I think we are finally good to go here. So welcome everybody. Little small crowd today where everybody is. But anyway, I actually think that maybe you since we changed our meeting time, don't see as many people as we used to. So I don't know if that's a problem. But anyway, I want to thank you all for being here. So I don't know if she's going to make it today. But I am on a little mini vacation in Sedona, which is absolutely beautiful. And I also happen to be at the Sedona Public Library, because my hotel has very poor internet. Yep. And so unfortunately, this library is five minutes from my hotel. So I decided to come over here and the place is just beautiful. So I was hoping that the director, I had invited Judy Pope, who is the director of the library to join us. And she may still do that. But Malchut, do you want to just talk briefly about how they ended up with a gigabyte here and here at the library?
Well, that's been it's been a long while going that in that direction. I actually worked more closely with Judy's predecessor, the former director of Sedona Public Library, and we had been working since 20. I want to say 17, maybe or earlier on fiber laying fiber in Coconino. County. And this was one of the early projects that we did. And again, what we tried to do to make availability, and affordability. And we're still working on that for all of our libraries and schools is to network them into consortium so that they apply as a consortium, which helps, which is helpful for both the service provider as well as the libraries and schools, mainly the libraries. Because, you know, like the donor Public Library, the staff is not to, you know, they don't have a huge big staff, especially a huge big IT team to work on their ERate or any other IT projects. In some cases, like I was mentioning about Greenlee County, before we started, they share the IT person with the city. So they don't have people to help them apply for a date or apply for broadband. And they do it when the the IT person has spare time. So obviously this in Sedona Public Library, it was it was important imperative that they link up with their school Consortium, and make a network so that they can use the school it person's skills, and apply it together. So that's been what we've been doing for a few years, not just at Sedona, but also at the other library. And Sedona public library now has a gig gigabit service after we lay the fiber down in that area. Also, they were one of those who got their application approved this year in the very first wave of applications, which is, which means they did it right. And they had there were no questions asked about their application. So that's how Sedona got its gigabit connectivity. And that's again, another project that was partly subsidized by the state subsidy for E Rate, which we got in 2017.
So this is a great example of the great work in this state. And of course, the great work that Mala has been doing for many, many years now.
And Milan, I don't want to leave Milan out of this because he was instrumental to getting us getting the school and Library Consortium. So
let's, let's move on, and wanted to do a couple of things. First of all, we have, I think a couple of new people who have joined us this morning, one of which is which we were talking chatting with a little bit earlier is Craig Settles and Craig has been involved with broadband on issues around the country, you but maybe around the world for many, many years. I know Mark and I and others have had some communication with him over the years. Craig do you want to? I know you were chatting a little earlier. But you want to just introduce yourself real quickly. Sure. Thank you a bit about who you are.
So I, I guess I go back and back. In 95, I wrote the first book on the internet and the web. And that is kind of how I went from being just a marketing and PR guy to a digital Maven of some sort. And so I did that for a number of years. And then in 2005, is when I wrote about community broadband, when Philadelphia was trying to build their wireless internet. And it didn't do as well as we had hoped. But there was a lot of lessons to be lost learn. And that's what I said, I did the one book there. I did and where I met a number of these folks, was in the the Obama administration, and when we did the broadband stimulus, and so there was a lot of work that was involved with that. And then seven, eight years ago, I had a stroke. And telehealth is actually one of the reasons why I'm still here. And the the neurologist who set up the stroke stroke center, she had her home set up in such a way that she was able to take over to the ER team. And we're able to diagnose and to start treatments within 30 minutes of my time arriving at the hospital
So, um, because I was writing yet another book, I was struggling with how do you describe, you know, the Internet and broadband, and a gigabit and all of that. And so as a result of my time at the hospital, and my understanding of telehealth, then that's how I started then reading. Talking about the internet as this, this beast that would allow people to do things they could not do before. And why is so important is because you know it, for example, in the situation with the stroke, if I'm in a rural area, or a city with bad communications and internet and so forth, I may not have not be here. And so the the experience and has then redirected my efforts, as I try to get people to understand the value of telehealth and the broadband element. And the pandemic helped that along because all of a sudden, people could understand now, why telehealth was important. And so now I'm trying to drive the AI discussion to using telehealth to drive broadband adoption. And I figured out a couple couple weeks ago that where we are is that people now have a better understanding of the internet and telehealth. But what people really need is this in understanding of how to take action, right? We have lots of theories and all this kind of stuff. But right now with as we do with all this money that's here, the question is how do you use that, you know, at the community level, and that's real, I'm at now is trying to get this discussion, moving forward with examples and that kind of thing, but that's where we that's where we are. So that's the short version of my life.
