Okay. Morning, everybody. Welcome again. Good to see you all. I wanted to get started pretty early, Sandip's gonna have to get out of here pretty quickly. But I want to do a quick couple of quick housekeeping things first. So we have actually two presentations today. Sandip is here to talk about volume two of the BEAD plan. And then we're going to hear from Mignonne Hollis. A little bit later, that I get it right when I'm always worried that I won't get it right
You got it right.
Arizona, Broadband for All. And so we'll hear about that a little bit later. Just a couple of quick things that we have, I think we have several new people who have joined us this morning. So I'd like to just do a quick introduction for any of those folks. Drew you've been you've been on here before, haven't you Drew? DREW papas? Are you there? Okay. And Jenna you've been here before, but you want to introduce yourself real quickly?
Sure, I'm Jenna Leveille the Deputy State cartographer for Arizona. That's under Arizona state land. And I hope to coordinate all the geospatial data across the state. So thanks for having me, Steve.
It was at all just all the data across the state.
And let's see anybody else? Anybody else? That's new this morning? Don't think so? Okay, so that take care of that. So a couple of quick things. I want to thank our, our sponsors CareFirst, Arizona, Karen Ziegler Consulting, Valley Telecom, Kajeet and Triad wireless. Appreciate all your support to enable me to eat get paid, but appreciate the support for the task force. So we've introduced everybody, just a reminder, if you haven't already, that please take a couple of minutes to respond to the database and add your name so that we have your contact information. And it just makes it easier to know who's who and, and that sort of thing. So. So with that, I'm just going to jump into the program this morning. And we're pleased as always to have Sandip here with us this morning to give us an update on what's happening with the broadband office. Of course, we've been getting pretty regular updates from Karen and the other members of the team. But it's always good to have Sandip here. And of course, right now, it was an important time because they have just released Volume Two of the BEAD plan. And so Sandip is going to kind of give us a quickie overview of what's happening. And Sandip, we got a couple of things, though. First of all, would you like to introduce your team? We have several of your team members here this morning. And then and then I think you have an announcement also this morning of a new team member.
That's why I'm here.
So I'm going to turn it over to you, Sandip, it's all yours. Okay.
Thank you so much, Steve. And good morning, everyone. My name is Sandip Bhowmick, state broadband Director here at Arizona Commerce Authority oversee broadband and digital equity deployment for state of Arizona. Yeah, well, I'm really happy. Indeed I am. The hunt is over. So definitely happy. So I have my colleague, Krystal Saverse. She is the broadband data and GIS analyst in the call, and Karen Ziegler, our advisor and consultant in this whole process, I would like to introduce our new digital equity program manager. Before doing that, I see Cindy Hogan in this call. And I would like to appreciate and thank Cindy for great work she did as a digital equity program manager really appreciate Cindy, your contribution, your leadership, your guidance, having said that. our new digital equity program manager is Erin Lorandos. She's just starting next week. You all know her, it's nothing new. And it just going to be a small switch from one side of the aisle to another side of the aisle, I think it's going to be same side of the aisle just you will see a slight change in the email the the motivation that the spreed can do attitude and vast knowledge about digital equity and broadband here in the state, I'm definitely sure it will not change. And Erin, I would like to invite you to say a few words, and then I will continue with my update.
I just want to say thank you for the opportunity. And while it is difficult to leave the libraries 100% You know, the State Library has been an absolutely amazing place to be working and the the impact and the the overall opportunity of the position of the ACA is just really exciting. And I can't wait to dive in. You know, the first order of business, of course, will be finalizing the digital equity plan. And so in case I am slow to answer my emails for the next couple of days after that switch over, you'll know what I'm doing. But thank you so much, Sandip, I'm really excited to be working with you all.
You are, you are an energizer bunny. You just, you just keep going and going and going. So thank you for the all the work you did at the library. And we look forward to our continued relationship with you at ACA.
Thank you. Absolutely, Steve, I think the audience the target, the work is going to be same just from a different perspective. So absolutely, we are very happy and we are excited to have her in our team. And I think she's gonna do an awesome job. She's a rockstar in the team. Great. So, I would quickly update you all about our Bead plan and where we are in the process and following that. Karen will provide a quick update on the digital equity plan. So on the Bead side, as you probably all know, that volume one was published almost a month ago and the public comment period is closed. Now, we are working on integrating some of the recommendation you have provided and also some of the recommendation we directly got from NTIA. And then it will be submitted to NTIA for final approval. The Volume Two, it's open for public comment, we actually published it two days ago. So if someone didn't read the plan yet, I will post the link, or if one of my colleagues can post the link in the chat. So folks can folks, you can go read the plan. Volume Two is really the base of whole Bead program. It includes the sub grantee selection process, which is very important that how the scoring criteria was selected. And especially for the ISPs and local government, there are a lot of hidden information hidden gem in there. And then along with that, we have workforce, we have the barrier reduction, that what kind of barrier we have here in the state what we have identified, if we miss something, please feel free to let us know, labor standard, including the minority businesses here in the state creating equal opportunity for them. And overall, what can the jobs we are creating here in the state through this broadband BEAD program. So it's it's a 123 page document, and I would highly recommend to take your time read. I know it's a it's a holiday season coming up. We are all going to be busy with friends and family. But your leadership all of you in this call your leadership guidance, your voice is very important to determine the future of the state's prompt and the state's broadband initiative. So I would highly recommend you study basically read the plan. And anytime regarding that, if you have any question feel free to send us an email at broadband at AC commerce.com. Or you can directly reach out to us and feel free to submit a comment through the ACA portal. Having said that the next step would be challenge process, which is another vital process. And if I would like to if I would like if I want to summarize the whole challenge process in a nutshell, basically, it's gives an opportunity to our local government, ISPs and nonprofit to submit a challenge if their jurisdiction or area was wrongly identified as served. So state broadband office is currently working with multiple vendors right now to select a portal. This portal is going to be the base for the challenge process and the ISPs. Local Government and nonprofits can log into this portal, get an approval from ACA and submit a challenge Process on behalf of any cities, counties or local jurisdiction. So it's a little bit complicated process. Steve and I we spoke about this and my whole team you We'll be doing a holding multiple presentation webinar and training sessions so that counties, cities and ISP, and nonprofits can participate in this process and make sure that we're not leaving behind a single household by end of this bead program. Having said that, thank you all for your time. And I would hand it over to my colleague, Karen Ziegler. Again, if you'd like to give us a really quick update about digital equity.
