June 20 2024 AZBSN Digital Access Task Force Recording

7:45PM Jun 20, 2024

Speakers:

Steve Peters

Cindy Hogan

Ilana Lowery

Nicole Umayam

Erin Lorandos

Lucy Howell

Henry Goldberg

Megan Hammond

David Krassa

Peter Costa

Anthony Constantini

Bill D'Agostino

Walt Mangum

Strider Denison

Andrew Schwartzberg

Tabatha Peden

Demian Kolff

Amelia De Jesus

Nicholas Capozzi

Marco Rivas

Keywords:

broadband

arizona

t mobile

program

hotspot

industry

schools

hear

digital

folks

working

bead

state

workforce

marco

community

bill

training

amelia

equity

All right. Okay, good morning everybody. Glad to see you again. So I'm going to have to tell you to start joining the meeting at 10 minutes instead of 10 minutes after but that's alright

second so

that's people joining in so I'm gonna take another minute

okay, well let's get started and oops, this here Okay, so good morning everybody. But we got a couple of really interesting presentations this morning. So want to make sure we have plenty of time for that and any updates that we need to know about. So as always want to thank our sponsors about Valley Telecom Group CareFirst healthplan Kajeet Triad Wireless and Karen Ziegler consulting services. So do we have well I know we have several new people this morning. Let me see you we got here

so Strider would you like to introduce yourself, please?

Good morning. My name is straighter, Dennison. I am the senior vice president Sales and Marketing for week on fiber.

Great. Well, I'm glad you're here. I actually tried to get a hold of you folks. To do a presentation. The group had never gotten a response back from you guys. So let's, let's talk. Yeah, well,

I'll be your guy that you'd want to follow up with. And thank you to Elena for for the invite. So I'm looking forward to being a part of your guys's council or committee.

Great. Thanks, Strider. I'll be in touch with you, Amelia. We're going to introduce you later. Andrew Schwartzberg, would you introduce? Introduce yourself please?

Andrew, are you there? Well, maybe he'll be back. Can you hear me? Oh, I can hear you.

Okay, sorry about that. Probably audio. Yeah. I'm Andrew Schwartzberg, and I'm the Grants Manager at Rio Salado College. And Heather Tyler had forwarded me the invite to see what this is all about. So thank you for having me. Great.

As you may have heard me comment earlier we were we've been over Rio Salado many years, doing lots of great events over there. Guys took great care of us. Excellent. And let's see who else we have. That's new. David crassa. You Kevin been here for a while. You want to introduce yourself real quick.

Are you there?

Maybe he'll be back. I'm sorry. Can you? Yeah, now we can hear you.

Hey, everybody. David Carozza, innovation project manager over at City of Mesa, Internet of Things public Wi Fi, smart city. All those fun things get to be.

You guys are doing great stuff over there. And Damian will introduce you in just a little while. If we have anybody else that's new that I missed. Anybody else? Miss this morning? Tabitha, could you introduce yourself, please?

Sure. As I said, I'm Tabatha Peden. I'm with Rio Salado College. I myself also was invited by Heather Taylor. I'm looking forward to her team and hopefully becoming a regular face here. Great.

So you guys are here in force today.

We we are kind of building a new little team together. So we're kind of helping each other out and see where we can reach out and take on some projects.

Sounds great. Thank you. And I think that's everybody that's new. Did I miss anybody that's new today. Okay, so let's just jump into our agenda this morning. Aaron, you want to do a quick update on what's happening with the Broadband office please?

Sure thing. My name is Erin Lorandos and the Digital Equity program manager at the Arizona Commerce Authority. And I just have to say I'm so glad that that conversation with Heather was so fruitful because it seems like we just doubled the numbers here because of a shortcut. Yeah, it's fantastic. Um, so not a ton to report from the Broadband office, you know, we are still closing out the challenge process as folks are aware, preparing to, you know, roll up all of what we found out and send that over to NTIA for their approval, probably still shooting for like the beginning of next month to do that. So we're right on track with all of that. Not a ton on the Digital Equity side, either, as this group may remember, we have submitted our capacity grant application and are just waiting to go through the process of approval for that. And then as soon as balls start rolling, we will be able to share more about the various work that will come up next. So if there are any questions for me, I'd be happy to take those otherwise, thanks as always for the opportunity.

So Aaron, can you I know you've done this probably several times for us. But can you again, just give us a quickie update about the process of where you are with the subgrantee application process, please?

Um, well, for both BEAD and Digital Equity right now we're kind of waiting, you know, we're in this gray area, just because things need to be approved before we can move on to the next steps. So for the BEAD process, you know, the the challenge process will create the maps that the sub grantees will ultimately be, you know, bidding on if you will, we're applying for in those, those project areas. But we have to wait for volume two to be approved before we can move further down that path. For the D side of things kind of the same deal. We we're in a waiting process right now with NTIA before we can really dive into the next steps of that process too. So most most subgrantee processes will kick off officially in the fall and between now and then we will be able to share more as more comes to light.

