And I believe we are ready to get started this morning. Do we have anybody new joining us today? Don't believe so. Okay, so first of all just quickly.
Okay, so first of all, as always like to thank our sponsors CareFirst health plan, Karen Ziegler, consulting services, Valley Telecom, Group G and Triad Wireless, though I really appreciate their support. And then I want to talk today is going to be a different kind of an agenda. Some of you who said who were on our meeting, a few weeks ago, we talked about some change ups to the format of our meetings, and that we thought it wasn't necessary to do full updates every week. And it may be going to every other week, and then having some kind of dialogue, program presentations, and so forth, in between. So today, we're going to start that. But I do want to. So actually, let me come back to that and come back to that and just talk about briefly what that's going to look like. And then we'll get into more detail about it. But today, we're going to be talking about county wide planning for Broadband and Digital Inclusion. And that doesn't necessarily mean BEAD. But looking at Broadband being going on into the future. And so I've invited three, three people from three different counties, who are doing a great job and developing plants. That's Michelle Simon, who's director of the Office of Digital Inclusion for Pima County, PJ way, Yuma County Broadband, program manager and joy Whitey, who we're glad to have back, Apache County school superintendent. And so here's what we're gonna do. And I'll go through this again, in a little while. But what I want them to talk about when I spoke to them about participating today, I didn't want them to go into details about their plans, some we've heard and so forth. But I was more interested in talking about what's the processes, what's the issues and developing accounting plan? So I'm going to ask them to talk about things like what are where the winds in your sails? What made it possible for things to happen for you? What were the rough seas you encountered? What's your path forward? What's next? And what should Arizona do to help you and others with implementation of your plan? So that's going to kind of be the discussion. But that's kind of what we're going to do an interactive kind of thing. So we're not going to we've asked them, What told them we they don't We don't need PowerPoint presentations, and all that sort of stuff, that we're going to try and keep this fairly informal. And for you all, to be able to contribute, ask questions, and so forth. The only thing I'll ask is that if you have something to comment to add to please raise your hand. And so I'll go over that some more in just a little while. But I kind of wanted you to know, what was what was happening with the agenda today. So with that. So future some of the future programs we're looking at is municipal networks. What is the municipal network? What are the pros and cons, different models, and so forth? Telehealth workforce, sustainability, which I think is an important issue, low cost options, and maybe others. So I'm open to any hearing from any of you about any thoughts you might have. So with that in mind, we're going to do some quick updates today. From Broadband office, Nicole, if you have anything. I don't know if Judy soap trip is on the line yet? Or is joining us today. And then Granta, you may have some updates on what's happening with the, with ACP. And then if there's any other quick updates and announcements, and then we're going to get into the program. So I hope that's acceptable with everybody. If after we do that, that we have some time for additional updates, and we will do that. So I hope that the meet your expectations for today. Any questions or comments about that? Okay, so with that, Aaron, you're on with the Broadband office, any quick updates?
I'm very, very briefly. First of all, hello, if we didn't already talk about cats and dogs. My name is Erin Lorandos. I am the Digital Equity program manager with the Arizona Commerce Authority. A couple of super really quick updates on In case you have somehow been just not listening to anything we've said last few months. The challenge process the challenge the window to submit challenges. If you are an eligible entity
is just a second, we're getting feedback from somebody.
Teresa, is that you were getting feedback. Okay, sorry, go ahead.
No worries at all. So the the window to submit challenges will close at 11:59pm. On the 14th. You can access all of the relevant documentation and examples of evidence and all of that sort of thing on our website. And I'll drop some links here when I'm done talking. And then, you know, for the, for the ISP, friends in the room, just as a reminder that if there are challenges, you know, that you need to respond to you do have that 14 days to or 15 days prior to me to respond. So the period for that, then we'll end the end of the month, just in case there are last minute challenges. And then we'll move on to next steps. Oh, Kelly, you're amazing. Thank you so much for dropping that out. Appreciate you. In Digital Equity news, not a lot to report, we are still working on our application for the capacity grants, funding from NTIA, it is not due until the 28th of this month. So we are still planning to submit our application ahead of that schedule. And then once we do that, we'll be able to share more about you know, what we're submitting for our and, you know, hopefully, we'll get approved for, and I think that it'll fit very well into today's conversation. So I really appreciate what you're doing with with the the local plans. And I think that's about it, oh, I don't want to forget this. Kelly seeing your name, maybe maybe think of it again, unless you'd like to talk about it. We are going out on the road again, tomorrow, we're going to be down in Bisbee. We're going to be presenting our, you know, kind of updates, as we've been going around the state. So many folks in this room have kind of already heard one version of it. But if you are in the Bisbee area, we encourage you to come see us we will be at the copper Queen library from 1130 to 1230. And we look forward to seeing anyone in that part of the state. And then of course, we're still continuing around on our tour everywhere else. If you haven't talked to Kelly, and you're a person who can help us figure out where to go. I'm sure she would love to hear from you. I know she's had conversations with lots of folks on the space already, but just wanted to throw that out there as well. Any questions? comments, concerns? Kathy?
I think Kelly has an announcement. Don't you tell me about your newsletter?
