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Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program
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Mapping Digital Sovereignty Across Indian Country As Tribal Broadband Soars
In honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, ILSR celebrates the growing number of Tribal nations exercising digital sovereignty by building Tribally-owned broadband networks.
Our freshly updated Indigenous Networks map and census highlights the burgeoning Tribal broadband movement, offering a window into this critical work across Indian Country.
Our updates underscore how much has changed since 2020 when ILSR first undertook research on Tribal networks. When we began tracking the development of Tribal broadband, of the 574 federally-recognized Tribes in the nation, there were about 40 Tribal networks offering service.
Four years later, there are now twice as many active networks in operation with 50 more Tribes who have secured funding to build their own networks, thanks in part to unprecedented federal investments in Tribal broadband. An additional four dozen Tribes have expressed interest in following suit, determined to close the digital divide in what has historically been the least connected part of the United States.
Many Tribal broadband networks that we previously identified have continued to thrive. Others have been able to upgrade their services to offer fiber service, the gold standard of Internet connectivity.
Meanwhile, a steady stream of new Tribal broadband programs have launched, with networks coming online each year and many others on the horizon, signaling a period of tremendous growth in Tribal broadband.
Hoopa Valley PUD General Manager Honored As Connectivity Champion
With Linnea Jackson at the helm of the Hoopa Valley Tribe Public Utilities District (HVPUD), Hoopa has become a bellwether of a new wave of Tribally-owned and managed broadband networks.
Over four short years, the Tribe has stewarded a wireless license from the FCC, launched a sovereign wireless network for its people, and undertaken massive fiber infrastructure builds funded by a multi-million dollar grant from the federal government and a historic partnership with the state of California.
Linnea’s work has transformed a story of a digital divide fueled by the disinvestment of a massive monopoly telephone company into one of connectivity through Tribal sovereignty, community power, and local self-reliance.
In recognition of her contributions in the field of Tribal broadband, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) named Jackson the recipient of the Connectivity Champion award at our 50th Anniversary celebration last week, alongside inspiring leaders in community composting, energy democracy, independent business, and Internet access.
“It’s been an absolute honor,” Jackson said as she accepted the award, “to help lead these infrastructure projects, which will build a legacy and help the next generation, not only with education, but telemedicine, communications… basic ways of life that are reliant on access to high speed Internet that is reliable and robust.”
USDA ReConnect Amps Up Broadband Funding to Tribal Nations
When a $25 million broadband funding award for the Colorado River Indian Tribe (CRIT) was announced in July 2023, CRIT Chairwoman Amelia Flores celebrated it as a “game changer.”
“Broadband access is essential,” Flores’s statement read, making “remote learning, telecommuting, conducting business, and simplifying staying connected” possible.
Coming amid a rolling series of announcements from the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program – each lauding millions of dollars in broadband funding for Tribes – it would have been easy to file away CRIT’s award as another from that pathbreaking broadband funding program for Tribes.
But this was not the TBCP. Rather, CRIT was among a handful of Tribes that received substantial funding awards from another federal source that has recently stepped up their grantmaking to Tribes – the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) ReConnect Grant Program, administered by the department’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS).
CRIT’s award is a helpful reminder that TBCP is not the be-all-end-all of funding for Tribal broadband. With an award cycle now open, ReConnect offers powerful tools and incentives – including dedicated Tribal funding, 100 percent grants, and consent for any new infrastructure on sovereign lands – for Tribes looking to expand or launch broadband service.
TBCP, ReConnect, and Federal Funding for Tribal Broadband Infrastructure