Unfortunately, she's not here today. But Janet Major actually did a great presentation last week on what's happening. She's been with the Arizona telemedicine program for, what, twenty five years or something. And she's just awesome. So it's too bad. She couldn't be here today. And then maybe a little later, Mala can talk to you some more about the demonstration project that they're doing with libraries and telemedicine.
Yes, right.
So, so let's move on. A couple of quick things. I don't think Kirk Busch is on the call today, I'm not seeing him. But some of you may know that the ATIC AZBSN website had been compromised. And Kirk really stepped up and had some of his people work on it, fix it, and to be looking at some ways to make it more functional. And so that's going to be an ongoing process. But really appreciate Kirk stepping up and at least now we can use the website and I think we've removed all the viruses and so forth that we had. So, so anyway. And Mark, I don't know if you want to say anything more about that.
Sure, I believe correct is on actually but sure his guy Phil I, I authorized $500 from ATI C's budget, which is the limit for the executive committee without a vote of the board. And Phil agreed to do a bunch of cleanup and, and he has but then Kirk has further himself, tackled some Weebly and continue to clean up and simplify the navigation. Steve, one thing you and I need to do is probably sit in a collaborative session with Phil and Kirk, and tagged content that really just doesn't even belong there anymore. Yep. So that will help simplify things further. But we are back in business. So thank you, Kirk. And Phil.
I don't think Kirk Busch online isn't. I saw him. I'm not seeing him. Anyway. So let's move on just wanting to to first of all, thank you for stepping up and that that get that taken care of. So. So we also have
Kirk was on line a little bit, but now he chatted me said he had to bounce. He was there for briefly. But he didn't hear us thanking him. So I'll tell him.
Okay. And so I'm seeing one new person who's joined us today. And that's David Jimenez and David and I go way back. How many years? David 20 years or something? Well, at least right? days. So David, you want to introduce yourself real quickly, who you are and what you're doing?
Sure. Hello, everybody. Thanks for letting me join this call. Steve. On the follow up on correct story there. But, you know, I'll try to give you some background as to what I've been doing the last 30 years in telecom, you know, I started out with major carriers was kind of like on the forefront of the fiber implementations here in Arizona, have a lot of background on the fiber connections between business to business, either it'd be dark fiber, Wan. And now you'll hear that new term called SDN Wan, which is disarticulated how packets are sent across the network on incoming and outgoing and then follow what I think is really what all you guys are probably focused in on is cybersecurity, and how you are able to protect your networks, from all the threats that are out there. Given that AI is in the forefront of a lot of things that will be in the ransomware area where they can replicate algorithms faster than a human being almost 100 times old. I think that is kind of like the quintessential protection that most companies are looking for. So I'm on the business side, we just also on the Iranian side, with government education, led our office with ERate submissions this year. We did have some success. I think what a lot of remote areas are looking for right now is some type of internet connectivity. Since fiber is not really a something that's highly available in some remote areas. Through we've got some success with our partner relationships with Starlink satellite systems which can go all the way up to a three mag or gigabit service starting at 100. Meg's and up to three gig depending on how many radios you're putting up on. So if you guys are interested in You know further information in that implementation, I'd be more than happy to share that with you. But I think it does offer it lends itself to some more connectivity options that otherwise wouldn't have been there a year or so ago. So with that, you know, that's kind of what I've been up to for the last year now. Finishing up the rate season. And looking forward to the next one.
David, did you mention the company are working with now?
Yes, I'm working with GSW, Telecom, we're a local company here in Tucson with the Arizona presence, we do everything that's in telecom. And also it bursts specializing in the network infrastructure of the IT component to the outside world, right. So that's basically protecting your internet connection, for all things that are going into your network environment. So now that's what our main kind of our our mainstay is right now in our focus.
So David's CEO, gave me my first internet connection. So wireless and internet connection, many are kind of 20 years, 15 years ago, or something like that. It was my first email on my first internet connection.
Had a really good run with simply bits are a local Wisp here in Tucson, which is offering the point to point wireless connections. But that's all changing, it's going into the point to point wireless connectivity is going into a care graph network, which says allowing you to go up to gain between short hops right. So, look, xat has been a great alternative to bypassing the traditional last mile wire networks and fiber networks.
