In May, the U.S. Department of Commerce abruptly terminated the State Digital Equity Capacity Grant program, bringing the $1.44 billion program to a complete halt. This has put the future of Michigan’s Inclusive, Training, Technology and Equity (MITTEN) program on pause.

MITTEN was established in June 2024 and planned to invest $20.6 million in different regions across the state to help educate people about the digital world.

“The program was estimated to serve more than 200,000 veterans, rural residents, aging individuals and low-income households,” said Michigan High Speed Internet (MIHI) Chief Connectivity Officer Eric Frederick during a Communication and Technology Committee hearing in May.

The program was being funded by the State Digital Equity Capacity Grant program, which has now been named “unconstitutional” by President Donald Trump, and can’t continue unless the funding returns.

“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 U.S. Department of Commerce wrote in a letter to the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.

The termination of this nationwide grant has affected programs across the country, and LEO suspects it’ll result in financial losses.

“MIHI estimates that this loss of roughly $20.6 million in federal funds will result in a negative economic impact of over $100 million,” LEO Deputy Communications Director Erica Quealy wrote in an email.

“Critical programs to support small business development, cybersecurity training for seniors to protect themselves from scams, research about the positive effects of technology on combatting loneliness in senior populations, youth entrepreneurship trainings, mental and physical telehealth portal trainings and individualized digital skills training to improve employability outcomes have all ceased,” she continued.

Due to the sudden termination, Digital Equity Director Allie Herkenroder wrote a letter to grantees of the MITTEN Program stating that they have “no choice but to issue a stop work order, to stop all work related to MITTEN, effective immediately.”

Central Michigan University was one of 13 organizations in Michigan set to receive money from MITTEN. The university was going to invest $854,304 into digital literacy across eight counties.

CMU Executive Director of the Rural Health Equity Institute Alison Arnold said most services require some level of internet knowledge and access.

“We have all these portals now for our health,” Arnold said. “For older folks, accessing their Social Security and their Medicaid … If you don’t have internet or you don’t know how to use the internet, as an older adult, you are increasingly isolated and disconnected from the services that you really need.”

Another grantee of the MITTEN Program is Northeast Consortium, which is working with the Northeast Michigan Council of Governments to invest $446,023 in 11 different counties in the northeast region of Michigan.

“The Digital Literacy Mobile Lab project has been designed to help close the digital divide, thus ensuring the workforce across our eleven-county region are well equipped to obtain and retain the available jobs that require digital skills,” wrote Regional Economic and Communications Specialist for the Northeast Michigan Council of Governments Linda Damer in an email.

Damer said that understanding the digital world is important to workers across Michigan.

“At the time the grant application was written, data published by the National Skills Coalition indicated that 31% of Michigan’s workforce had limited to no digital literacy skills and that 89% of Michigan jobs will require digital skills,” she wrote.

MITTEN was part of the state’s initiative to improve broadband infrastructure by 2030. While the program mainly focuses on improving people’s digital literacy, LEO has two other programs that aim to achieve the state’s goal.

The National Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program is a federal program that plans to invest nearly 1.6 billion into internet infrastructure in Michigan. This includes improving digital literacy and improving internet access for unserved and underserved communities.

During the Mackinac Policy Conference last week, Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II announced the state would be putting $107 million toward infrastructure workforce development initiatives through LEO. $60 million of that commitment will go toward BEAD.

The Realizing Opportunity with Broadband Infrastructure Networks (ROBIN) Program is a $250.6 million competitive grant program that was created in 2022. It also aims to improve internet services in underserved areas.

Blace Carpenter can be reached at bcarpenter@thealpenanews.com. This story was produced by the Michigan News Group Internship Program, a collaboration between WCMU Public Media and local newspapers in central and northern Michigan. The program’s mission is to train the next generation of journalists and combat the rise of rural news deserts.