So Sandip, before we move on, I believe that the closing date for comments was December the sixth. And I think that you're kind of stuck with that the because of NTIA reporting requirements, if I'm not mistaken,
that and I think I would refer this question to Nicole, I think we have the ability to keep it open for a few more days. But Steve, the deadline to submit both volume two is December 27. And that's right after the Christmas, so we're targeting for December 20, right before the Christmas, and we need some time on our side to to make sure that we are updating the plan based on NTIA's feedback or any public comment we are getting if that's applicable. So just trying to keep some time and going with the one month minimum public comment period.
So said, are we still talking about? So Sandip and I have been talking about doing what I'm calling a study session or presentation from Sandip and Nicole. To go into more detail about volume two. I mean, obviously, we can't go into a lot of detail this morning. Because it's such a big volume. But we were talking about the 27th. Is that still going to work?
Yes, hopefully, we just need to set the time. And Steve propose to create a special webinar, apart from this AZBSN regular call. So I'm working with Steve to set up a time so that we can present that for for the folks who are interested?
Yeah, we picked the 27th of November, because we wanted to give you folks plenty of time to be able to review volume two. And then of course, the holiday comes up Thanksgiving holiday. We wanted to get it done right after Thanksgiving. So I'll be getting this out. Hopefully, today, tomorrow with the latest for you to get it on your calendar. And as soon as Sandeep and I confirm it time, I'll get that out. Okay, Karen.
Well, hello, everyone. And I am happy to have Erin come and join the team and pass the baton of the digital equity plan on to her, obviously, be there just
sorry, no, there is no passing the baton, it's the whole team thing. So just.
So, but again, I'm just thrilled that she's coming on board and that we can work together and partner to get this digital equity plan across the finish line and submitted to NTIA we are still on track. The goal is to post for public comment December 11, we have received the full draft from our partner digital equity Institute. So as Erin mentioned, we are going to be really digging deep into that and doing the review process and coordinating with the governor's office, and our other stakeholders before, you know released, excuse me for public comment, then just like the bead volume to it will be open for 30 days. So sometime mid January, we'll close that public comment period, incorporate, you know, the appropriate feedback, and then submit it to NTIA for final submission. So that's kind of where we are now. I think when we get open for public comment, we'll probably schedule another session, Steve, because it is a massive document. And it may lend itself to do some another type of session like you talked about, for that particular program as well.
Yeah, I was just going to suggest that Karen so thank you. Yes, absolutely. We want to do that. Okay, anything else, Karen?
Oh, I think that's it. See.
Okay, so Nicole, I know you're on online. Do you want to add anything or any additional comments?
Sure. Um, two quick updates.,
Please introduce yourself?
Good morning. Good morning, everybody. My name is Nicole. Umyam. I am the federal program officer for Arizona with NTIA that's the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. So I'm the grant administrator capacities for internet for all advocates for the broadband and digital equity, federal funding that comes here to Arizona. I do have just two quick updates one repeat of last week. But Steve, did you still want me to do just a really short background on the initial proposal? Okay. So the first update we mentioned last week, but NTIA issued a programmatic waiver to the letter of credit requirement in the NOFO. That got a lot of attention over the year because, you know, in in efforts to make sure that there's diverse participation from a number of different providers and potential sub grantees, that having multiple ways of accessing credit would be necessary. So we're really thrilled about about that. I'm going to put the waiver notice in the chat, so you can read it later. I'm happy to go over some questions with with people offline, if you're a provider, or potential applicant and want to know about what this means. It's, I guess, one, one short read is that the state doesn't have to do anything. These, these four different pathways are available to applicants already. So it's not an extra extra layer that the state puts in, or has to manage, which is good, because they've already got quite a bit on their plate.
Yes. And Nicole, if I can add, the Volume Two is reflective of the latest guidance from NTIA. So you'll see that in the proposal.