Okay, thank you, David. Thanks for joining us today. Welcome. Thank you glad we ran into each other. So I'm going to move on. And there's a few other things on the agenda. But I did want to get to kind of our focus for today and introduce Mike McHale. Is that Mike pronouncing that correctly? Macau? Yeah, McHale, McHale sunders to is, and I apologize that last week, he joined us for a little bit. But I really want to focus on the work that they're doing to that they're doing, I think it's a good example of how a internet provider can be involved in digital inclusion. So with that, Mikhail, I'm going to turn it over to you. Did you want to share I can stop sharing and let you take the reins?
Oh, yeah, sure. That'd be good. Can just a second to open the window? Okay, yeah.
Oh, thank you, Steve. Let's see. So I appreciate you, inviting me to just, you know, present a little bit about what we're doing at Digital connect before the group here. You guys are all doing amazing things. And, you know, I'm just sort of in awe that all the different small networks and digital inclusion work that's going on throughout the state is really impressive. So we're just trying to do our part in the Gila River Indian Community to, to help people get connected, and get they acquire those digital crucial digital skills for, you know, getting connected and staying connected and using your internet connection to the biggest benefit so. So, to that end, we've got a few different projects that we're working on. But Steve had asked me if I would like to share about the digital inclusion study, which is really just sort of getting started. We haven't even truly started it yet. And but we kicked off with an RFQ, which I think sometimes stands for different things. But in this case, it stands for request for qualifications. And so if you know anybody who is interested in conducting or helping us to conduct a digital inclusion study, you know, let's send them this link. I can put this in the chat for you. All. Right. So this is our digital inclusion study. And really, the focus is to conduct some asset mapping on the Hilo River Indian Community and to learn more about what goals people have, like what were sort of their desires and their ambitions. And then also what are some of the gaps that exist on on our tribal lands. So that hopefully those three components, the asset mapping the I forget what we called it. Sorry, I got it right here, asset mapping needs inventory and the gap analysis will help us, you know, put that all together to write up a digital equity plan for the tribe. And, you know, one important thing to know is that this is really a tribally led thing. It's not, it's not digital, it's not digital connects, necessarily, even though we're sort of like, quarterbacking the project, we're like sort of coordinating it, but it's really tribal, for the entire Halo River Indian Community. So that includes our library, our six schools, the Education Department, which works with surrounding high schools, because we have high school students throughout the the air surrounding areas, includes our health care facility and all of our Elder Care Services. So really, we want to try to do a really thorough, complete study of Hilo River. Again, just reviewing what are the assets that exist, the needs that are there and the desires that people have, so that we can come up with a good plan for everybody. So that's, that's the digital inclusion study, we're sort of going to be modeling it on, you know, the NDAs work, they came out with this state digital equity plan toolkit. And there are, there are several other digital equity plans that exist, that I'm just sort of like trying to get familiar with right now. I know North Carolina has one, I'm pretty sure Seattle and Denver have one. So there are really good examples out there. But it's just like, you know, an overwhelming flood of information. So, you know, if you know anybody, again, who's interested in this kind of work, or has experienced with it, or if you know, examples that we can turn to that will help guide us, you know, I'm open to it, I'd really appreciate that. So, that's pretty much it for the digital equity, or sorry, the digital inclusion study, the purpose of the whole thing is to really come up with a good plan. And I'm pretty excited about all of the community engagement that's going to take place because we know we plan to get out into the community. And we couldn't do this. I know during in 2020, they had a plan to do something similar. And it just didn't work out because that was the first year of the pandemic. And there were no community gatherings, there was no in person stuff. And so this year from welcome this summer till next summer is it's about a one year projected timeline. I'm really looking forward to going out to the cert the community service centers and hosting roundtables and public forums that, you know, residents of the Gila River Indian Community, it should be a good time. So yeah, that's, that's the study. Any questions about that?
Can you also just give a little more background about Digital Connect, how you relate to your sort of parent organization, and some of the work that you've already been doing? Besides the study?