Thank you, Aaron, of course. Okay, moving on. So I don't think he made it this morning yet. But I spoke to Nick Capozzi, who is with the governor's office, he is, at least for now is is taking Maggie ferries place and dealing with Broadband related issues. And so he was going to try to make it this morning. And when he is available. We will introduce him to you and he'll give you kind of an update on what what the next plans are. So he's not but he's apparently not here yet today. Nicole, want to give us a quick update what's happened with NTIA and introduce yourself, please?

Sure. Hi, everybody. I'm Nicola, my mum, the federal program officer with NTIA, I'm the grant administrator for the BEAD and Digital Equity Act programs in Arizona, and also a liaison between all of our stakeholders here and the federal government and I get to work with the Broadband office, which is one of my favorite parts of the job. See if I don't really have updates, as Erin mentioned, it's because all of us are heads down in reviews of the BEAD initial proposals and the Digital Equity capacity grants. So when the next NOFO or Notice of Funding Opportunity that we're awaiting is the competitive grant for Digital Equity. That one is still going to be released soon. But you know, there's not much we can share publicly about that one yet.

Okay, thank you. Aaron, you made a few added announcement about Yavapai County. You want to just note that quickly. Oh

sure. Um, so apologies for going back out of order. But on Monday, up in Yavapai County, Cory Christian's is hosting a Digital Equity event that kind of kicks off the local planning for Yavapai County. And so he did ask that we share out that information. So I apologize for missing that, that there's a flyer in the in the chat for folks who are interested.

Thank you, Erin. And I will share faces on there. I will share that that flyer when I send out my next newsletter. So anyway, so Elena, do you want to give us a quick update? I understand. But I won't be here this morning. It was give us a quick update. Anything new and different with ACP or anything else? real

well? Yeah. So I'm Ilana Lowery. I work with Brenna at Common Sense Media. And we basically create and try to create a safe and healthy and equitable digital world for kids and families. So that's, that's largely who we are. We do a lot of advocacy work. round those areas. So sadly, we think the Cantwell bill is dead. Unfortunately, they canceled the commerce markup on our the commerce hearing it. The committee last week or gag was supposed to be less, I think Thursday. So the Department of Defense still has concerns over the spectrum auction provisions in the Cantwell bill. So all the attention now appears to be shifting to the Luhan advance bipartisan bill, which is Senate Bill 4317, if anybody wants to look that up, and that would provide $6 billion UCP funding, with a more limited spectrum auction provision, the goal is to try to get 60 votes to support that bill. And there are seven Republican co sponsors so far. So if you have the ability or the opportunity to reach out to your legislative leaders, now would be a good time. It's not looking really good folks. So sadly, there's nothing good to report.

Thank you all, you know, anybody have anything else I want to add to that? Okay, moving on, just a reminder that most of the stuff that you hear about will be links and contacts. Contact information will be a follow up newsletter. So you can check on things as as you need to. So there are lots of activities, and I included many of them in the newsletter, but I wanted to highlight just a couple of things. Just a reminder, that next week, June 26, there'll be a workforce outreach Summit, building southern Arizona's workforce talent pipeline, from nine to 130, at the Frederick coast to Job Corps Center, and I do have that in the newsletter. And if you're interested in attending, you need to contact Vaughn Croft, there is no online registration. So you have to contact Vaughn Prof. And give him a call. Next thing is on the 25th. Is your community ready for BEAD. The webinar will catch everyone on the basic catch us catch up on the basics. Now the BEAD program on rules in Arizona, presented by the Arizona Regional Economic Development Foundation, Arizona Broadband for all, and the Center for rural innovation. The next thing which I personally, you've heard me talk many times about the Arizona economic recovery resource centers. They're having a foundation funding workshop, excuse me, on June the 26th. And again, that information and link is in my newsletter. And then next. Peter, you want to give us a quick announcement about the workshop you're doing?

Sure, thanks. So next month, we are gonna introduce yourself. Oh, yes. So Peter Costa, I'm the CEO and co founder of Baltic technologies. We're a local startup. And we're a social impact company with a mission to connect community industry and education through upskilling and training. So with that next month, we are have we got some funding from Jobs for the Future, and ASU. And we're going to be holding a free fiber optic training program at the downtown Mesa library. So the way the program works is we have a online platform that individuals are going to be going through kind of a self paced learning and it's aligned with Fiber Optic Association standards. At the end of at the end of each week, there are in person hands on modules. So we have an employer partner that comes in, does training, we're gonna be going any everywhere from safety, cable prep, cable splicing, testing, termination. And at the end, everybody gets guaranteed interviews with our employer partners. So we're still accepting applications. So I posted a link where people can learn more about the program. And it's totally free. And we're planning on rolling these out really anywhere not only across the state. So these are what we call a pop up classrooms. That can be done in rural areas. But we're also looking at putting them in different parts. Cross Country. So really just around increasing access to a lot of the available training?