The second quick update is there is a request for comments out for the Digital Equity Capacity Grants, and the digital equity capacity grants available for tribal entities. So that is currently out. I'm just putting the notice of of that request for comments in here. So this is for public input on the reporting requirements, the guidelines and the expectations around the capacity money.
Explain the capacity grants, please.
Yes. So the digital Equity Act, which is a portion of the big bipartisan infrastructure law, which appropriated $2.45 billion for broadband adoption and use and digital inclusion programs, it's actually three different pots of money. The first pot is a formula based grant that goes out to states and territories. That's what we're in the middle of right now, for this digital equity plan. It's a one year planning period, for states to come up with their goals and objectives for closing the digital divide. As that plan is a condition to be able to apply for this capacity grant is the second pot of money, which is available to states and territories to then implement these programs. So this is funding for supporting digital literacy programs for supporting workforce, for supporting digital navigators addressing affordability, so anything under the umbrella of of digital inclusion. The third grant that's created is the competitive grant. So that is available for a wider amount of entities to apply for, it's about $1.5 billion available in that competitive pot. And that can be local entities, it can be schools, it could be state agencies as well to further enact these different digital inclusion programs. So it's, we call it the digital Equity Act program, but it's really three, three grants within it.
Thank you, Nicole. Anything else, Nicole.
So I was prepared to give a little bit of context on the initial proposal and what what people can look out for. I won't take up too much time and we've got Okay, gender, am I able to to share my screen?
You can I will stop sharing and you can. Nicole,
just a quick question. You mentioned something about tribal capacity grants. Yep.
So there are there's a specific amount from the capacity grants available for states that is directly available for tribal entities. So there, if you've been following along for the past year and a half, originally that was supposed to be set aside from the planning grant and sort of got worked out where that digit specific Digital Inclusion funding would be available in the tribal broadband connectivity program in their NOFO. To that's currently out, as well as through the state capacity grants pot just to make things work, more federal, federal programs to confuse everybody.
Nicole, what is the amount for the Federal for the tribal grant?
I'm not sure. But I, we have some, some policy notices. So I can follow up with you on on those exact amounts, but I don't know off the top of my head. There is for the TBC program, the tribal broadband connectivity program, there is 100 million set aside specifically for broadband adoption and use purposes for that second round. Okay, are you seeing my screen? Yes. Okay. So really, really just, this is a very quick overview of the initial proposal for for folks who might be a little bit new, or, you know, it's, it's still pretty confusing, even though I look at this stuff. And then of course, this source is going to be going to the Arizona broadband websites and taking a look at those drafts that are out now. This is a new slide. So this is just a listing of the different broadband grant programs that NTIA is administering. So, of course, we talk about bead and the digital equity grants. But we've also got several other other funding streams for deploying broadband and digital inclusion. This one, I wanted to share this, this slide with you. So this is actually a breakdown of those same federal programs. This top row here is showing Arizona's allocation. I think it's just a little interesting to look at compared to other states. Shown differently on a map from NTIA. Arizona is allocated or in the process of administering 1.2 billion in indifferent funding based on these different programs. But of course, we're talking about BEAD. And the key point is that the BEAD program is requiring states to prioritize serving unserved households, underserved households, and eligible community anchor institutions that are below a gig symmetrical service. So that's always the background that we should keep in mind is we're serving we're deploying last mile broadband to unserved and underserved households in Arizona. Everyone's involved. So we know that, you know, we know we're in this long, long term program for broadband deployment. The state has already completed their five year broadband plan and has completed the draft of their initial proposal. This is really just that same timeline, we because the Notice of Funding that was nearly $1 billion in Arizona is allocated that was made on June 30, which means that states and territories now have until December 27 of this year, to submit their initial proposal, that initial proposal the has a number of components, which I'll go over, but the two main pieces are a challenge process to verify the list of locations and a competitive and robust and transparent sub grantee selection process. Here's the same thing. Sub grantee selection and the challenge process. There are rules around the public comment period, and and that the state is demonstrating that they are incorporating that feedback as well. They've got to submit it within the 180 days after they submitted the they are able to use a minute you know, up 20% Or more up to 100% of funding for qualifying uses before like for conducting the process for there's a number of additional uses there. But it's just one one additional piece that they have to put together as part of this initial proposal. So this morning, I got to move my little tracker we are here or to where the initial proposal has been publicly posted. So they're still doing some of those final tweaks, but have posted it for public comment. And then based on that feedback and and TAs review, feedback gets, will complete those final revisions. Then in 2024, is where the state, the EE here is the eligible entities. So that's that's Arizona, will be conducting the state challenge process, they have to validate all of those. And once they get that final listing, they put it out for bid and open applications to all potential subgrantees. The initial proposal, it's a it's a pretty, it's actually two different documents. But it has 19 Different required components, according to the statute, which is the bipartisan infrastructure law. So importantly, it's the process of subgrantee selection. But it's also setting the technical specifications around how the state is defining high costs are extremely high cost per location. It's looking at potential non deployment uses if, if that is relevant to the states, it has to account for existing broadband funding and programs. So that's both federal programs as well as private investments or other enforceable commitments of broadband, it looks at developing a low cap a low cost plan, and requiring that of any potential applications to so this is kind of a big overview of some of those, those components. And this is really just the the foundation that I wanted this group to have, I know we're going to have some more in depth information sessions on the initial proposal, as well as a study session, I think that's a great idea I'm excited to participate there. This is just showing that we have the two volumes, Volume One on the left here is that public comment is closed. But you can still take a look and familiar, familiarize yourself with especially this last section, which is the methodology for the challenge process. Everything else in this the center column, these are the requirements for volume two. And that's the piece that's out for public comment now. Now we're flying, we're flying through it. This is saying a lot of this a lot of the same thing. Quickly, I think I think we can end there because I don't want to, you know, get carried away with too many of the details. But as we look at subgrantee selection, the state is is really certifying that applicants are meeting a number of different qualifications. So this is where the the letter of credits discussion comes into place. But we also look at things like the operational capacity, and the ability to to pull off these types of high impact broadband programs. We'll also see the secret sauce, if you will, of how Arizona is going to be prioritizing broadband projects. So that is to say the scoring criteria, and how the NTIA requirements as well as the Arizona specific scoring criteria will be factored in to make those decisions. So if we have two applications coming in for one project area, what are the elements of those applications that are going to score one higher, versus another? Okay, I'm going to cut myself off. So we can move on but always happy to go over to go over this. Other points. So look forward to our our Monday discussion and our, you know, upcoming upcoming study sessions as well. Because
Is there a possible way that you can share that with the, with the team in a PDF format?