Yes, yes. So for sure, the, I'm gonna navigate to another websites, just to sort of help provide some context. So technically, if you'll notice in the logo here, let's real tiny, I don't know if I can make this any bigger. So you know, our logo is digital Connect. We're initiative of human wherever telecommunications. So our parent company, which is really, you know, our primary employer for me and my staff is the field of ever telecommunications Incorporated. And they've been around for 35 years, actually, we're they're celebrating the 35th birthday in about two months now. They provide phone and internet service to the reservation kill River, and they have four subsidiary companies. I'm scrolling down because I know our logos are here somewhere. There they are. There's our old logo. So we have native technology solutions on the top left here, which does sort of like more of the construction type of work. They do install fiber and and run through throughout buildings, they installed connections. Down on the bottom left is Iluvien, which is another ISP technically it's a sort of its own sort of thing, but it operates outside of the reservation boundaries. So it doesn't receive the same federal support as gr ti but it It also doesn't have the same regulatory restrictions as GFCI. So that's a little beyond and gRPC. On the top right here is our Hilo river Broadcasting Corporation, which is the first tribally owned and operated Low Power TV station, and they broadcast a signal throughout the reservation, I think you can tune in on channel 29.1, if you're on the rez, and if you're not, and you're a community member, they have like a streaming service of some sort. It's not it's not very Netflix, I think it's basically just whatever is over the airwaves. But it's pretty cool that you know, that that tribe is, is offering that to their residence. So we are in the midst of all these all of our sister companies, and sorry, I don't know why that was, but let's be a company. And then they started digital connects the GTI board started digital connects back in 2018. Really is just an idea, you know, saying, you know, we we've got a fibre to the home project. You know, what, let me see real quick, I know that I would have a home somewhere here, check this out. So this is hilly rivers, fibre to the home project. Maps that one. But as they were conducting all their fiber to the home build out, so here you can see this is on their website, and so publicly available stuff, they realized, you know, it's not enough to just provide access. And that connection, we also have to educate our community members about what is fiber? How do we use it to our benefit, you know, what, what are some different uses that we can find in Hilo river for high speed broadband, and participate in the broader modern economy. So that's, that's really what those kinds of questions are what kick started the idea of, oh, let's start a new initiative. Let's call it digital connect. And it'll be all about providing devices and education and other resources to tribal members. Related to broadband. So some of the projects we've been working on lately, if I go over to our little events page here, you know, we've got listed on here, we've got about two events per month. And then we do a few others that we don't really list publicly because they're more like one on one with different constituent groups in the community. But we do, you know, between four and six events per month, as well as one on one trainings with our, our residents of the reservation, you don't have to be enrolled. But if you live on the reservation, you know, everybody's welcome. We're just here to help people with their devices. Oh, it's not like we're, we're not trying to be like exclusive or anything. So our BYOD is what we call it. Now, we're kind of like, rethinking that. That name, but it's called Bring Your Own Device, because we found that people oftentimes have their own their own questions about their own devices, like, you know, a lot of elders would be like, well, the district gave me this tablet, and I don't know how to use it, or my grandson gave me his laptop, but I'm not really sure what to do with it. So we just said, yeah, pretty whatever you got, whatever your questions are, we'll help you get connected and build your skills. So that's, that's a little bit about digital connects, bring your own device program. Some of the other projects we have in the works, which aren't listed on the website. But you know, we're I'm currently working with a local community college to start a apprenticeship program with our sister company, NTS. So as I pointed out, we've got the MTS, the construction company here. They can always use more manpower, especially, you know, you all probably are familiar with sort of the shortage or impending shortage of workers in broadband. And so we want to help bolster that and also give tribal members an opportunity at a really great career. So we're kicking off in a an apprenticeship program. Hopefully in the next month, next year, I mean, we're kind of just we need some help with the marketing side of things. And we're in the process of hiring a marketing manager. So this few little holds hold ups there. But yeah, we're gonna kick off an apprenticeship program pretty soon, which is exciting. What else? We've got another project where we're trying to well plan is to install free public, public access Wi Fi in all of the service centers. So on those maps there, each of these districts, we've got districts one on the east, and 23456, and seven, you can see them laid out on the map. Each of those seven districts has its own service center, they have them actually, on the on the map there, those little circle white circle icons with the blue sort of institution, image or icon, those service centers, but currently, they don't have public Wi Fi, they have limited public Wi Fi and gr ti during the pandemic set up Wi Fi, Hot or Not hot spots, but like access points in the parking lot. So if somebody needed to use Wi Fi, they could drive to the service center and access Wi Fi there. But it's not great service, and it's limited to the parking lot. So you can't get it inside the building. So our goal, or our plan is to use Treasury capital projects, fund dollars to install that equipment and make it available. So yeah, we've got a handful of projects going on at Digital connect and a lot of fun. I think that's it, Steve.
