to close the many gaps in Vermont's commercial Broadband networks with a municipal service. But even when a fiber network passes by their doors, families with low incomes can’t afford the cost of Broadband.

Vermont’s municipal CUDs need a way to meet their goals of community-wide affordable broadband. Equal Access to Broadband is here to help.