Peter, do you want to talk about at all? Any partners that you're looking for community colleges libraries? Obviously, you're you have a partnership already with Mesa Public Library. Do you want to talk about that at all?

Yeah, really, it's we engage with any community partner. So this could be community college or high school, a nonprofit, we have one group, that's a second a fair chance hiring group, they want to have the training at their offices. And so we're, you know, it's a number, it's really around getting access to the different folks that want access to training. And then, and then employer partners. So if you're looking, if you're an employer and want to start building a pipeline, we can help host these trainings at your facility or at other areas. There's some grant funding that we're applying for, where we'd be able to cover the stipend of like your equipment or material. And, and then at the end, just really getting a kind of group of employers that want to provide guaranteed interviews for anyone that completes the program. So employer partners are what we're looking for, and community partners, and then anybody else that wants to share this with their network. So we, we just posted, like a little, a little post, I think two days ago, we already have about 15 people signed up, that are really interested. So I think there's a lot of people that want these jobs, it's just kind of creating these new pathways for them to get get the training that they need.

Right. Thanks, Peter. And just a reminder that this issue has become a top priority issue, particularly in the BT space, as we're trying to roll out kind of rolling out all these networks and connectivity, that we need people who are going to be trained in the with the skills. And so Peter has been doing some innovative kinds of things, has some great partnerships. But it's an important top priority for for the state. So thank you, Peter.

Thanks, Steve, for the opportunity.

So moving on, let me just check and see who's joined here real quickly.

Really quickly, while you do that, Steve, quick question for Pete. So you know, kind of offering of that down here in southern Arizona. It's really kind of a mesa library thing right now, but I'm hearing you say that if there was a partner down here, like chemotherapy or radiation or something like that, the ones that help host a training, you would come down and do it. Yeah,

yeah, actually, I'm meeting with Bryan Carter right now, at Dunbar center. So we're looking at doing one of these maybe at Dunbar? Oh,

that'd be amazing. I just didn't event on Friday at Dunbar as the as the mother of a 21 year old who chooses not to engage in higher ed right now, just because of the cost benefit on that right now, this is an amazing opportunity for these kinds of 18. So no skills needed, and show up and then a hungry job market because people are really looking to ramp up on them.

Yeah, that's and we have, we just did one with an aerospace. So we had about 20 kids at a Tolleson High School. They're seniors, they completed the program, 10 of them wanted to go to Honeywell. And basically nine went and got interviewed and all nine got hired at Honeywell aerospace. So we're doing it with semiconductor advanced manufacturing. looking at data center technicians right now, kind of any, any skilled technician positions, and then we have on our platform, once people get hired, we have the ability for them to continue to get up skilled and trained. When they're on on the job. And then we're working with some local community colleges and universities to start actually deliver more of these university and college level courses to folks when they're at work. And so that they're getting industry recognized certifications. college credits are really trying to help employers increase their retention, reduce turnover, increase there. You know,

I think your perfect partner down here is aviation. So I mean, if you're not talking to them, let's make that connection. You guys should host down here. Okay,

yeah, let's chat more offline. There's some folks I'm chatting with. But if there's any new people totally open with that, so thank you,

Peter. Just Just FYI. I've been in conversation with Pima Community College, and unfortunately one of their people who is going to take a lead and looking at some Digital Equity issues. I could not be here this morning. But she's definitely interested in getting involved. And I've been talking to her about some of the training programs and things and how people might be able to get involved with this stuff. So I'll definitely follow up with you. Thanks.

Okay. Thanks, everybody. I appreciate your support. And it's where it takes a team and takes a whole village to do this stuff. So

thanks. Hey, so I'm gonna move on. We've got a couple of presentations this morning. So I need to check in with Amelia and Bill, and Damien and Marcos. Do any of you guys have to be out of here, like ASAP? Or can I just pick some place to start?

Yeah, I'm sorry. I have to be up at nine. So I have another half hour. Okay.

All right. Well, why don't we? Why don't we go ahead and get started with the wireless infrastructure Association. And many of you have met Bill before bill, I guess, the Augustino, who was president of eagle's wings, but is actively involved with the wireless infrastructure Association. And he is has arranged to have Amelia De Jesus is that, that I pronounce it correctly?

That's close enough. Okay.

She is the WA vice president of Workforce Solutions. So I'm going to turn it over to them. And I believe, Amelia that you have a presentation that you want to share. So I'm going to stop sharing and turn it over to you.

I want to share right now.