Yep, I'll send this to Steve now.
Thank you so much. Yeah, we will definitely do that. So are there any questions for Sandy may be gone ready? Any any questions for for Karen, are any of the broadband team actually, and Nicole before we move on?
So I just want to say that over the next few weeks, and of course we have Thanksgiving coming up, but our primary focus now is going to be on all this planning. It's all theirs. Just tons of evidence. And Nicole, thank you, because it really helps to, for people to understand that there are so many pieces to this puzzle. And if people want to understand why your broadband team is overwhelmed, they give you a pretty good, a pretty good idea about the kind of work that needs to get done. With the deadlines coming up pretty quickly. Karen, do you want to add anything else?
Yeah, Steve, I just want to thank Nicole and appreciate, you know, her presentations and showing those slides because one of the things that folks have to keep in mind is that this is guided by NTIA, the requirements are very specific. And so the proposals that we've put together are in line with the requirements of NTIA and a couple of those slides really kind of lay out exactly what states have to do to comply. So keep that in mind as you're going through the reports and providing those comments.
Any other questions or comments? Before we move on? Just actually, Karen, do you want to take a minute you have three open positions that you're working to fill? Do you want to comment on? I've got those on my introductory slide and be sending that out also.
Please? Yes, as you know, you know, we've gotten very busy and very happy to have Aaron onboarding Monday for the digital equity program manager position. But we have a couple others, the grants, broadband Grants Program Manager position is open. And the senior Broadband Program Manager position. And the third one is community engagement. Manager position. I'm not sure if it's manager, but it's the community engagement position. So all of those are posted, Steve, if you have those links, I do send them out. So we're really looking forward to ramping up the team, especially as we go into next year, and really have to execute these plans that we're putting into place now. Right,
thank you, Karen. So if any of you either are interested in any of those positions are you know somebody who might be please contact them? I know they're anxious to get people hired, that can definitely use the help. Okay, if nothing else, then we're going to move on and pinion you're on? I'm not going to introduce you. I'm gonna let you introduce yourself. All
right. Thank you. Thank you, everybody for your time this morning. I'm Mignonne Hollis. In my day job, I work for the Arizona Regional Economic Development Foundation down here in Cochise County. And most recently, I have been working very closely with the Benton Foundation. And you want to check out their website at Benton Foundation, or it's just benton.org. And their mission really is to bring open affordable high performance broadband to all people in the US to ensure a thriving democracy. And Arizona was one of the three states that they picked to do work in. And so really the area of focus is making sure that we do have that affordable broadband and accessibility in all of our areas. And so we're breaking this down into small goals. I'm new to the team new to these meetings. And so everybody's doing such amazing work. And really, we're just trying to get fill in and make sure that everyone is getting the information that they need. And Steve, there's several of us that have had all of those. Thank you, Ilana, I appreciate you putting that out there for me. I cannot multitask. That is one thing I can't do. So just this is enough for me. It's I appreciate that. But we're working with a lot of people that are already on this call today. And I appreciate the work you're doing and we just want to help. So our goal is just how can we help you get that information out to the end users. And so I've been finding, and Steve and I had a long conversation about this as well. And you know, the League of Cities and Towns puts out stuff for people to review. And that is fantastic. But people don't have the time or the bandwidth to review what they're supposed to review. And so then they're coming back and they're like, Well, what are we supposed to do? And so we're gathering that information from folks like Derek and Erin Carr Jordan, like, what is it that you need most from community members that don't understand this that don't have the time to get on the call that don't have time to present, you know, to dedicate to any meetings, right? Because they're like the city of Benson It's one person, they don't even have a dedicated broadband person, it's their maintenance person that's just been designated that city of Bisbee is the same. And so you find a lot of this in those smaller communities, they just don't have the bandwidth. And so we're collecting information, we're going back and we're saying, Okay, here's what we need you to do. One, two, and three. So one of the first things was just testing your upload, download speeds, just to send that out to your community members, right? And so we're we're trying to gather all of that information through folks like you to say, what is it that you need the community to do first and second, and breaking that down into bite sizes for them, so that it's manageable, and then reporting that backup to help the state, the broadband office, because as we've heard, they're so short staffed, and they're just, you just can't be everywhere at once. And everybody is trying their level best to get out and do the information. And so we're just another organization that is here to help, we certainly don't want to duplicate anybody's efforts. Because that always, that makes no sense. Right? So where are those gaps? Where can we fell in to help, you can visit our site at broadband for all.org. And so what we're doing that as we get things out and getting it to do less, we're saying, Could you please do this? Could you please do that? Whether it's signing letters that you all have already sent out? Cindy, you sent out a lovely letter. So did you see things that you already had done, that we could just