Okay. So McHale, you want to stop sharing for a couple minutes. And I think some people may have some comments or thoughts. Anybody wants to share anything? Questions,
you might just put in a link in the chat. Essential skills.co RG and there are really a lot of trainings there that are free, user friendly. And many companies use those in the pandemic, but it's still useful. It started during the pandemic and over, they say over 400 workforce development organizations and nonprofits have used those trainings. And they're all open access. They're free, and anyone can use them. They're basic, basic skills in non anything in particular, not for a particular software or something, but just basic Word, Excel, those kinds of things, you know, how do you how do I create an email address simple things like that.
Fantastic. Thank you so much. I just clicked on or just broken the link on my browser. Thank you. Okay, this is great.
So when I talked with Mikhail last week, I guess it was maybe a couple of weeks ago. Couple of things that came up, if I remember correctly, you are not doing anything with ACP at this point. But you were thinking about that. Was that you that we had that conversation?
Yeah, that's correct. So there's a couple of reasons why we're not doing ACP yet. But we can tell just sort of like, through conversations with some of our financial, the tribes, financial department and our political leaders, that we have to start gearing up for that soon. We just don't know, again. So hopefully, I mean, we'll we'll get there. You know, and, unfortunately, there's a lot of people who have gone before us and have a lot of resources, so we can learn from you all, but ya know, it's on the horizon for us.
number of people on this call, who know ACP quite well, we've had many discussions, you're actually going to hear about some of that in just a couple minutes. And so, as I told you, I, you know, I think there's a number of people, if you're interested, you should put your contact information in the chat. And I think people will be glad to contact you and be of help to you, certainly, our library function and so forth.
Yeah, Ilana and Erin are, you know, been very helpful. So I appreciate both of you guys. Stay connected. And then Ilana give a shout out to our sorry, Erin gave a shout out to our digital navigator. So just to mention that we are also recipients of the NDAs National Digital navigator Corps. And what that means is NDIA funded us to hire somebody for two and a half years as a digital navigator. And his name is Tyler Smith. And so when I mentioned earlier, the one on one support, he's the he's the guy that does that for us. And he's really good. So he gets it's cool to see him building relationships with folks in our community, and helping them with that one on one tech support. It's really beneficial to them, but also helps us sort of build our awareness. So
we've been hearing good things about time for by the way.
Yeah, he's cool. Yeah.
Okay, any other questions or comments before we move on? I'm glad you made it. A call. I'm glad that you were. We hadn't Seeing you for quite a while, so it's good to see you. Joining us.
Yeah, thank you, Steve. Thanks, everybody.
You bet. So let's move on. Real quickly. Get back to my agenda here. So while we're waiting, Elena, you want to kind of bring people up to date on what's happening with the FCC Chairwoman. Tomorrow, I believe.
Yeah, I just I didn't know if we were gonna get to it. So I put the invitation in the in the chat. For anybody who's interested. Excuse me, I'm getting sick. Perfect. Yeah. So Jessica Rosenworcel, who is the FCC Chairwoman is going to be in Phoenix tomorrow morning for a press conference with Mary Kay Gago to talk about the efforts within the city of Phoenix to close the digital divide. Talk about digital inclusion, talk about ECP. And as part of that, the FCC outreach coordinator, Lyle Yoshida, who has been on this call a number of times, is also going to be in town, he's bringing a staff member, they are going to be doing a one hour workshop, kind of a train the trainer, for anybody interested in how to help your constituents sign up for ACP. That's going to be from around 10. That's going to be from around 1030 to 1130. In the press conferences, the first half hour at about 10. So I think Steve put most of that information in the agenda, but I put the actual invite in the chat, because they would like to know they have space for about 60. And I think they have 50 right now. So if you're interested, there's still time to to register, and the email address is in that invitation as well as the phone number for the person at the city to contact to attend.
Many people already, huh?
Yeah, yeah, it's really great. So some of the folks are city staffers who are in various departments, they will be sort of the point person for folks who use those services, for example, the housing department, Youth and Family Services, other other departments within the city, there's going to be a point person who can help with ACP. The reason for the big push, for those of you that aren't aware, and Mikhail, I put this as a note to you, because you were talked about it being on the horizon. The problem with ACP is that it's slated to run out of money in mid 2024. So the concern is that by the end of this year, at least, the way we're looking at it is that unless we know that the ACP will be extended, and we're working on getting it extended, by the end of this year, it is not going to be fair if we start if we continue to sign people up, to only have their bills go up in three or four months when the benefit goes away. So the goal, obviously, is to make this you know, to make the ACP such a popular benefit, which it is almost too big to die too big to fail, that the powers that be will decide to keep it in place. But we don't know that that's going to happen. We know that there's debt ceiling conversations, we know that there's lots of stuff happening at the federal level that could, in fact, do away with the ACP benefits. So we don't know if that means that ISPs will start looking at other ways, because what will happen is, is ISPs are going to lose a lot of, you know, a lot of customers very quickly. And so there may be some other opportunities that come along, but we just don't know. And so we want to get people at least if we can get him a year's worth of of internet connection. That's what we'd like to do. So we're doing this big push in Phoenix, common sense was hired as a as a subcontractor, for the city to continue with the work that we did with our pilot program back in August through November. So we're helping them with these efforts.