Last can actually see this? Got it. Okay, perfect. Well,

why don't you kind of start us off talking about why and then I will talk specifically around Workforce Solutions.

Yep, happy to do it. Steve, thanks for the opportunity. And everyone. It's great to have a chance to tell you a little bit more about wha wha is the wireless infrastructure Association. We are the industry representative of more than 250 companies that make up the wireless Broadband infrastructure ecosystem across the country. You can think about our members as the businesses that develop, build, own and operate Broadband infrastructure. Our companies include wireless carriers, the infrastructure providers, professional service firms, and overall, the companies that we represent, collectively own more than 135,000 telecommunication facilities around the world. We really focus on public affairs that support the industry, advocacy for a you know a number of things that facilitate growth in the wireless space. And we really have a core capability of workforce development and training and education that we roll out at the state, local and federal level. Amelia is going to talk to you a lot more about some of those things that we do. And we have a couple of models that I think are very strong possibilities to support the workforce efforts in Arizona as well. So thank you again for the chance to share about what wha does. And Amelia, I'll hand it to you.

So as Steve introduced, I've been in the industry here for over 25 years really focused on deployments are across the country have played roles at the carrier have played roles and the infrastructure provider and also service provider everything from real estate to site Act Two construction. And then last year joined wha because they were focused on workforce and making sure that we had a ready capable workforce, especially with all of this federal funding coming about. I will tell you having been in the industry for the length of time I've seen where, you know, projects have stalled out pending permits. We've had Belize for crews moving from one project to the next because they follow the money and so So with all of this federal funding, my my fear is that we're not going to have the labor resources, that skilled and ready to deploy all of these networks and will have not only a shortage of crews and folks jumping to the highest dollar amount, which means, you know, supply and demand cost of labor will be more extensive. But we also anticipate concerns with quality and standards. And really, as Bill talked about wi and our commitment to make sure that we ensure all Americans have access to Broadband. While we do that, through a lot of advocacy, we're focused on workforce development. About 10 years or so ago, the federal government came to Wi Fi as an association and said help. We don't have formal training in the industry. We have tower fires, we have folks pulling off towers, we need standards, quality and industry validated training. That's why Wi Fi created their telecommunications Education Center, and got really involved in workforce to be able to support the deployment of Broadband across the country. So within our Wi Fi Workforce Solutions, we have what we call three pillars, we have the telecommunications industry registered apprentice program. And in fact, Thai rap was registered with the Department of Labor as a national sponsor since 2017. So we're a competency based program. It's a registered apprenticeship program. Add to update this slide, we're up to 105 employer sponsors across the country, we've got over 4000 apprentices. But the cool thing is we have over 16, apprentice occupations that are approved. And as Peter reference data, Senate technicians, Peter, that's actually the 16 apprenticeship that we got approved through the Department of Labor that can now be used in specific states, even within states that have a state apprenticeship program, because through reciprocity, we can make sure that there's on the job training that aligns with these occupations so that folks can continue to grow their careers. I touched on the telecommunications Education Center, we have over 30 courses. And I didn't I didn't mention this at the very beginning. But when we think about deploying Broadband as much as wireless is in our name, we think about workforce from the perspective of the entire industry, because we know that we need a mix of Broadband technologies to actually make sure we're bridging the digital divide. So similarly, whereas tie wrap might include a fiber optic technician or Broadband technician, overhead underground technician. Our courses also include not just wireless courses that have courses around fiber optics, installations, Wi Fi, gas, in building and so forth. And I won't I won't go into a lot of details, I know we have limited time, I'll definitely be able to share this deck. So you can see more about the EdTech. Programming the curriculum that's offered. One thing I'd like to note is that are offering while we have in person courses, we also have online and e learning, because what we found is you have to meet people where they are. And frankly, you've got folks that may have a job that want to rescale upskill, or some of them are underemployed where, you know, they may have childcare concerns, elderly concerns, and they want to be able to take some of these courses. So we offer them online through elearning LMS. And we found that that's been helpful to help in addition to the wraparound services, to provide a training education. And then the last pillar within our Workforce Solutions. You know, as a government contractor, we work very closely with federal government and states, we're wanting to make sure as the goal is to bridge this digital divide across the United States. We work very closely with states to help them put together their plan, implement their plan. And what we found is ideally, the first step of that is really identifying what the needs are, whether it's labor needs, what the skill gaps look like. And then we bring industry together to make sure that we're aligning what the industry actually needs, and then a solution for that via training and education. The other key thing and I think, Peter, back to what you said in terms of you know, making sure that people are aware about these training and getting them engaged. What we've found is that, you know, sometimes telecom is the best kept secret folks know their cell phone, but they don't know anything behind the scenes and In terms of careers that are available in our industry, or even around our industry, so we've been spending a lot of time making sure that we're increasing career awareness and industry awareness. So we can really entice whether it's, you know, young folks, or incarcerated population, underemployed unemployed, to join the industry and take advantage of some of the training and education to join this workforce that we so desperately need. So that's basically in a nutshell, any questions. What I also wanted to share, you know, as Arizona is so focused on making sure that they think and include the tribal nations and diversity, we've been spending a lot of time with the state of Ohio eating this sector partnership, we've also been working very closely with Vermont to expand out their apprenticeship. So our hope is that we can partner with Arizona and his team here to make sure that we are very aligned on providing not just really high paying and good jobs, but careers so that Arizona residents can really have these careers that expand to take them into that 21st century and grow their economic.