Yes, thank you, Steve. My name is Kelly Krusee. I am with the Arizona Commerce Authority. I get to work with Erin in the Broadband office. Our newsletter did go out on Tuesday, I think it went out. And as with everything, there are kinks. So if you did not get that newsletter and you believe you should have please let me know I will forward it to you. And then I am trying to work the magic on the back end to make sure that our list is getting cleaned up and fixed. So just ask for your patience while I work through that. I have my my list of people to send it to and I will make sure that until we get that big, you will get it from me as a forward. Please don't take that personally. So newsletter went out Tuesday. And then Erin did share about Bisbee. We are hoping at the end of the month to be in Santa Cruz County. I am working with a few contacts there. We've got a few arrangements in process, which is great. I'm really excited about that. And hopefully fingers crossed that does come through. But I did want to say thank you to a number of people who participate in this call because they are the ones who helped me get in contact with Santa Cruz County people to make those arrangements. So thank you very much two people in this call. Lots of great information and great connections and I'm really appreciative.
Okay, anything else on the Broadband office? Nicole, do you have any quick updates from NTIA?
Nicloe Umayam, the federal program officer for Arizona NTIA if I believe he shared some updates on my behalf last week, so nothing new from there but in the spirit of the challenge process and for those of you who are curious in following or other states I'm gonna go ahead and share the link that will direct you to other state portals whether they're they're open or closed as well as their their five year plans and their initial proposals. I'm excited to listen today to this county Roundup. Okay.
Sounds good. Thanks, Nicole. Any questions for Nicole? Giuliana, thank you your online brand. I believe you're online. Do you have any quick updates about ACP?
Hey, everyone. Yeah, this has been a there's been some activity over the past few days at the federal level. There was an amendment filed.
Can you introduce yourself? Oh, sure. Sure. Sorry.
My name is Brenna lessor. I'm the tech Policy Counsel with common sense. So focusing on broad in that capacity. But yeah, at the federal level with ACP, there was an amendment filed yesterday or two days ago, time is flying, to provide 6 billion to extend the program. It had some additional changes to the program, making it the eligibility criteria closer to lifeline included funding for rip and replace, to get some Republicans on board. And that's an amendment for the FAA bill. That's actually due to expire on the end of this week. It's been some back and forth about what amendments can and can't be included. leadership wants all non germane amendments excluded from the FAA just to get it passed. But lots of people have their their thing that they want attach to it, since this is kind of the last train out of the station before the end of the year. So no movement really on if that'll get passed, or included in the final FAA bill, the FAA. Bill has an extension because congressional leaders don't think it's gonna get passed this week. The House passed out last night and the Senate also has a lot of opinions on things that should be included in there, too. So TBD. But that's kind of our our last, our last hope, I guess at this point for getting ACP money included in in this legislation.
The drama continues on. Yes,
exactly. Never, never a dull moment. And DC.
Mark Goldstein's. So the discharge position petition doesn't look like it can get its critical mass.
That's the last that I heard, although there was a lot of support for if I'm remembering correctly, this is Clarksville for the extension, the discharge petition? I haven't heard of any additional movement on it. I think the the complication with it is that Republicans would have to like Buck their own leadership, essentially. So even though the program is very popular, and there's lots of co sponsors on on both sides of the aisle in both chambers. I haven't heard of any movement on it recently.
Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Brenna, when
you talk about the FAA bill, you're talking about the Federal Aviation Administration. Is that what that refers to? Yes,
sorry. i Yeah. Please enter a interject if any of this is not on top of your respirator. Um, yeah, it's the FAA bill, the to reauthorize the administration's authorities, but because it's the last train out of the station, so to say before, end of the year, even though it's only May, but it's the last major bill that's going to be passed to this session before the election and all that stuff. Everyone kind of is trying to get their thing attached to it
has nothing to do with the FAA. But they stick it in there because it's the last major bill of the
exactly, which is why there's a lot of fights about like non germane amendments, like non germane being, like not related. So there's some things that people want to get attached. Like, I mean, I'm over in Virginia and our senators are really bent out of shape about like, changes to the Reagan airport, about the like capacity of regular airports that's a little bit more related, but there's lots of different amendments that people are trying to get tacked on there. Same with the, like kids online safety and privacy acts. There's everything has trying to get attached to this. So we'll see if anything, if anything doesn't and
then replace also brand, right? Rather than replace, yes. For replacing the the Chinese equipment that and that's another important thing, because if we don't have funding, we can't repair replace like any of those. And and it won't be functional, or it won't be functional. So again, that's attached to this one. Lots of little, you know, amendments being attached to the FAA but must pass
at least with its Senator Vance. That is kind of leading the charge on this most recent ECP amendment, they've included 3 billion for rip and replace, and that at trying to get additional people with different priorities to support it. So it is just that changing the criteria for the program, trying to get, you know, additional support, but I'm not sure if there's been any movement on it since I last checked, but
Okay, any other questions for her comments for Brandon racp? Before we move on? Okay, are there any other quick and important updates or announcements that anybody needs to speak about?
Steve, I'm just sending, putting a survey.
Steve, I'm just putting a survey in the in the chat. This is an important annual survey, which is coming to a close in a couple of weeks. And it is for schools and libraries or any stakeholders who are involved with E Rate. To take this as an opportunity, of course to make your voice heard. And it does make its way all the recommendations make their way to FCC. It's done by funds for learning. And the survey link is in the chat, I won't go further on it, you can click on it, you can see if you just want to see what the survey is like some of you who may not be actively involved in Irit, you can fill the survey to the very end. And you know, you do have to fill it to go to the next page or the next page. But you don't have to submit it. So your data will not mess up the final, you know, data that that transfer learning is collecting. But it gives you an idea about the trends. And more of these are available online. On funds for learning. I'll put that link to in the chat once I'm done talking for you to see how good folks I've answered all your surveys. Thank you.