That's it. Questions for Elena. So, while we're talking about ACP grant, you want to give us an update on what's happening with your grant. I really don't have anything Steve. Hopefully we can do that. So it. Okay, and probably same thing is true by Lupe, I saw your online also nothing right now.
No major updates. We're just kind of waiting for that anyway. Okay. Alrighty,
so let's, let's move on a little bit. Let me see what I've missed anything. So, Alicia, I think you're online. Can you give us any update yet on what the plans are regarding the digital inclusion planning?
Should you still there? Just now. Okay, um, Cindy, I don't think she's online. I don't know she's back from vacation yet. And, Aaron, do you have any more any new updates on what's happening with ACP and the Medicaid initiative.
ACP and the Medicaid initiative. So, very briefly, the newsletter went out to library staff today with the information about the webinar that Elena is so kindly putting on for us for explaining some of the access and Kids Care Benefit resources that are available. This is geared towards, you know, frontline library staff who might be asked questions, and so that they have an arsenal of resources at their fingertips. So this is advertised through the library, the State Library's event calendar, the link is in the chat now. But of course, anyone is welcome to come and check it out. Just for informational purposes, this will be on the 30th of May at one o'clock. And it's all online, of course. And then, that is the only update that I have, as far as that's concerned. Still, as far as the print materials, from the FCC, going directly to the libraries, we're still in that little bit of a holding pattern. And I imagined since Lyle is in town, his team is probably not working on it as we speak. So maybe, maybe after he's done with us here, we can pick that back up again, that those are my updates around those two.
Okay. Thank you. Any questions for Erin? So, while we're still on the topic of ACP, any of you guys want to open valve with the stuff that there's that the FCC has announced a new landing page that supposedly make it easier for people to sign up for ACP? Anybody have any comments or thoughts about that?
I actually wanted to share with you something we learned on Shelby today, I think, Erin, you were on the call as well, that Benton Institute has an ACP performance tool, which they have created. And I'll put the link in the chat as soon as I'm done talking. They they base it on several factors, you know, they've got a map that you can, that's a layered map. And you can search by various key terms. And the map is based on like people's annual income, population age school, going age, still going children? What are they using, they have only cellular data or other data available Internet services, etc. And they come up with a prediction on how many households are supposed to be signed up. And they then allow you to do a comparison by zip code. You know, when you put your zip code in, it tells you gives you a prediction on whether you know you're up to what you should be, or you're below what their prediction is or above. And they look at factors like is there a library close by? And is the library impacting? You know, they're signing up for ACP in a good sort of way, like library promoting it and using it or is are there other factors that that influence the performance. So I think that's a great tool for us to use to compare and see where we need to put our resources to promote ACP. Unfortunately, again, because ACP is likely to run out, you know, this is this tool. If we're using it, we have to use it as soon as we possibly can. There are constant updates on it. There's a blog post that they're creating for the performance tool as well. So let me put this link in the chat. I actually
already dropped it in there, Mala. Already queued up. You Thank you. Oh, and just a little shout out to if you're not on Uh, they're their email list, there's a subscribe button right at the top of the page for this tool as well. This was actually one of the things that they highlight, email. And it's, I mean, it's just a great collection of articles and information and it comes out daily. And it's just a great way to start your morning. We actually met a couple of the folks from the Benton Institute at net inclusion this year, too, which was kind of cool.
Okay, so somehow, while you're talking, you might as well just give us start with your update. But I did mention that Ilana put into the chat, the invitation for the presentation tomorrow. So just a couple of quick things. We didn't really, unless I'm mistaken, Ilana, that we really didn't even know exactly what the details of this was until like, Thursday or Friday, last week. So I did not get to send this out. And as, as I mentioned earlier, I'm on a semi vacation, so but that invitation is in the chat. But I want to remind you that if you want to not say a word document, if you want to download that document, you need to do that before we end the meeting. Because in the chat, you can't, when I send out the chat afterwards, you can't download the document from there. So just a reminder that you if you want that invitation, as you should get that from the chat now. If anybody
if you don't get it for some reason, you can just reach out to me, I'll send it to you.