Great, Amelia, can you stop sharing, please? What's your have anything more to share? No.

Stop share. So let me change this real quickly.

I want to be mindful of time. So I didn't go through the entire back. I just touched on things that I think would be very pertinent to the attendees on the call, but I can absolutely share the deck. And if folks, you know, please feel free to ask them.

Okay, so. So Bill, maybe you want to talk? I know you you asked me the other day. So what are all these different groups? I'm going all these different meetings and stuff. So can you talk just a little bit about, you know, where, where you're involved with here in Arizona? And what can we do to help get you connected? You and Amelia connected to things happening here in Arizona?

Sure. Well, first of all, thanks for the help. And in that area. You know, as I've been joining and listening to multiple different calls, I reached out to Steve and said, I just need a little help understanding the lay of the land here. And it was very, very helpful. You know, of course, the ACBS en, you know, this, this session is one that I've been participating in for a while. And then there is the at ICE See, which is the many of you are familiar with. And as I understand it, that is the kind of overarching organization that as AZ BSN spun out of, I'm also going to be attending the workforce session next week to try and learn a little bit more and meet a few more people there. And my goal is just to help the WNBA and to help the state, you know, be aware of the resources that the wireless infrastructure Association has available, and to partner with the organizations that are interested in some of the material that we have, and just to kind of find our way through that process.

Hey, thank you. Thank you, Bill. Any questions for Bill? Obviously, it will be helpful if you've got connections with with different organizations around the state to help spread the word and how to get in contact with Bill. Yeah, so have you got other questions for Bill? Or Amelia before we move on?

Is there is there someone in the state that's putting together a description of the needs for the deployment from various companies is that being organized in in the state of Arizona?

eBay is not currently engaged for that specific task at this point. But I have spent some time with Sandeep sharing with him some of what the other states are working on and how we're approaching it. So I know we're going to continue those conversations because a Gan that I see that as one of the first steps in identifying what the specific needs of the states are, before we can then work on what the solutions might be.

Yeah, and I would add, Aaron, you know, we we've been just, you know, observing and watching where we are in terms of the process that you update us on, you know, each week. It feels like it's a little early for us until you are through with approval of volume two, but I suspect that a lot of these things will start to come forward once Volume Two is approved. And so that's why we're just trying to stay as closely connected as we can now.

Yeah, you hit it right on the head bill, I think you know, a lot of this is just not quite there yet. And so as we move through the summer months and get closer to the fall, I'm sure a lot will kind of fall into place. And that's about all I can say. Because as this group knows, we do have an open RFP for some of these pieces as far as BEAD is concerned. So thank you for for that.

Yeah.

So anything else? From bill or Amelia?

Yeah, thank you very much.

Appreciate you being here. So I'm going to backtrack a little bit, I see Nick, that you've joined us. So Nick Capozzi with the governor's office has joined us. And many of you know that they had been holding a number of workgroups, one of which was workforce development. And this was been a topic of discussion for that group, although Nick is new to that process, but anything. So Vic Vic, you want to introduce yourself real quickly? And anything else you want to share about that whole process?

Sure. Thanks, Steve Nick Capozzi, good to recognize a lot of your names on here. I'm currently in operation advisor in the governor's office, I've been with the governor's office for about three years now, working kind of behind the scenes with a lot of Broadband things. So you know, grant compliance, federal funding, etc, but happy to start enjoying these conversations and, you know, engage with all of you and making sure that the success of our office is the success of all of you and getting all these households connected to Broadband, with all these abundance of programs that we have. So really appreciate it, Steve, thanks for keeping these going. And organizing. It's a great group of people on these calls. And we really look forward to continuing momentum on here. Thanks.

Thanks for joining us this morning, Nick. And I think I asked you and I don't might want to put you on the spot about what's next for the workshops that that Maggie was coordinating.