So Sandy, if I see you join Do you have anything you want to share? We've we've heard briefly from Kelly about the newsletter and from Erin, quick Digital Equity. upbraids Do you have anything else that you'd like to contribute?
Hi, everyone. My name is Sandy Bombyx, state Broadband director at Arizona Commerce Authority. I don't have anything particular Steve. Aaron already mentioned about about the challenge process. This week is the last week we have two more days next week. We're currently accepting a rerouting challenge to the local government and ISPs. So last chance before someone based opportunity to correct the map. So if you're a local government, I would highly encourage you to register and if you're an ISP, definitely raised it to see if there was a challenge against your eyes. So that's about it. Steven, very excited to hear from our local government stakeholder in the next in the next session.
Sounds good. Thanks, Sandy. Glad to have you as always. And so we're ready to move on to the program. And again, just as a reminder, and then we're going to change the update here but so again, we have three people who are going to be key to our panel today. Michelle Simon, Director of the Office of Digital Inclusion for Pima County PJ way Yuma County Broadband Program Manager and joy Whitey pouchy county school superintendent and again, we're going to be focused not in a lot of detail about their plans but more the process what they've gone through what are the good the bad as I mentioned, what's the winds in their sails? What kind of rough seas they run into? What's the path forward and what else can we do they need to help a template implementation of their plan. So with that, I'm going to stop sharing and I'm going to experiment because I've never done this before but I believe that I can spotlight Michelle and I can spotlight EJ and can soon as I find her her Chico debt was joy and joy Okay, so there's there's a game Alrighty, so, so you guys kind of heard and I just kind of consistent I think with what I talked with you guys are valid. If you really want to hear are, you know, if you want to just do a quickie about what you're doing in your county, but talk more about what's the challenges, what's the processes? What have you run into? What? What's the good things? I know some of you you've had money and have been able to hire consultants and some don't. And so want to hear about kind of what those issues and those challenges are. And again, I want to keep this relatively informal, rather than just having just having presentations. So with that, who wants to go first? Michelle?
Sure, you always wrote me in. So Michelle, I am Director of the Office of Digital Inclusion for Pima County. I'm gonna say it before Steve says Don't forget to tell you who I am.
Michelle, Michelle, before and before you do that, again, just to remind you about your NTIA presentation. Absolutely.
I will put the link in the chat for everyone. So thanks so much for asking me to participate this morning, Steve, very excited to talk about how we did our planning process, connect Pima which is our which is the county's digital infrastructure and inclusion action plan. That's like a really big mouthful. It was what started us down the path of the work that we're doing, we started as a task force, okay. And initially with a steering committee, so the steering committee were all individuals that were voluntold, that they had to participate in this process by the County Administrator at the time, in order for us to figure out the best way forward. That that task, that steering committee was put together in July, and we figured out how to engage the community together. And so we created the actual task force with community members in August of 2021. And that process, we used a lot of research, a lot of best practices about strategic planning, including how to create smart goals. Okay, and we broke it up into the three things that if you're looking at for and this was from a county perspective, okay. And so we were fortunate enough that the National Association of Counties had just put out a Broadband report about what it was that county should be doing for Digital Inclusion to build Digital Equity and inclusion. And those three things were the deployment of Broadband infrastructure, implementation of digital literacy initiatives, and increased access to devices, tools and resources. So we created three committees. And those committees focused on those efforts focused on those goals. And creating the objectives that go underneath those we did training up front. So that we have Yes, I'll put the I'll put the link to all the things I talked about in the chat. We did a training upfront, so everyone understood what we were talking about with a strategic plan. What a vision is, the vision is if you are 100% successful in what it is you're trying to do that your vision, okay? And then what the mission is, that's the roadmap, right? And objectives are, how we're getting to achieving those those goals. And everything had to be timely and measurable and realistic. And, you know, so those were all things that we worked on together. And it is important to have individuals from the community participate in this process. Because you don't know what you don't know. And I think that was the biggest, best thing about our process was how many people came to the table to give their perspective to give their input. How did we get them to come to the table we reached out to all of the community helping organizations. Cindy, a lot of you on this call participated Cindy Mala Steve Mark, I mean, lots of people participated and through word of mouth the group grew. Okay. Challenges, capacity issues, okay. So it is very easy to find people who want to help you create goals and objectives for digital literacy for digital All skill building, okay, it's, it's a little harder to find people who want to help you improve access to devices and tools. So you may have a lot of, like in the in the Maricopa County area, there are a lot of organizations that are helping people to get refurbished devices or low cost devices and doing that kind of thing. Not necessarily the case in Tucson, okay. And so trying to figure out how to do that, and people who are interested in that kind of thing in our area. That was, that was kind of the, that was the hardest part. So finding people of interest, but connecting to those things. And I think I enjoyed the process really very much because we learned what others in the community were doing. And we're becoming a lot less siloed in our efforts, not only in Pima County, but in our partnerships into Maricopa County into you have a Pike County and to Santa Cruz County, even over to Yuma County, like these meetings, having conversations and participating in stuff, PJ and I had a great conversation related to middle mile stuff, because we have a middle mile grant now. And so that is the benefit of doing this kind of work.
