Cross Telephone working to increase awareness of availability of FCC program

Submitted report
Cross Telephone has announced it is working to help build awareness about the Affordable Connectivity Program, a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) program.
The new long-term benefit will help to lower the cost of broadband service for eligible households struggling to afford Internet service, a news release states.
The $14 billion Affordable Connectivity Program provides a discount of up to a $30 per month toward broadband service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for qualifying households on qualifying Tribal lands, which includes all of Cross Telephone’s current service areas.  
A household is eligible if one member of the household meets at least one of the criteria below:  
Has an income that is at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines; 
Participates in certain assistance programs, such as SNAP, Medicaid, Federal Public Housing Assistance, SSI, WIC or Lifeline;
Participates in one of several Tribal specific programs, such as Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, Tribal Head Start (only households meeting the relevant income qualifying standard) Tribal TANF, or Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations;
Is approved to receive benefits under the free and reduced-price school lunch program or the school breakfast program, including through the USDA Community Eligibility Provision;
Received a Federal Pell Grant during the current award year; or
Meets the eligibility criteria for a participating broadband provider’s existing low-income program.
Affordable Connectivity Program enrollment opened on Dec. 31, 2021. Eligible households can enroll through a participating broadband provider or by (1) going to ACPBenefit.org to submit an online application or print a mail-in application and (2) contacting their preferred participating broadband provider and selecting a plan.  
Additional information: Call 877-384-2575 between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern Time any day of the week; or visit the website,  www.fcc.gov/ACP.