Yes. So we are working closely with the commerce authority to make sure that those continue in some fashion. Most likely, they're going to be spearheaded by the commerce authority being the the Broadband office in the state. The governor's office will be a part of those. But you know, we feel at this point, it's probably makes the most sense for the Broadband office to kind of have all angles of stakeholder engagement. So they'll be spearheading those. I think I see Aaron on the call here, Sandeep and Kelly Crecy, who is the Community Engagement Manager at the Broadband office will be spearheading those calls. So we definitely want to keep those going. We saw they were very valuable and heard that a lot of you found value in them as well. So look forward to continuing those and check your emails coming here in the next coming weeks on when the next meeting is going to be.

Hey, thanks, Nick. And thanks for being here this morning. Appreciate it's good to get get acquainted with you. So where did my T Mobile people go? Oh, there you are Marco. Marco and Damion. So, I don't know, I'll leave it to you guys about who wants to kind of lead off Glasser here. I think it'll be very helpful to hear about this $10 million program. How we can help and relate it to that. And and Damian is the kind of K 12 Education person or T Mobile and Marco was more on the corporate side. But for both of you were as you talk today is how can just the same question I just asked earlier is how can we help? I know you reach out but you know you you reach out to schools and stuff, but it may or may not get to other people that need to know about it. So we want to hear both from you. ultraview about, you know, kind of what outreach you've been doing and what and how we might be able to help. So with that, I'll leave it to whoever wants to take the lead. Sure.

I'll go ahead and start off. Marco and I do work hand in hand. We're partners here in Arizona. And so we pretty much take care of everything together. I do handle the schools primarily in the K through 12. Space. I have a little presentation, just like five slides. They pop that up real fast, and then I'll hand it over to Marco for him to kind of talk a little bit. Make sure you can see my screen here. See the little girl with a? Yep, yep. Okay, fantastic. So project 7 million was a project that TMobile came up with in 2020. To kind of help bridge that digital divide. You know, currently, we have approximately 56 million households with children, nearly 15% of the households that do not have internet currently. So with this, with these statistics, we knew that there was some issues and we wanted to help, you know, bridge that divide so that everybody has the same opportunity to succeed, you know, in the schools. Our commitment, you know, so far has been about $10.7 billion commitment and internet access to this program. Right now, we're at about 7 million out of the 10 million that we wanted to achieve. So we're so so far, so good, we're getting you know, getting there slowly, but surely, and the houses that are eligible, get up to 100 gigabytes of free internet per year. And I'll kind of explain what that gets you here in a second. These are the different, you know, programs that are available with the project 10 million, they it is a free hotspot with that free hotspot, they get 100 gigabytes per year, if that ends up not being enough, which I'll explain here on the next slide. There are other programs that they can just for $12 a month, get, you know, an extra 100 gigabytes or for the $15 a month get unlimited. Now nice thing about these hotspots is it isn't limited just to that child that has that hotspot at home, this also provides Internet access for that whole family, you know, so if the whole family needed internet access, you know, this, this also helps them, which is a nice benefit also. So our mission is to help you know is to help, like I said, rejected by the womb kind of just goes over that same thing. So this kind of gives you an idea of what that 100 gigabytes of free data can give you it's 140 hours of streaming school videos, 320 hours of online virtual learning 5000 hours of internet search search time, and also 200 hours of college, you know, test prep time. If this is you know, for the average student that's just using it on their own, this is usually enough, if the whole family is using it, they might consider one of those other packages, which are very affordable $12 or, or the $15 package that UPS their hours and time. This so there's schools that are eligible are typically Title One schools, which I'm sure most of you are familiar with that they're the ones that are also the ones that have the free free lunch programs. Those are also. So they're the schools that are in the most need. So these are the ones that you know, everybody, excuse me, has their you know, there's the there's the kids that are out in the suburbs, or out in the more rural areas that don't have the internet. And those are the ones that we're trying to reach to make sure that everybody has some connectivity. Pretty much. And so basically what we're doing to reach out to people is like you said, we reached out to the schools, I reached out to him on a daily basis, we have approximately, I think about 100 schools in Arizona currently that are using this program. And we you know, we have plenty of space for more. And that's what we're doing currently. I know that you and I Steve also talked about the library hotspot program and Marco can talk to that point a little bit because that's not directed directly at schools. That's a little bit more towards the public. Well, let him kind of take off with that one for a minute.