I'll stop. Right. Thanks, Michelle. So so one thing and we can come back to this also with all of you. But one of the things that you also add was support from your County Administrator, and from the board of supervisors couldn't have done it without him. Right.
It started yet you have to be the brave person, right. So I will say that the timing was just right for all of the things. So as the deputy director of support services for the Pima County Public Library, I served on the Urban Libraries councils, Digital Equity team, okay. And we helped to create a leadership brief about what library should be doing to increase Digital Equity and inclusion, how they should be talking to their county administrators, their board of supervisors members, how they need to be at the table. So I took that brief and said, Okay, let's make it happen. And I literally sat down and had a cup of coffee with Jan lusher. She was the deputy County Administrator at the time. And she was like, Alright, I'm on board, let me help you. And she carried that into her position as County Administrator. We have champions on the board of supervisors who are very much about Digital Equity and inclusion, who have helped to like do resolutions and put forward that information at the Board of Supervisors meetings. But I will tell you, that is key to making sure that this process works for your community.
Right. And Nicole, put a note in the chat that you are the first director for Digital Equity inclusion in any county in the state. So congratulations about that.
Thanks. Thank you. Okay,
let's move on. PJ.
Good morning, everybody. Yeah, PJ way for Yuma county. Digital Equity. And inclusion is a topic that I have been looking at for a number of years and actually creating some models based on Pima County's efforts. So and my role at Yuma County is the Broadband Program Manager. So a lot of what Michelle said, Michelle, it sounds like, you know, I could have just said did oh, and been done with it? Because I think that's those are all the key points. I think the good things really one, like you said, See, it's going to start with sharing the vision and what wants to be accomplished with the with the Board of Supervisors, with the administration, getting them to have those conversations and understand why they're important. That has been a key thing that human county we've had, I have been very blessed to to have great board members and great administration, it's actually supported all the efforts, given the allowances to support this from a budgetary standpoint, looking at how they can make sure they're preparing properly looking at what is coming down the road. So if there's matches, do we have those funds available? What does that look like? Partnership partnerships, partnerships are another big asset, like Michelle said, whether that's a partnership with another county, with peers across commercial, creating those p3 partnerships, what does that look like? It's about dialogue, and you have to be able to tell the story. I think a lot of what creates success in this is storytelling. Not just this the right thing to do, but actually explaining how it creates that impact who it's impacting and why it's important to address that issue. Are some of the challenges I think we'll actually get back to one of the good things is also defining what Digital Equity is right frame definitions, creating a good luck list of definitions helps with that communication, because then people don't have a misinterpretation of what that means. You ask somebody arbitrarily, what is Digital Inclusion, or what does Digital Equity mean? There, they may have different ideas. So it's important for the county, I think, to have a concept that they share, understand, and it reflects what the values are for the programs. So when people talk about it, everybody's saying the same thing, because it's important that they all share the same vision. Some of the challenges, I would say, capacity, we should I already said it right. And you know, it's funny, I get to use the word bandwidth limitations in terms of people resources. And that's what we face is bandwidth problems continuously. If it's not budget, then it's people who just don't have enough people to do the work. And many times people wearing multiple hats. So I think it's important to be able to identify who the stakeholders are, who's able to contribute and not be overburdened, but then they have enough management of the tasks and autonomy to get the work done. But yeah, I think that's the key thing is, honestly, is the main communication not having kind of a standard. You know, it's interesting getting a talk around the state with different individuals and what they're focused on. We're all taking the same concept, we have a different approach, I think a unified toolkit might be beneficial, and helping to share that conversation. So that when administrators go to CSA meetings, they're actually saying the same things too, because they
CSA for people who don't I'm sorry, county
supervisor in the county supervisors, administration, meetings, they have a panel of all the administrators that get together, I'm not sure what the frequency is, I think it's monthly or BI monthly. And they share discussions over everything from our insurance policies for the counties to to Digital Equity, conclusion, right to Broadband, what does that mean, and trying to understand how the challenge process works, many of them don't necessarily have a common definition presented to them. Because I'm very, I again, I said, I feel best about the county because they've allowed me to come in here and do this work. Not every county has somebody like Michelle or joy, or myself that can kind of lead this. And it's left at the devices of people that are trying to figure this out and struggle a little bit. So toolkit would be remarkable. If we could come up with a standard, the standard form of definitions is the health help guide, those conversations inside of counties would be beneficial. That's why it's Steve, putting this together today, when you asked me I said, yeah, absolutely right, share ideas, and that helps others, then I'm more than happy to do that, anytime. So that's kind of the that's kind of a high level mark of successes and challenges, things to keep in mind, from my perspective.
So one thing about both PJ and Michelle, is that you guys had some money, to be able to, quote staff to be able to do this, where many counties, particularly a lot of small counties, don't have anybody to do that.
I'm gonna I'm gonna throw something out there. I did this on top of my job. Be director of support services for the public library. Okay.
So
this was not a yes was it was their money, it was my salary. Okay, that and I still had to do my library work. So you see, Cory feels my pain. Okay. So, and I had to as we were going through that process, champion, the cause that this was an important enough effort to not be just seen as a library program. Okay. And that is that is really vital. Okay. Because while the library is phenomenal, you will never hear me say a bad thing about the library ever. They are a tremendous community partner, and they shouldn't be included in any grant that you write. You should be working with a library. Okay. But people don't see it the same way. Oh, that's just the library doing that. Oh, that's just the library doing that. No, it needs to be your county's doing it. It needs to be your city's doing it. For it to mean something to people. That's just what I found.
