PSU Bridging the Digital Divide in Indian Country

In addition to the four Tribal Broadband Bootcamps - the first two in Aguanga, California in Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 co-organized by X-Lab, which brought together Tribal Broadband Stakeholders from across the country; followed by summits in Washington state and Arizona; and a latest one planned for the Hoopa Valley Tribe in Spring 2023, X-Lab is continuing to work with Tribal partners and assist with obtaining funding opportunities and designing build-outs. X-Lab helped develop and write four separate applications, and have had a 100% success rate: 1) Hoopa: Helped support successful application for $65 million in NTIA funding; 2) Department of Hawaiian Home Lands: Helped secure commitments of $90 million in NTIA funding with $17 million already disbursed; 3) Yuroc: Helped support successful application for $61 million in NTIA funding; and 4) Cherokee: Helped develop $25 million funding proposal and supported $65 million NTIA grant framework. Taken together, PIT-UN support has been leveraged to secure over $200 million in federal support. Our application contained 4 main deliverables; thus far, X-Lab has exceeded all project deliverables, as explained below: - Co-hosting 3-5 Tribal Wireless Boot Camp skills-training workshops with Tribal allies, bringing together native technologists from a number of different tribes sharing best practices and tactics both on the logistics and the funding front, as well as dealing with practical technology applications and troubleshooting: Five have already been held, with additional boot camps already scheduled for Spring/Summer 2023. - Creating technological training materials for Native broadband implementers; The Tribal Bootcamp Training materials have be created and expanded as new modules have been added, and additional modules are under development. - Securing a minimum of $50 million in direct government support for Native-led broadband projects: Thus far, over $150 million has been secured, with an additional $73 million expected in the near future. - Empowering Native-run entities to own and operate these training, implementation, and skills-sharing programs moving forward: We’re expanding our partnership with Amerind Critical Infrastructure, a Native owned and operated entity, which has led to them being established as a go-to expert among tribes; multiple additional Native-lead allies have developed the capacity to lead the projects X-Lab has advised on and helped launch.