Definitely really appreciate it. It's good to see some of the names on here. But a few of you know me from a previous because uniform I used to wear when when I was young my career with my previous employer, where I was blessed enough to be able to take about six months off and really look around and see what else was there for me to do in the industry of giving a joy to industry. And T Mobile just made absolute sense it man they are really passionate about giving back to the community. And that's something that really spoke to me. Project chameleon right that Damon just went over. The nice thing, right is that the parents can apply for it themselves. It's not just the schools that can apply. Right so most schools are going out at the at the school district level. They'll apply for it, depending on the percentage of folks that At either have free lunch or on SNAP or either there's a list of different programs you can be on, then we'll, we'll send the school the devices, and they'll pass them out to whoever is eligible. And it's good for five years. So we're not just doing one year, it's five years worth of free internet for the kids. But the parents themselves can actually apply. And that's why I'm working with with the library systems to see if we can have fliers out there so that the community can take advantage of this. Because I really want the community to take advantage of it if you metaphor we can do this. As long as you have a child that's in K through 12. That qualifies for different programs. The other thing, the other conversations I'm having with the with the library systems is, hey, a lot of library systems are on 4g, including T Mobile 4g, it gets you out of that, let's get to 5g. So we as a company made a commitment to deliver 5g nationwide in half, within a couple of projects. You know, just to share with you what that means 5g out there. We also have a an arm of the company that's called T Mobile foundation. We're doing what's called a hometown grants, it's $50,000 for any town or city that is 50,000 population or the West doesn't necessarily have to be technology. But you can apply for this, you know, we've paid for some amphitheaters, you know, to get read, done for the community get together and have music, festivals and whatnot. And so and some other technology based things as well. But the one thing that I really enjoy is I'm working with Brookfield actually haven't talked to Arizona just apply for it, we're waiting to get back, if they got the grant, what they're doing is deploying advanced similar to what I'm seeing with solar canopy, so that the kids can actually charge their devices while the playground and also delivering Wi Fi? How can you deliver Wi Fi or pillars on it? When you have a network like T Mobile delivery, 700 megabytes, that means you can do doesn't matter how many people are gonna be on the planet? It's a smaller part. Right in the nice thing about what really gets me excited about it is that community that's around it, it's a low income community. Right. So me, having conversations with the town manager and say, and also with parks, is, hey, how can we deliver Internet for free to these folks? So it's just talking through that right? Putting Wi Fi spot, you know, points throughout the sprint that would allow these folks who have three internet that normally would not have access to it. So those are some of the things that we're really excited about doing with the community. Obviously, T Mobile, everybody knows T Mobile. But I'll tell you what, if you haven't tried T Mobile in the last four or five months, you don't really know what T Mobile they want. You know, one thing that I work with, show local government, first responder agencies as well. It's working through the perception that there's another network is better than knowledge. And all I ask everybody is, hey, give me the opportunity. proofs in the pudding. Right? I'm pretty good about bringing out the dogs and the ponies and making them jump through hoops. But it's all about the proof in the pudding. So my goal always is to have folks try out try out our our network and put it up against anybody. Not only are we delivering really good services, it's I'm outside of the box thinking type of services. But we actually we care about the community. So that's one thing that really attracted me to working for this company is how much we're giving back to the community. It really makes it so don't want it to turn into a commercial. But if you have any questions at all, myself and Dana available, I work with city county agencies as well as versus funder agencies. But if you have any questions, if I'm not the one that's gonna be handling your account or working with you, I'll definitely find out what it is. And we'll have some unique conversations with you.

So Marco here we have a question from Walt. Walt says that he signed up online and never heard anything from anybody. Walt, can you expand on that a little bit? Was it for the project? 10 million that you signed up for? And you never heard from anybody? Is that what you're referring to?

Walter you there

Hi, can you hear me?

Gotcha now? Yep.

Go. Sorry about that. Yeah, I tried to our hotspots. They stopped working. We were getting them from a small third party venue. We had about 75 in the district. And then we had a we have a school that has more NSLP students that need more, but not too many more. We were hoping to get about 100 for our district, be very helpful. And I went on 10 million. I filled out the form on T mobile's website, but I never got any responses back so I don't know if there was a communication problem or what

they are they have a whole They have like a team of two that covers the whole country. Yeah, exactly. So now you have Marco and myself who handle Arizona, my territory is Arizona, New Mexico and part of South Texas. And so you're you've got our attention. And so now that we're talking about this, we'll definitely get on that and figure out exactly, so where are these hotspots actually through T Mobile already, and they're just not working any longer? Or these are somebody else's hotspots, and you're just trying to replace them?

Or trying to replace them. They were through a third party. I'm not exactly sure who the carrier is, because I'm new to the district, but I think it was rise. Okay. Well, what's your district? Sonoran schools, Sonoran

schools, alright, so so instead of, like, maybe us doing this while everybody else is listening, why don't they just get your info? And why? And then we'll just talk offline and get this straightened out. So southern schools, what's your phone number?

About a? I'll put it in the chat.

Perfect. And

I think I sent it. He's the person I spoke to you about.

Okay, so I have that in my email already. Maybe. Okay, I will look for that. Well, and then, sorry, Marco didn't mean to cut you off. Go ahead.

No, no, no, no worries. Well, number one, I apologize on behalf of T Mobile. I'm hoping to get back to you that's not acceptable. Make sure that we get what you call and get your squared away.

I appreciate it. Thanks, Steve, for helping me out with this. It's very important to my district. Awesome. And helpful.