We don't have any other library advocates on this call.
I would just like to add to that, Michelle, you know, I think that's that goes back to how do you have the conversation? I think, I don't know that. I don't have an answer for you. I mean, like I said, I've been fortunate, but not every county or every county. each board member or administrator necessarily wants to support this, right? Because, again, it's lack of definition, lack of understanding. So it can create a very tough work environment, if you don't have the right people that are supporting you with when you're sharing that knowledge to try and bring to the show, I think you're right, one of the things is to talk to get community members involved. But if you don't have a marketing person to reach out to the community, if you don't have somebody that's willing to put that on the website, if you have administrators that are saying, no, no, we don't have any resources for that, you know, do it, you can, it's gonna be a very, very tough climb. And and even then, even with this board, it's still a tough climb. So it's it. It really is. It's not easy. And, and part of the, you know, I got a couple other challenges, but they're probably side notes, I'm just trying to hit the high level stuff. Well, that's
okay, if you want to do that, and then we're gonna go on to joy. And then we're going to open it up to questions and additional comments, and, and all of that. So
I think I think if I bring up one question, or one thing regarding regarding challenges is county processes, county processes, we all fall into the same legislative requirements, the same state requirements. And when we when we have timing of things. So by the time, it's important to be forward thinking, because by being forward thinking and not having just these meetings, but knowing what's actually potentially coming down the road, and five or six months is important to start the conversations right, then before they happen, because people will start, they're not going to really have knowledge of it until it starts making news right until they start hearing another county is doing it. Those those administrators, and it's it's not a knock on administration, just the process. We all work in that world, where if something happens to a counterpart of mine in another county, I'm like, Oh, wait, I never knew that. Well, how did I not know that? How was I not trained? Stay ahead of it, if that's possible anyways. And the reason I bring that up is our processes inside of counties have such timelines? Because if you if, let's say, let's say tomorrow, we had a 90 day window to do something. And we had to go to our county board to get approval to do that. I have to have my I have to have my stuff presented for the board by Monday of next week. If I don't, it's not going on for next month at all. I don't know, what do I do? Right, I've already I've already shot myself by 30 plus days, because I didn't know until the day that it was required to be submitted to the board or the day after was submitted to the board. That pushes us out and those 40 days, but then by the time you get the approval to pursue something that a budget has been allocated, you're not to go get three quotes, you get three quotes on something, it's gonna go back to the board and your 90 days is almost up. You haven't even done anything yet. That's just the process that we're stuck to. So how do we, I think that's a challenge, that were a pain point that we're all going to face. So it's important to try and stay out of it. And I think I'm sure they're probably dragged may have something on that. Michelle, you may have I know, for me, that has been an experience I've had where I get to do the other due diligence. And it's like, well, we need three quotes when you gotta go back to the drawing board and go get two more quotes, and explain it to people that I've spent the next three days with, to try and get a quote from them. And it's just, it's, it's so Michelle, that's why it's hard, right? Because when you're balancing a second thing, meanwhile, you're there's other projects you have to pay attention to. There's other teams you have to pay attention to, you have to report back to the board. It's never ending cycle and to keep them all in order, and on task. And then to have a request that comes down that you have a deadline of this. Sometimes it's just not manageable. So So speaking up early, is better than waiting till the last minute, being able to say, hey, look, we're not going to make this was 90 days out. Okay, well, let me give you the timeline. Help. Don't be afraid to talk to your administrators. Don't be afraid to talk to the policymakers. Because otherwise it's, it's on us for remaining silent.
Okay, let's move on to joy and then we'll open it up for additional comments and questions and so forth. There's been a lot of good input into the chat. And so we'll come back to some of those comments and questions in just a little bit. But joy you're on.
Again, thank you, Steve for inviting me to join. I would have to say my 100% birthplace into a Broadband and internet was on ese BSN. And the folks were so kind to me. I'm a classroom teacher. I don't know anything about Broadband. So Steve was very kind and in helping me along to figure out what needed to be done along the way. And really quickly before I talk about some wins and challenges in Apache County, I just wanted to tell Aaron and Kelly and Sandy Deep. They came to Apache County to do their Digital Equity tour and we really appreciate them coming to Apache County. It was it was a it was a great experience. Aaron, you mentioned that you were going to Bisbee. Tomorrow, I prematurely put in the chat, I hit the Return button a little bit too soon. But there's an entity called Cory the Center on Rural innovation. They're out of Vermont and East. And I traveled back there about a year and a half ago. And they are a phenomenal group. And they do wonderful things to build tech technology ecosystems in rural America. And I believe they have a project going on in Bisbee. I looked it up on their site, when you first mentioned you were going to Bisbee. And I can't find anything on their website about it. But I did hear that there's a project. I would love to know what's going on. If there's anything moving with that. Aaron or Kelly, when you come back, I'll email you and see if you found anything out. They would be a huge Digital Equity builder in Cochise County and anywhere in Arizona. So if you have the opportunity to ask about that, just just let me know. Anyway, Apache County is what we call not just a rural county, but a frontier we just we have 6.4 people per square mile in Apache County 80% of the county is tribal with the Navajo Nation, a slight sliver of the Apache Tribe. So the dynamics of our county working with tribes and non tribal lands is is difficult. It's a little tricky sometimes to make sure we're meeting all the needs. But our big win. First off was E Rate. And I know that Mala and Michelle, those of you who have any sort of E right fiber in your county, that was a huge deal. That was the backbone that was created back in 2018. And without that, I don't know where Apache County would be. The other big win was finding community Broadband advocates. Karen Ziegler sits on that team, also John Lucas, they are just huge. So that