And Steve, that applies to the Yuma area. RFP I went and looked it's not online. So it's in the chat. As Alan Pruitt's contact info will be something you can repeat in your messaging. But there is an open RFP for a substantial broadband assessment project down in the Yuma area.
So I generally try to capture any documents that are put into the chat. And then when I send out the follow up of the meeting, that I try to make those available for download. But since this particular event is happening tomorrow, if you want that invitation, you need to grab it from the chat today.
And I think we need to RSVP to Gretchen as well, to say that we are attending the training, especially if you're going to just be there for the press conference. That's okay. But if you want to attend the training, then I think we need to reach out to Gretchen and
thanks, Mala definitely.
Okay, so mama, do you have anything else that you need to
report? Certainly, there's been lots happening in this in the ERate and broadband front. We like I mentioned last time that we got 17 million approved in the first very first wave of rebate. And yesterday we got another 18 million approved in the second wave of sorry, Thursday, Thursday, we got another 18 million approved in the second wave. We applied for a total of 86 million. That was the discounted amount that we applied for. And already we are close to 35 million in what has been approved. There's a lot of changes that are happening in the tribal ERate area as well. And there was an NPRM that came out with April 24. That's the comment deadline, and may 23 Is the reply comment deadline. So far, what we're seeing is that they are asking for eligibility the comments received are on making Tribal College Libraries also eligible for E Rate, simplifying the E Rate process for the tribal libraries. And I hope that applies to all libraries and schools as well. But the tribal libraries are particularly small libraries. And this applies to any smaller rural library. They're also talking about easing the cost allocation requirements for other non instructional facilities. Like for example, if we have a building, that is that hosts the server and not offer public services, that building is not eligible for a rate but they're asking us to and cost allocating those out is very, very tedious, but they are asking that that be eased and the that that is not that is to be considered. They're also asking about having a tribal representation at the USAC board of directors. So all good suggestions. Let's see if they have if there are any more reply come Stuart, also on the SP shall be called today. They talked about the USF contributions. The USF contributions, I think a lot of us have already heard about how it was considered illegal in some time ago, and both the sixth court and Sixth Circuit and the Fifth Circuit, courts had hearings on it. So far, at least, it has not been declared as illegal. So whatever contributions are being collected is legal. But there's also a support for the reformation of how the ECF funding is collected. Right now it's being collected only on the landlines, and there is a lot of talk about how we can reform it to collect it from the cell services and other broadband services, as well as from tech companies that use broadband check companies using broadband not telecommunication company. And there is another fundamental proposal to end the way the current contributions are going, and instead have a direct appropriation from Congress. So let's see if any of those reforms take place. Of course, the contributions are used not just for a rate, it is used for the Lifeline program, it's used for the rural health care support, and also for the Connect America Fund. So this the universal services, funds are used for in a number of ways. And currently, the telecommunication service providers are having to contribute 30% of their collection, to as contribution to the USS that's kind of like a 30% tax that they have to pay to this. One other thing that we spoke about it shall be during this week, we had a meeting with FCC on pole attachments, and Walpole attachments, does not seem a very sexy issue. It is, as at least for those of us who are working in this area and have to deal with it every every day of our lives, shall be supports streamlining, and expediting the access to the polls, which sometimes means right away access as well, shall be is also supporting, you know, determining the fee for use of the polls, because again, that is not standardized, because again, it depends on who owns the polls. And there are no rules or guidelines about it shall be also supports, reviewing the broadband projects that are going to be impacted by this, that is the fiber layout projects and those kinds of things that are going to be impacted by this. And, you know, one of the things that I brought up was the fact that our aid actually says that we can lay underground fiber when they are repairing the building new roads, this was passed a few years ago, I think at AIC knows that we played a role in trying to make this happen. So that that is that that is innovative. That hasn't happened in other states, but definitely here in Arizona that we allow that any disturbance to that area to the laying of roads or repairing roads. It means that we already have permits and that we can go ahead and lay fiber in those areas. So without having to seek new permits or or right away applications. And the last thing I want to say is that the looks like there is going to there is some movement in FCC is new commissioner nomination. Person Biden has considered nominating Anna Gomez. Ana Gomez is the Deputy Director of NTIA currently is the director there and he was talking he is President Biden has nominated in place of the controversial GT so on whose nomination didn't go through eventually, but this might not happen immediately. It's certainly likely to happen in June, likely to come up for hearing in June. So any questions?