get that out to other people that have no idea that there's a group of people meeting once a week, and all these other different groups that they just don't have the time and the bandwidth to do. So that's generally where we are. We also will later work very closely with our legislatures and having events for them and getting them to find and to find those community champions that have that big voice in the state of Arizona to carry the message forward. And then the other piece, of course, is just holding that accountability piece. So that we are actually doing what we say we're going to do, and that we're making sure that this broadband data is deployed to all areas, I'm sure we all have stories of how it isn't working. nightmare stories, I spent a whole nightmare this past week trying to get internet to some senior folks. And it's just awful, the process is terrible, trying to work with the providers was awful. And then to find out, they don't even have high speed internet, to their homes in that area. So again, things like that least folks weren't even aware of it. Of the you know, they didn't even know there's that there's been money. And actually the technicians that came out had no idea either. And so we're finding that there's all these gaps in communication where people just don't know. And it's not their fault. There's just so much information, and so little time and resources to get it out there. So we're here to help. If there's something that you see that we can do, we are working with community leaders on the ground. And typically those are your non traditional community leaders. But I say those are really the secret sauce in any community. And so having those folks having those organizations coming back and saying what can we do? And then I'm turning to folks like you and saying, what what do you what do you need from this group? How can they best help and deploy information? And what do you need for them to collect it back? So that's what we do in a nutshell. And again, like I said, we're relatively new on the ground, but willing to do willing to do a lot of the work.
Any questions or comments for mignon? mignon, this
is Mala do you do statewide or just for Cochise County?
It's Mala. Thank you. It is statewide.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
So Mignonne and I had a great conversation. So we have a lot of this information, a lot of information that gets distributed. But it's government jargon. And what we need to be able to do is to work on some information and materials, that's plain English, that people can, who aren't involved with all of these meetings and stuff, who don't understand all of this stuff, can't have basic understanding about what it is that's happening, and what it is we need from them. I know just like with this group, and I'm probably as guilty as anybody that you get all this information and overload it's like, well, I'll get to it and read it at some point and all of that kind of stuff. And so we really need to be able to is Mignonne was saying so bite sized pieces that will make it easy for people to be able to understand what's going on
. Thank you for that, Steve. And unfortunately, I'm gonna have to drop off too. We just found out this morning that we got an EDA grant and so we have to have a quick team meeting We're super excited about the opportunity that brings for us. But I need to I'll need to sign off as well.
Sounds good. Thanks, Mignonne. Thanks for being here this morning. And
thank you all so much for all the heavy lifting and work that you do. And again, if there's any way that we can help or get one sentence out that you need from our community, our communities across the state, please let me know.
I think Felicia is on the grant Mignonne. Thank you so much. We're super excited. Thank you.
Is that the Economic Development Grant?
It's an EDA grant. Yep. Yeah. Cool, thank you.
Okay, I'm gonna go back to sharing my screen again, for a minute.
So I want to make sure that I've got that I've covered everything. So one thing that I do want to do before we get on with some of with a couple of other things, is a reminder, we've had this I've had this conversation with several people in the last few days. One of the issues that comes up and Mignonne alluded to this is that a lot number of our communities and and counties here, do not have the staff and the capacity to do the kind of planning go after grants and so forth. And so I just want to remind you, and maybe we'll bring them back again, but the Arizona Economic Recovery Center that they have, they do have consultants, and they have funding for consultants, to help local communities with their planning processes. And so and that most of that service is free. And so if any of you are in that position, that you need some help, and you need some assistance, and planning for any or all this funding or other kinds of projects. It doesn't have to be related to broadband, but any of these other projects that you might want to consider contacting the economic recovery center. And I'm going to try to remind people every week about that, because I think they're a great resource. And people need to take advantage of them.
One thing about those grants that cover just about everything, it could be something in the community, such as parks, recreation, it could be something related to schools, it could be something related to the government agencies. So those grants are available to just about anyone, and the assistance is available to actually qualify for those grants. So I do encourage you to use them.
Yeah. And I think it's a waste of my opinion that it's important. Now, with all the broadband planning, in particular, we get to digital equity, and a number of our digital equity, and digital inclusion organizations, many of whom are very small, and might need some assistance and planning as we get to the point that they're going to apply for, for funding from the state. That, again, the Resource Center Recovery Center can be a great resource for people. So I'm going to continue to provide that information. Okay. So, John, I know we talked yesterday, you know, if you have anything that you want to talk about from the legislature, I don't think there's that you had much of one of the cover today.