team is huge to Apache County. We were fortunate enough to contract with Apache County. Karen wrote our grant for NTIA and then our grant for the abd G. And I again, being a political head, it helped me a lot being able to just, I didn't have any administration that I had to ask permission to I just went and did it. Because of that. And so I worked really closely with Jeff subaqua and ACA and being able to get the apdg. And that was a huge win for Apache County. So we're very fortunate. Thank you, ACA for that. And Sandy, for your continued work work on that. Moving into BEAD and the equity component. I feel like Apache County still has some work to do on the equity component, something things that we need, because we're a coal community transition, both Salt River Project and Tucson electric power, they have some vested interest in helping the community as they phase out because they are coal fired plants that will be leaving, we have been able to work very closely with them, they have been a huge win. In some instances, even though they're leaving their their money, their dollars towards matching funds and transitioning the community to be sustainable after their tax dollars are gone in the job the workforce development. So we have a lot of work to do with those two power plants on the equity component for technology. But but we're working with that and we're in we're gaining some successes. Some challenges that we have, again, just like Michelle and Phillip said, there's just not enough people to do the job. We don't have any money earmarked for a Digital Equity plan in Apache County, it comes out of my budget, whatever I choose to go do with it is what I deal with. So that again, that's a little bit of a difficult thing. As far as communication, I agree with both again, Michelle and Philip, I have a good relationship with our Board of Supervisors. And there's only because it's a rural community, there's only three of them. I have a great relationship with all three of them. And they're willing to meet with a special session if I ever needed something besides waiting that whole month of things and they're great about that. And I again, just the success of partnering with CBA has been our biggest win so far in the county, and those ACA dollars that are flowing in are going to help the county survive so that that's some stuff that we do in Apache County.
Okay, so great. So great, good start for this conversation today. So one of the things and I think Karen, you put this in the chat in which we've pretty much heard from everybody is that champion, gotta have that champion in the community to take the lead. And in many cases, as you guys said, you don't have money, you just figured out how you can get it done and get it and get the and get the ball rolling. And so first of all, kudos to you all, for the work that you you've done with little or no money, and so forth. So I think that's an IT, that's really, really a great thing. So what are their thoughts? Or comments do you guys have and I'm gonna open it up to other people. There's been a lot of good stuff going on in the in the chat here. Anything else? can take it? That's a no. Well, let's take a look at the so. So those of you on the call anybody have any questions that you may have put something in the chat, but anything that you want to add? or questions that you have or thoughts?
Yeah, I had a question earlier for for PJ. I know you're doing a lot of coordination with all sorts of players there. And I was wondering how that work is finding its way into the county's overall strategic plans, or any formalized planning processes if they're, they're talking about Broadband and Digital Equity there. Thank you, Nicole.
I appreciate that. And let's make sure I understand the question correctly. So the question is really around? Are we looking to put this into our, our bigger plan instead of the county? Okay, good question. So that actually planning sessions coming up, I think next year is when they have their next cycle where we're developing the next five year plan. So that this is part of that conversation I've had with the administrator. So we're just having a discussion about how do we include this? Where does it belong? And how do we get there? It's interesting, because I, you know, I really like what Pima has done. And I've been an advocate for that in the state of Arizona, when I was with Coconino. County that we needed to have a Digital Equity inclusion Task Force or some kind of starting ground source of engagement. I've been very fortunate also to be engaged with some of our local cute community members, everything from our economic development teams, and other inclusion teams, seeing if I can get this also kind of into that conversation, where they can help lead that if the county cannot, because I don't know if this has to be a county driven effort. Specifically, if the county doesn't have the resources, it's something could be assembled by other entities, and then the county can support that as well. Question to call.
Yeah, thanks.
Yeah. So one thing so joy, you certainly have been a champion, but you also have another champion in your community. Cory, you're I know, you're there. You want to chime in?
Sorry, I was writing an email. What am I
just want to talk about, you've been very active up there. And so you want to just add any thoughts comments? I wanted to give you some recognition?
Oh, I appreciate that. And yes, to answer your question, we've been doing a lot I I wasn't I am in a similar position as Michelle was both being county librarian and running this project. So this this morning, I've been dealing with community anchor institution speed tests, looking at ISP rebuttals that I'm anticipating having to respond to. But one of the things that's been really helpful with us is I've put together two teams. Well, three teams, really, we have our ARPA Broadband team, we have our BEAD infrastructure team, which is countywide including all the municipalities, and we've we're putting together a Digital Equity team. That's going to start meeting in June. And I'm very happy to say many of the people who are experts in Digital Equity on this call will be participating in our kickoff meeting, including Aaron, Aaron, Michelle and Nicole. So I'm really I'm really pleased to all of you have agreed to help us with that, that Digital Equity kickoff. So one of the things that were discovering is if you have if you've done any ARPA awards, that's been helpful with us, is one of our ISPs may be submitting a challenge saying that they're serving a BEAD area without realizing we've already awarded or ARPA funds to that area. So we're going to put in a PSA challenge possibly To, to help with that. So that all the moving parts with all the different programs and how they all fit in together, and which maps you can use for which program. It's all been been very, it's very fun and exciting actually. But it's it's just great to help out and we're we're really moving on with our I feel like we're playing catch up with BEAD. But we're definitely doing what we can. And one thing I would mention, too, is that we've been including Mary Knight and Coconino. In every single meeting we have. So we've been working pretty closely with Coconino to make sure we're aligned, since we're having a lot of the same issues across both our counties.