Did you say the that Eric Gomez is Deputy Director of NTIA or NDI
NTIA. Okay, telecommunication, national telecommunication information.
Okay, thanks. Bye Oh, I'm sorry, go ahead. So moving on, because it's getting kind of late. So, Philip saying you're on. And I know you've got at least a couple of things to report on regarding the Office of Digital teaching, and learning a couple of initiatives that are happening, and maybe other things. So I'm gonna turn it over to you.
Yeah, so the two big ones right now, we'll begin with the cap capacity assessment. So we're sending this out hoping we can get information back by the end of June from Le A's. The goal of this is to get into a deeper dive, I mean, gather information from schools and see you know, how the structure the IT department is, you know, what policies and procedures they have and and also provide them a maturity score for their disaster recovery, and also give them resources they can use as they plan and develop their IT department. We've heard a lot from just information sharing that, you know, I hear about we have to have a Dr. But we don't really know how to do it Dr. Sol created did a really nice job of creating this to also ask the question, give them a score, but then also provide them resources. So let me link. So this is the whole information of the capacity assessment. And then here also the questions you may see our our LEA would see in the capacity assessment, the only thing you won't see in the second link is the actual resources that are provided after the submission for the schools. Any questions about the Capacity Assessment? Okay. The second one is, so we've had interactive learning technologies, had a few teachers kind of kind of build this into a club ogling to create curriculum or kind of a method to develop eSports robotics or integrating Minecraft technology in Minecraft education technology, either in the classroom or in the club, the mentor has decided it's probably better as a club, as we focus on academics moving forward. So purely in Tucson Unified, they're going to be our mentors. The information meetings are going to be Thursday, May 11. And Thursday, May 18, from three to four o'clock for K 12, to see if they're interested, gather information, and then hopefully sign up.
So there's information on that. Any questions about the interactive technology? And those are my updates for this week.
Any questions for Philip? Okay, moving on. And we're just about out. We're just about out of time for this meeting today. But just a couple of quick things. That anybody that we know anybody in the state who attended the National Collaborative for digital equity, that hosted a National Summit on state planning for digital equity and economic inclusion
back in April.
Not hearing that? Well, the reason I'm asking that, is that one of the topics that they focused on, and I'm going to be following up with them afterwards, cuz the that the proceedings of that conference are now available online. And I'll be sending out the the link to those proceedings. But one of the areas that they talked about was, which we had discussed previously, some time ago, was CRA funding or Community Reinvestment Act. Funding, excuse me, and there is a lot of interest in in funding Digital Inclusion projects, through that CRA funding. And so I wanted to see if anybody here in Arizona, had participated in that conference. I don't know if that's the case. So, again, I'll be sending the link out. And I think it would behoove us to look at what they did in terms of talking about state planning, and also the opportunity for CRA funding.
I just wanted to mention that. And
then one last thing is that I had a very, very brief pulmonary conversation with a foundation here in Tucson that I've had some connections with over the years, who may be interested in providing some possible funding for some digital inclusion initiatives. This foundation is very committed to education, they've given a lot of money to Pima College, the University of Arizona, and others. And so I'm going to be pursuing them. And I talked with Aaron, just a little while ago about, they want me to send them a brief summary of what digital inclusion is all about. And then we'll pursue possible funding for them. So anyway, I just wanted to mention that. So that's all I have for today. Anybody have anything else that they want to talk about or share questions?
Going once, going twice, well, then I
believe we might be done for today. If anybody wants to stay on and chat for a little bit. We'll, we'll hang on here for a couple minutes. I will mention, of course, a lot of folks are already gone. But it'll probably be a little late getting this week's summary out. As I mentioned, I'm on a summer vacation. I'll be back in Tucson tomorrow evening. And fully back to work on Wednesday. So anyway, that's the any other announcements or anything before we end for today?
Just one more shout out. I think you had it in your list. The other thing that's happening tomorrow is the conversation around transportation and health care. And so Marla and I are also going there. And so as Janet and so will be we'll be well represented and the work that they've been doing. After the press conference and training in the morning, then we'll we'll head over there too. So yeah,
yeah. Thanks for reminding us about that. And I'm, I'm glad you guys will be there. When I talked to Todd the other day. He said there's about 4045 50 people who have signed up for that for that conference. But I think this is only the beginning of discussion both for them and for opportunities for us to collaborate with them. So anything else anybody else have anything else that they want to