No, thanks, Steve, I think we're still about almost two months away from the start of the legislative session. Overall, the fiscal picture of the state is in much more dire, not dire, but much worse than it was where we used to have a $2 billion surplus a year ago, we no longer have that surplus, we have a deficit. So that's kind of affect a lot of other other things. We don't know yet. If it's going to be long session or short session. If I tell you it's going to be long, it means it'll be short. If I tell you, it's short, it's going to be long. And I do know that one of the issues that we've talked about is the Arizona commerce authority is up for sunset review. And I think there's going to be a lot of entities interested in making sure that that organization is supported with the legislative process, and that it continues on and that the Broadband Program, which is within it continues to operate. So I think that's going to be the top priority for a lot of us.
Okay, thank you, John. So, let's move on. So I'm gonna jump down for a minute. Derek, you're still online?
I am Steve.
Yes. So Derek, you want to give us a quickie update? We don't get to see you very often. So can you give us a quick update on what's happening? Lots has happened with Sun Corridor which is one of the reasons we don't get to see you. Very often, but can you give us a quick update on what's happening. Derek is the executive director of the Sun Corridor network?
Yeah. Well, I wasn't prepared. But and yeah, and what are we working on? So we've talked a little bit before about the but the digital equity grant that we have with ASU and digital equity Institute for to cover Maricopa County. We have $24 million to do, you know, good things with respect to broadband all over Maricopa County and we're going to put the plan together there, we're likely to kind of work with a number of last mile Park providers to get to some hard to reach areas or some traditionally on and underserved areas, including like Cox and at&t is moving into the market. I don't know if you've heard that, but through their through their subsidiary GigaPower. And we're likely to co construct some networks with them. And Cox and Triad Wireless wireless has been an amazing partner in that process. And we just lit up a mobile home park that didn't have high speed internet available to them. In the Isaac School District, just last week, and by lit up I mean, we installed all of the appropriate infrastructure to offer you know 100 by 100 service to all of 283 mobile homes in in Capri mobile home park which is over kind of west of downtown. And we intend to do a fair amount more of those those kinds of deployments. That's a to and through model through the Isaac school district from their Moya elementary school. That was exciting news. We and there's a lot more of that kind of activity being planned in in Maricopa County in and around the greater Phoenix area and beyond. Visiting Wickenburg, for example, visiting a Gila visiting GilaBend and, and just trying to do as much as we can. We just got from the National Science Foundation, a really exciting grant to build an aggregation Point of Presence. And a science and teaching network that interconnects the University of Arizona research farms in Yuma with Arizona Western College, with the University of Arizona teaching facility in a collection of high schools in the area and we're we intend to use kind of real time real world data collected from the U of A farms and from AWC has a farm and experimental farm, they leveraged to teach so we'll be equipping those farms with with IoT sensors and with with networks that collect the data in real time and in sharing that data through all of the classrooms in that area. To kind of energize High School and and, you know, Junior College participants about the opportunities exciting, you know, STEM opportunities associated with agriculture right there in their backyard. So we just kicked that project off, we just got funding in September, late September for that, you know, continue to work with the state and our colleagues at ACA and the governor's office and the Department of Transportation to, to work to activate the middle mile and the interstate system and continue advancing that. Those are top of mind this morning.
Derek, can you give a little more detail about what's the status with the highway projects?
Yeah, so commerce authority released an RFP for the operations, maintenance and commercialization partner back in the late spring. And that process played out over the course of the summer. An award was chosen. And it's just a mean that the process for making the selection was it's complicated, right? It's a big, big deal. It's 20 to 30 year commitment and lots of kind of speculation about the market was involved and, and then kind of thinking the contract is equally, equally complex because it's a again, it's it's not typical for the state to be in 20 and 30 year contracts. Selling infrastructure is also not typical for for state activity. So the contract negotiations with the chosen firm, continue, and ideally they will finish this calendar year. But every time send deeper I predict that It'll be over, you know, this month, it's not. So it's hard to make commitments there lawyers are, you know, they operate on their own timeframe, I guess. But I would say that's the update I can give. I would say the, the, you know, we're with the fiber is in the ground, and I 17 and 19. And it's ready to be lit up with electronics. Everybody's anxious to do that, including the the OMC. So I think we'll hit the ground running once once that contract is signed. And obviously, we'll be able to name that partner once that contract is signed as well.
Awesome. Well, thank you, Derrick, you guys are doing amazing stuff.
I appreciate that. It's a lot of fun. You've
come a long way from just serving the three universities, to all these other things that you're working on. Yeah.
And we're up to I can I can update as well. We're up to six full time staff and in about eight contractors that are dedicated to our work. Right. So we've our team is about 14 large at this point that was to just a couple of years ago. So yeah. Wow.
It's awesome. Well, I think we even a long time ago, when we did our, our original plan for AZBSN, that we were supportive of that time about seeing Sun Corridor expand and grow, and so forth. And so it's great to see what you've what you've done at this point. And lots more, I think the comp,
lots more to come. And it doesn't happen without support from folks like you guys. So I certainly appreciate all the long term partnership
you've met. Thanks, Derek. Glad you could be here today.
