With the allotted State Digital Equity Planning Grant (SDEPG) funds, the BDO conducted robust and comprehensive public engagement to ensure all Texan voices were incorporated into the first draft of the TDOP.

Led by a strong focus on unserved and underserved populations across the state, the BDO administered individual and organizational surveys to understand barriers to access, conducted a statewide listening tour to engage both citizens and stakeholders, and convened statewide working groups and industry-focused task forces. The feedback and data gathered through these engagement efforts played an instrumental role in shaping the TDOP.

The BDO remains committed to keeping stakeholders informed by participating in speaking engagements and conferences as well as facilitating meetings and monthly industry and local government roundtables throughout the planning and implementation process. Learn more about the BDO’s ongoing outreach and engagement.

Using additional SDEPG funds, the BDO implemented additional efforts to inform the TDOP.

The BDO:

• Partnered with Texas Workforce Commission and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension to further understand the broadband workforce and digital opportunity landscape across Texas. This work is detailed in the TDOP in Appendix K.
• Developed interactive data dashboards to visualize and understand the geographic and demographic state of digital opportunity across Texas, launching Spring 2024.
• Hosted technical assistance webinars to prepare communities for funding programs.
• Archived webinars.

In accordance with NTIA statute, the BDO developed a draft of the TDOP. The TDOP sets the vision and goals for digital opportunity in the state, assesses the current state of access and barriers to digital opportunities, outlines how we will collaborate with stakeholders to address challenges, and describes the strategies and actions we will take to realize our vision and goals.

The BDO published and promoted a public draft of the TDOP. We encouraged all Texans to provide feedback on the plan. The BDO received more than 300 comments on the TDOP draft.

Following public comments and related revisions, the BDO submitted the TDOP to NTIA on Feb. 28, 2024.

NTIA accepted the TDOP on March 28, 2024.

Texas Digtal Opportunity Plan (PDF).
*Note this is a large 800 page document.

NTIA released the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program (SDECGP) on March 29, 2024.

The SDECGP NOFO will guide the office in designing a subsequent competitive grant program for entities working to advance digital literacy, device access, affordability, cybersecurity awareness and other digital opportunity initiatives in Texas. Texas was allocated $55.6 million dollars to implement the TDOP. The BDO is working on completing the application for this grant program. The application deadline is May 28, 2024.

The BDO is currently developing program guidelines for the state’s digital opportunity grant program. The BDO encourages organizations who may be interested in applying to receive these funds to read the Texas Digital Opportunity Plan.