Okay, thank you. Thank you, Cory. So, Paul, I think you had some comments in the chat. Do you want to? I know you're doing some work in this space?
Yeah, mostly, a couple of things. One is great, the hedge Joy mentioned all the different stakeholders, as well as the ability to have a meeting. And I think that's actually one of the powerful things forever all community is that they can bring people together a lot quicker than some of the Urban's or some of the larger groups that have specific timelines for agendas or meetings. And you know, sometimes that can throw you out up to three months, depending on the size of your city. But identifying all the key stakeholders, and actually making sure they're all connected, and that they know that their work is connected, is actually one of the critical thing, because many people forget about that. They think that they don't have a big role to play. But the trouble is, sometimes, yes, their role is not big, but they're this little cog. And you take out that little cog out of the whole system, and the system doesn't work. So everything, everyone who comes into LSA posted in the chat a couple of examples of cities that are bringing forward Digital Equity or Broadband developments, and looking at putting it in their strategic plan or have done that. So that's some of the work that I'm doing as part of my dissertation.
Thank you, Paul.
So one of the things that we've heard from several people, and as I was started working on this is a challenge for many you small rural communities who don't have any kind of remote support. They have, there's no staff, in many cases, their IT director is the football coach, right. And so, so there's a real challenge. They don't have funding for kids to hire consultants. They don't have staff to lead this, even though there's people who want to be champions. It's a real challenge in those communities. It's it's also easier in some respects, because it's a small community. I don't know if anybody wants to comment about that.
Steve, I want to chime in just real quick about something. Because Pima County does have the capacity. All right. Now, don't get me wrong. I've had to fight for everything that we do. Okay. You know, and that kind of stuff. But my goal is to be a good neighbor. What we're doing in Pima County, we're doing so that we benefit Santa Cruz County, Cochise County, Pinal. County. So then we're working together, we're working with people in Maricopa County to make sure our mapping looks similar. And it's got the similar data so that when people are searching for information, there, they're getting the same information that is regardless of the source they're going to. So I think it's incumbent upon those that do have to help those that do not okay, and, and so that's that is my goal. That's why we have the dashboard that shares as much demographic information as possible about Pima County, community, helping organizations can see all of that information, use it to search for funding or municipalities are working with us. And I want to say internet service providers have been at our table from jump from the start of what we've been doing. Okay, so that we help them as well. They understand the good PR that comes from working with us, okay, and eventually they ended up getting customers out of the deal. So it is it's important to really involve everybody, but Pima County is here to help those around them.
I want to add some to add, add to what Michelle was saying about the municipalities in our county, because of the big win with the apdg, from Arizona Commerce Authority, two of the main bigger ones city of St. John's and the town of eager, they were able to get a congressional allocation from Senator Kelly. And because the county had already contracted with CBA, community Broadband advocates, they needed help getting through that, there's still a lot of protocol and requirements that they have to have to in order to fit that. So they didn't know what to do. They were struggling. And so Karen and the, the CDA team, they stepped in, they were able to help. But again, the cities and the towns, they didn't have that the money, they didn't have the person to take care of that. So it was crucial that CBA was there to pull them up and help them through that. And again, having a trusted carrier that's also in the community, again, I'm mentioning era, having carriers who will be able to help kind of fight through some of the things that we're dealing with, with with art off and, and, and that kind of stuff. So it was a big, it was a big win for both of those municipalities to be able to lean on the Kent County and and have CVA come in and help them that was a big that was a big win for pet for those two communities. And they're small, they're just tiny, little towns.
So would there be some benefit to have an ongoing roundtable of some kind, where all you guys who are working on these county plan? I know, I mean, obviously, it sounds like you guys have been kind of talking to each other and so forth. But is there any benefit to having some kind of an even if it meets quarterly, whatever, to share, you know, challenges, best practices, etc.
I like to thought, Steve, I think from for the sake of bandwidth conversation again, that's one of those challenges, right? But I do think it's helpful for us to at least be able to know that we have an open dialogue. And if there's that opportunity to have a roundtable even if it's ad hoc, maybe, maybe it's something that if you would mind facilitating, if we come back to you and say, Steve, you know, I was talking to Michelle or I was talking to Navajo County, and we really think that we have some ideas, we'd like to get some feedback from other counties. Maybe there's that opportunity. Because I'm with Joe and Michelle, that I'm I'm always open to getting emails and calls and having the conversation discussing what we can do. I mean, Karen has been a great resource been very valuable also in providing me some thoughts and suggestions on things when I get stuck. So it's, it's helpful to have each other as resources. I know the challenge that we're up against is usually time and money, so and people
I know that feeling.
Yeah, and if I can just add on, I'm just so happy to hear the discussion from shown joy and PJ. And although we did a contract with Pima County and Apache County, we did in contract with Yuma County and some of the other counties, and I am all always available, you know, to talk through some ideas. You know, my conversations with you all are free. I mean, this is something that I'm very passionate about, you know, when I was at, you know, the states. Just because you don't have money for consulting doesn't mean you can't reach out and you know, how conversations have some ideas. So my email and my phone number is all posted all over AC BSN. So I'm happy to have the conversation.