You bet. Happy to.
Yeah. So let's get on with the updates from the State Library. And Aaron, even though you're about to head out for new new ground here, but maybe you want to give us a least last update for this from the State Library perspective.
So I will let Mala do all of the fun telehealth and all of that side of things, I will take just a second to say that there's yet another job opportunity to share this morning. The Connect Arizona project is hiring digital navigators. So we are looking to hire a few more people to join that team. So if you know anyone who might be looking for more part time work, we have probably at least a couple of positions, I don't know range and in time commitment. And so it's a good side gig for people who are interested in helping folks navigate in all of this digital ways that we can do now. So I just dropped a link to that. And
before you move on, can you explain a little more about those positions and what the job entails?
Time? Yes, of course. So um, connect Arizona is a project of the State Library, it is funded through our IMLS funding. And we provide digital navigation services to anyone across the state, the people who do the work are all remote. And so they also are all over the state, which is pretty awesome. Because they really do get to know both the statewide resources of the libraries as well as their local resources. And right now we're looking, we kind of have a set number of hours that we're trying to fill. So it's not necessarily a certain number of positions, but it kind of depends on what people are available to to work. But it will likely be either a 10 hour a week position or a 20 hour a week position. So it fits into other work. Most of our folks either do this work just this work or also work for our libraries. However, that's not necessarily the only type of person that we'd be interested in hiring. And so basically, what these folks do is they take calls from clients all over the state who need help, either doing tech troubleshooting, or accessing resources online to the library. They do a lot of help with folks who are applying for ACP and other government subsidies. So we help them you know, with with the process for that, you know, a lot of folks who are applying for these don't have the skills to go online and fill out a form. And so really, it's it's that aspect of it that we're able to help with. We also around Affordable Internet, and devices that will fit their needs. Really it's a one stop shop for all of that. We also have access through the Connect Arizona site to various learning platforms, including everything that the libraries offer, of course, but also Northstar digital literacy. And so even if folks don't need don't need that hands holding type of repeated interaction from the digital navigators, they can also use the site to, to do self guided learning as well. And so the job is basically, you know, answering calls as they come in and researching solutions for, for the folks who are calling, doing that, troubleshooting, and really building relationships with people, that's really key to the digital navigator model, you know, we are they're not just you know, a call center, you know, that you only call in once, and you never talk to that person again. But really, we have a lot of folks who call in, you know, week after week asking for a specific navigator, because they've built that relationship with them. So it's really a great, a great way to approach digital inclusion. And so, to that end, we are looking to hire a couple more folks, you know, it's going to be, obviously, basic to intermediate troubleshooting, and digital literacy skill building. And so you have to be at that level yourself, of course, and able to, to help folks navigate, you know, it's really kind of, you know, it changes with every customer. So it's not like there's a standard, you know, answer that we give or anything like that. So just being able to really figure out what the client's need is, is super important. And so, the contact, you know, for folks to submit resumes to will be Meghan, my supervisor at the State Library. And then you know, the, the interview process will happen after the position closes. And depending on how many applicants we get, sometimes we extend these, but right now it's set to expire on the 30th of November. So if you know anyone who's looking for some additional part time, work, or maybe you know, a student or something like that, that would have those tech skills, and just need, you know, a little bit of a buffer for for position, this would be a great thing for them. So I will leave all of the other fun updates to other folks on my team, who will be around to answer your questions on Monday. Thank you.
Thank you, for all the great work you did at the library. And of course, we're looking for that great kind of work. As you move over to ACA.
I'm looking forward to it and you won't you won't lose me. I don't know if I'll make every meeting but I would, you know, I plan to obviously stay in this group. And, you know, what Sandip said is so true. It's like, kind of the same position just from a different email address. Right. So I am looking forward to that. You can't get rid of me that easily. Steve?
Are you gonna still continue to do all your promotion for libraries?
Oh, of course. I mean, I would I not, you know, I got a tattoo. I'm gonna keep talking about libraries.
So Mala you're up,
we are so glad that Erin is going to support us from ACA. Thank you, Erin.
can you introduce yourself, please? Sorry.