So any questions or comments for Demien or Marco?

So Marco, I heard you mentioned FirstNet. Thanks for your service there. I was the first general manager at FirstNet back in the day, so appreciate what you're doing today for the communities as well. Steve, I just want to mention one thing, we put the deck in the chat so anybody wants to drag that down and it's there.

Okay.

And Marco and Damien. You guys are both in Tucson or Marco. You're up in Phoenix. And Damien. You're here in Tucson.

You got it. That's right.

I am all over the state. I mean, Kidner today, tomorrow, I'm gonna be where am I gonna be tomorrow? I think I'm gonna be in Flagstaff tomorrow. We have Tucson next week. I'm gonna drive 800 miles a week. No joke. I have all the rural Arizona, including some some big city.

You gotta you gotta just to drive all over all over the state.

Okay, well, I'm glad you guys finally made it. And we're glad to Glad to have you here today. And, you know, hopefully, if we can help you to get the word out to folks. Let me know what we can do to help. Absolutely. Okay, moving on.

So we're gonna I know I'm dropping off. So thanks for everybody's attention and time. And I look forward to speaking to you again soon. Thanks.

Thank you, sir. Yeah. So I know my was not here. She had a sore throat. Man. She had a conflicting meeting. Anthony, do you have anything with the State Library? And Megan, Megan Hammond, you guys have anything for the State Library?

Hey, Steve. Good to be here. Yeah, I just wanted to share really quick, that we have an opening with the Connect Arizona program for one of our digital navigator positions. So that is open right now. I'll go ahead and post a link to our posting for that position. And I'd love if anyone here can share that with folks that they think or would be interested. It's 20 hours a week. Or sorry, it's $20 an hour. 20 hours a week. And yeah, that's pretty much it. So please, share that with anyone you think would be interested.

Could you introduce yourself quickly, please?

Yeah, sorry. I'm Anthony Constantini, Digital Inclusion consultant with Arizona State Library.

Thanks. Now, can you imagine Do you have anything else?

I'm Megan Hammond I'm Library Development administrator. I just wanted to mention that next week is Arizona, not Arizona, the American Library Association Conference. And I will be presenting in San Diego with Nicole about and several others about the Digital Equity efforts in Arizona and how we have leveraged federal funding in the past to support this. So that will be week from Saturday.

Right. Okay, any other questions or comments? County Houston. Online. Thank you. Okay, any other announcements anybody has before we end for today?

My question for Bill was are your members individuals? Or are they business owners and industry sector people can an individual be a member so that they could have access to professional development?

Our industry members are the large folks like the T Mobile that were just on a call. So like T Mobile, Verizon AT and T, some of the operators. We also have infrastructure providers like American Tower, Crown Castle, vertical bridge, as well as some of the equipment manufacturers, for example, like Ericsson. So, again, our members are some of the larger companies. But when we think about workforce development, individuals are welcome to access our telecommunications Education Center website, and take courses individually, or some of the core curriculums that we have available. We also serve as some of the enterprise. So we may have organizations that come to us that want their teams to have foundational training or some more technical training, and we try to bulk and bundle the price so that there's a better offering, you know, so multiple people can can take the courses of courses are also offered at K through 12, Technical vocational two year, four year university systems as well. Does that answer the question?

Totally. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Cindy, do you have an announcement?

Sure. Good morning. I just wanted to introduce myself I haven't been able to get here. As often as I used to. I'm Cindy Hogan with the Arizona Digital Inclusion network. We're working to advance Digital Equity and inclusion across Arizona. And we meet twice a month on on Thursdays at noon. And we our meetings are for people who are doing Digital Inclusion work like teaching digital literacy or taking part in digital navigator systems or device refurbishing all the all the key things that help people get on and stay online once they once they actually have Broadband. And yeah, this this month and our recent work where we're kind of taking a cue from the Digital Equity plan implementation and doing a lot of kind of do a lot of outreach and partnership building for the grants coming up. We're also preparing for Digital Inclusion week, which is in October and trying to have some things that are happening across the state to still keep the Arizona informed about what Digital Inclusion is and how important it is not just to the individual people but to society at large. I think we're all impacted when when not everyone is online in a meaningful way, in the way that they need to be to take care of their lives. So that's the those are the things that we're working on. I'll put my email in the chat if anyone wants to attend a meeting. Thank you.

Thank you, Cindy. And Vaughn. Are you still there? Vaughn. Are you there? Vaughn, I see you online but I'm not hearing you. Okay, well, I think we're I think we're done for today unless anybody has anything else. As you know. We do kibbitz afterwards. If you want to stay online, we'll stop the video and if you want to chat about anything or have questions, and if not, we'll be done for today. Thank you all for being here. Lucy we need to catch up on some things. Okay, thank you all

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