So Karen, just you want to just help people. You know, the work that you do. Consultant, you've worked with a lot of communities.
And I'm just about to drop, but I just wanted to add that in there. I have another call that I'll have to jump on. But my name is Karen Ziegler. I am a retired from the state of Arizona after 30 years and contracted back with the department and this administration started the rural Broadband initiative. And with a lot of people that are on this call, we all developed the first, not the first the updated 2018 Broadband strategic plan. And that has been carried forward through ACA and their work today. So, right now I'm consulting I have a consulting firm Karen Ziegler consulting, and I also partner with John Lucas at Community Broadband advocates to provide consulting services for a variety of things, Broadband, grants management, financial consulting. My focus is mainly on rural communities and trying to help rural communities but those resources that Michelle and joy and PJ all say that they're lacking, they just don't have the capacity, you know, that extra bandwidth to be able to do some of this work.
Great, thank you, Laura. Thank you, Karen, you've been a great leader and support for a long time and been a great sponsor for us, which I greatly appreciate.
I, I, I believe in AES and BSN. And I think Joyce said it right at the start is that I mean, that's where she got involved and was able to, you know, get the resources that she needs. This group is fantastic. It brings people together from all different, you know, counties and ISPs. And, you know, we talk about a variety of different things. I'm a very strong supporter, and I don't want to see this group go away. So Right.
Thank you, Karen. Appreciate that. So, Matthew, if I can put you on the spot? Do you have any thoughts that you might want to talk about in terms of USDA and the work that you're doing? And how this may relate to the conversation today? Sure, sure. Thank
you for the opportunity. I'll give it a try. I just happened to be looking through the southeast Arizona comprehensive economic development strategy.
Can you introduce yourself real quickly?
Oh, yeah, yeah, sure. Matthew is such a Dulsky. I serve as the general field representative on behalf of the US Department of Agriculture's. We're all utility service specific to Telecom, rather new to this group. So if that introduction hasn't been made before, thank you, Steve, for her kidney into that. I just find it very interesting that you're all you know, really, really focused on the rural underserved areas. Please keep apprised as to what EDI USDA Rural Utility Services offering these days. I understand the the Broadband Technical Assistance Program will be opening up soon, exactly when I don't know. But I would advise folks to kindly keep a lookout for that. That means find
out a little bit please, Matthew.
Pardon me.
Can you explain the technical assistance? Yeah, Broadband,
Broadband technical assistance. It's about capacity building, exploring new new ideas per se, though, you know, helping those communities, those champions, those boosters, you know, do just that build capacity, receive technical assistance, whether it's from peer organizations or through industry.
Right. Thank you, Matthew. Anything else you want to add?
Yeah, you know, saying I'm a I am new here and with my previous profession, you know, I'd be certainly willing to make a call to that group. Laurie. If you're, if this group is interested in a presentation, taking a little bit of risk there, but I've, I've worked with them in a previous capacity.
Right. Thank you, Matthew. Any questions for Matt? So we're getting close to wrapping up here. First of all, I want to thank our three presenters today, you guys did a great job, you did exactly what I wanted you to do. And again, we wanted to focus on, you know, the process and the good, bad and ugly of trying to get things happening in any county. Any closing remarks that you guys have?
I just want to say, thanks. Again, Steve. Like Karen said earlier, this group right here is just a really big deal. I wouldn't know where to go, I would have never met Karen, I would have never known Jeff subaqua from the ACA and how to do anything. So again, I just I appreciate so much what you do and what everybody here brings to the table. It's really a great
group. Great. Thank you.
Thank you join
me other closing comments, thoughts? Aaron, you want to add anything?
I mean, I'll always talk but no, I think careful. And I mean, I just I have to say too, I fully support everyone's comments about this being a great group. You know, I mean, both of the major cohorts, or coalition's in our state are just super, super important for networking. You know, I joked when I moved over to the ACA that really all that was changing was my email address, because it was these groups that connected us to all of the important players in the state. So same. Thank you. Thank
you. Okay, anything else before we before we enter to today. So I'm hoping that probably in two weeks, we're going to do a session similar to this on healthcare. And we're not going to do a whole broad healthcare issue, but healthcare as it relates to telemedicine, and Broadband and so forth. So I'm working on putting that together. And if that if there's no other comments, then I think we are basically done for today.
I want to say thank you again, Steve, thanks for putting this on. Julia was good. Being up here with you, Michelle, same thing, appreciate you being able to slip your talk, just kind of walk through this. So I appreciate it. Thank you and anybody else out there that if you have any questions, anything I can try to help with, please don't hesitate to let me know.
Okay, did I put my contact stuff in the chat? Okay, so, and of course, you know, I
always send out the chat to everybody, hopefully within a couple of days, along with the recording and transcript and everything. And so I work in on trying to get that done. I don't always get to do a whole summary, but at least try to get that done as quickly as possible. So again, I think in a couple of weeks, we're going to do healthcare, and then probably the week after, so it gives me some time to get a panel together that I want to talk about municipal networks. Just like we heard today, there's just, there's good, bad and ugly, there's challenges. There's issues and resources and all kinds of stuff. So that may actually be a two session instead of just a one session. So let me ask about so how did this work today? Is this a good format? That wasn't useful? What are your thoughts?
Good, Steve. Okay. Okay, well,
good conversations as usual. Yeah.
Thank you. Okay, Matt. We're I believe we are done for today. Oh,