I'm Mala Muralidharan and the state rate administrator for public libraries. I work with the libraries to get them eat reimbursements for their internet and internal connections. Erin, thank you for first speaking about the positions that are available for navigators couple of very important skills that they need, other than the tech skills, of course, is patience and customer care. Because you know, some of the people who call in the repeat customers, sometimes you got to keep repeating the same instructions over and over and over and over again. So you know, that it's important that we have people who have that kind of patience and customer handling skills. So hopefully, we can find some some folks who can fill the role of that position. So as far as my updates go, I'll try to keep it brief in the interest of time. I was at SHLB the 11th annual conference. And there were a diversity of speakers. They're talking about broadband accessibility, affordability, availability, and simplifying the E Rate program we had FCC folks attend as well and they listen to all our voices as well as some of our happiness at the fact that the FCC is now fully staffed, at least the commissioners are in place. So they were able to pass some of the things that were priorities, the Learn Without Limits that Jessica Rosenworcel had planned and spoken About at our ala gathering she was one of the keynote speakers had three parts to it Wi Fi on school buses, hotspot lending from schools and libraries through the E Rate program and cybersecurity. Now the Wi Fi on school buses is at the rulemaking phase. So they are they still we have to determine what you know, services and what equipment will be eligible, like Access Point technology and any other you know, antenna or what else is needed on the school buses to access the internet. And this will be added to the eligible services list because it's going to be available for the 2024 25 cycle. Cybersecurity and hotspot lending from libraries and schools are still under the preliminary you know rulemaking proposal to be put out for comments. It should come out soon. So we're waiting for that as well. The hotspot lending for was done through the ECF program $7.17 billion that were designed that were designated for schools and libraries to loan to their students as well as to the library patrons. And since it was so highly successful, this is another this is a project that has been considered but not through special funding but through funding through E Rate. So let's see how that goes. I know Nicole talked about the the letter of credit we are very happy that NTIA did issued the programmatic waiver for the letter of credit requirements. The last thing that I'd like to talk about is our telehealth and tribal program program we had on November 2 we had at the hockey puck Casino. The triber broadband program focused on telehealth our session had three of us that you are very familiar with. Cindy Hogan spoke about ACP adoption in Arizona. Candice Amanda, from ACA from the wonderful ACA team sport she's the tribal liaison spoke about broadband connectivity and funding for tribes. And I spoke about AC public libraries and the telehealth service services that we introduced in Pima County and a Tuba City Public Library. Pre we spoke about the pre and post I spoke about the pre and post COVID. situation as far as telehealth in libraries, and there was a lot of interest from from the attendees who emailed me after the session. We didn't have time for questions at that time. But there was interest and they emailed us for telehealth services in their own communities, especially because it doesn't have to be just at the libraries. Right now it is at the libraries because we have good connectivity at our libraries. But if the broadband the beat plan is put into effect, then many of the other community anchor institutions would also have good connectivity and the libraries could loan out the medical kits to them. Long term short term however, the library decides to do it for them to have the telehealth service at their centers as well. I think that I've also got another
program coming up, I'll put the link after I'm done talking in TNC trc. That is another telehealth Resource Center webinar on the 16th of November at 12 o'clock.
And I think Shelby has a webinar that I will also post in the chat on Wi Fi for school buses. It's a webinar talking about what how it would benefit the students. Thank you back to you, Steve, unless there are any questions.
So as you all know, Mala is a superstar and has been recognized shall be once you get away without that moment, specifically been recognized by the CEO for Shelby for her participation in Shelby over the years, and her contribution to Shelby so Thank you for all that work also of Mala. You've been really great and being able to keep us up to date on a lot of the federal legislation and what's happening with that. So you've really been great from that perspective. So appreciate that.
Thank you steam at all.
This is Mark, I did post a link to the Arizona telemedicine programs, telehealth and library webinar on November 16.
Thank you Mark, you beat me to it.
Okay, any questions or comments for Mala before we move on? I don't believe Holly's online today. And Janet major isn't here. She had sent me a couple of weeks and I'll send those out with my newsletter. And Karina is not here. She's still just back back to work here. Cindy, you want to give us a quick update?
Sure. I'm Cindy Hogan, I'm the chair of the Arizona Digital Inclusion network short, short version is Aiden. And where we meet every second Thursday, we have a meeting on November 16. And I will put all the information to contact me in the chat. And our next meeting. It's interesting that Mignon brought up public information because we decided that we're going to start looking at a public awareness initiative, start brainstorming exactly what was said earlier about ways that we can we can let the communities know what's going on in the world of digital inclusion. And what how we're how we're all impacted by the digital divide. And I we're going to have a couple of brainstorming sessions starting that Thursday, the November 16. So if anybody would like to attend those meetings, you can you can get in touch with me that information that I put in the chat. It's really I liked the idea that was raised that we need to bring this thing into common common language so that everyone can understand what we're talking about. And I also think it's important, we have a lot of funding coming in from from the federal government, but it's not going to cover everything and we need to we need to be convincing our community leaders that that continued funding sustainable programs are going to be necessary in order to bridge the digital divide in Arizona. So that's what we're focusing on along with preparing to to review the digital equity plan that it sounds like comes out on December 11. So this is a really busy time for this community. And I'm really glad to be here with all of you and I there's a lot of really, really good work being done in Arizona.
You bet. Okay, thank you, Sandy. So, Rory, I don't Why are you here today? No, don't think I saw Rory today. And my islands not here. So I think we're done with all of our updates. So any questions, comments, thoughts, anything else that people want to share?
I'm Steve mark again. So earlier in the chat, I did post a link to Kurt Bush's Big Data Southwest Conference coming up on December, the 12th and 13th. In good year. It's a golf day on the 12th and a day long conference. Many of our cohort have attended in the past. I think this is the fourth time he's holding it. And there is a 50% discount code for ATI c and a c BSN. It's in the chat. Okay.
Anything else anybody has? So as you know, we do. Do our kibitzing after this meeting. It's just an informal thing. We stopped recording and if anybody wants to stay online, we'll stay on line for a few minutes and if not, we'll be done for today. Thank you all for being here today. And we'll hopefully see you next week. Of course we're not going to meet for a
