Task Force Meetings and Minutes Archives
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About Task Force Meetings
The Task Force engages over 200 Digital Inclusion advocates including public and private leaders and industry experts to share information and collaborate on critical Broadband and Digital Inclusion recommendations and initiatives for Arizona. Every Thursday at 8:00 -9:15 am Task Force collaborators meet virtually for: 1) federal, state and local community updates; 2) broadband and digital inclusion resource presentations and; 3) information and resource sharing and collaboration. Meetings include: federal, state and local community updates, briefings from the Arizona Broadband Office, the Arizona State Library, the Arizona Department of Education, the Arizona Telemedicine Program, and more.
The Task Force engages over 200 Digital Inclusion advocates including public and private leaders and industry experts to share information and collaborate on critical Broadband and Digital Inclusion recommendations and initiatives for Arizona. Every Thursday at 8:00 -9:15 am Task Force collaborators meet virtually for: 1) federal, state and local community updates; 2) broadband and digital inclusion resource presentations and; 3) information and resource sharing and collaboration. Meetings include: federal, state and local community updates, briefings from the Arizona Broadband Office, the Arizona State Library, the Arizona Department of Education, the Arizona Telemedicine Program, and more.
Meeting Archives: Missed the meetings? Want to review the meetings?
Want to find a contact that attended a meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary,
Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files.
Want to find a contact that attended a meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary,
Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files.
Want To Connect With Task Force Colleagues? – Find Out How! If you want to know who is participating in the Task Force and how to contact them, see the link here. Note: The list includes only those who have completed our Google Form
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Archive Meeting and Minutes
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Previous Meeting ReportsMissed the meetings? Want to review the meetings?
Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. 2025 Meeting Recaps
November 13, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Featured Updates
For a Summary, and Details, Of All Updates and Presentations, see Recording, Summary and Transcript November 6, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Featured Updates
For a Summary, and Details, Of All Updates and Presentations, see Recording, Summary and Transcript October 30, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Featured Update Due to a family emergency Tony Conover was not available to present, however, we were pleased to welcome Melissa Sadorf, former Executive Director of the Arizona Rural Schools Association, and current Executive Director of the National Rural Education Association's. She shared their role in advocacy and support for rural education, including their recent report on rural education priorities. She highlighted the critical need for reliable broadband in rural communities, emphasizing the importance of affordability, device access, and digital skill development. She also discussed the challenges faced by rural communities, including funding, the lack of human capital and the need for professional development. Other Updates
For a Summary, and Details, Of All Updates and Presentations, see Recording, Summary and Transcript
October 23, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Featured Update Nick Capozzi ACA State Broadband Director provided updates on the Bead program, noting Arizona's progress and the potential use of remaining funds for infrastructure or AI initiatives. The state has allocated $400 million, with $500 million in private investment. Capozzi also mentioned a new permit finder tool for internet service providers. For a Summary, and Details Of Updates and Presentations, see Recording, Summary and Transcript October 9, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Featured Presentation Scotty Ward: A 35-year I.T. and CyberSecurity veteran and CyberSecurity Sensei, Founder, "Cyber Safety Today: 15 things you, and people in our communities, can do for free today, to be safer online". With cyber threats and attacks growing exponentially, Scotty is back for a second time to offer his advice about "Cyber Safety Today: 15 things you, and people in our communities, can do for free today, to be safer online". Scotty, A 35-year I.T. and CyberSecurity veteran and one of the industry's greatest local fans, with key experience across government, academia, and the private sector, Scotty's history includes a two-year stint as "the I.T. guy" on the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection under Bill Clinton, and more than 10 years in the pentagon as the Secretary of Defense office's I.T. Program Manager during the Cohen, Rumsfeld, and Gates era. These days as he retires from his federal I.T. position at the U.S. Department of Labor, Scotty's not slowing one bit. He recently accepted a position as adjunct faculty at Pima Community College, teaching Computer Information Systems and CyberSecurity courses, and as the West Region Coordinator for the NIST/NICE CyberSecurity Career Ambassadors, where he rallies and speaks to western states' school districts and chambers of commerce about how to intelligently incorporate cybersecurity best practices into the fabric of every organization, entity, and group. The NICE Cybersecurity Framework refers to the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), a U.S. government-led effort to strengthen the cybersecurity workforce through standardized education, training, and career development. NICE, led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is a collaboration between government, academia, and private industry. Scotty speaks across Arizona on cybersecurity (the industry) and cyber safety (personal safety) topics, to any group that invites him! He also founded the CyberSecurity Sensei Mentorship Program that emphasize that program members should volunteer their time today as Incident Responders and Cyber Safety speakers to people in their spheres of influence. For a Summary, and Details Of Updates and Presentations, see Recording, Summary and Transcript October 2, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Featured Presentation Samantha Schartman, Director of Programs at Connect Humanity. Advocates Call for Sustainable Funding to Secure the Nation’s Digital Future: Samantha provided an overview of her partnership with Angela Siefer, Executive Director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) to launch the Alternative Funding Working Group, a national effort to explore new financing approaches—including co-investments, equity covenants, and revenue-sharing—that reinvest the economic value of digital inclusion back into sustaining local programs. The two leaders are calling on researchers, economists, and policymakers to join them in building the data and systems that will make digital equity both sustainable and lasting. Samantha commented “We need resilient, measurable, and financially sustainable models that will keep communities connected for decades to come.” Siefer added: “Digital equity isn’t just about connecting households—it’s about ensuring every community can thrive in a digital economy. If we treat inclusion as an afterthought, we risk widening the gap instead of closing it.”
September 25, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Rebecca Carter, Native Network Director of Tribal Programs. Rebecca will provided an overview of Native Network, and what they are doing in AZ, especially with the Pasqua Yaqui Tribe. Native Network provides broadband and telecom services with a focus on empowering underserved communities, especially Tribal Nations, Pueblos, and municipalities. Their offerings include high-speed internet and digital voice solutions for residential and business users, as well as tailored infrastructure support for tribal governments and public utilities. By addressing the unique connectivity challenges faced by these groups, Native Network plays a key role in expanding digital access and equity. Beyond service delivery, Native Network also contributes to the industry through technical support and ISP management roles, reinforcing their hands-on approach to innovation and reliability. Their mission centers on fostering connection, prosperity, and empowerment—particularly in regions historically left behind by mainstream providers. Contact: Rebecca Carter [email protected] 509-670-819 For a Summary, and Details Of Updates and Presentations, see Recording, Summary and Transcript
September 18, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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You may know that Rory Conaway, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Triad Wireless by Wi-Fiber was scheduled to present at this meeting. Due lengthy discussions about about the BEAD Reason Code 5 and other broadband issues Rory's presentation was postponed until the the following week September 11, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Download Presentations Presentations You may know that Rory Conaway, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Triad Wireless by Wi-Fiber was scheduled to present at this meeting. Due lengthy discussions about about the BEAD Reason Code 5 and other broadband issues Rory's presentation was postponed until the the following week For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations, see Recording, Summary and Transcript September 4, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations, see Recording, Summary and Transcript August 28, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations, see Recording, Summary and Transcript August 21, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Updates & Announcements Download Presentations Presentations
For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations, see Recording, Summary and Transcript August 7, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Broadband Access and Digital Literacy Research Paul Ross Phoenix College - Associate Vice President and Researcher Paul shared some of his initial research on the digital divide, exploring facets impacting broadband access and digital literacy that continue to shape educational and economic outcomes. He will also tell you how you can help directly contribute to his research endeavors. He also provide an update on their NTIA CMC Boundless Broadband program, which is now in active implementation with infrastructure upgrades, community outreach, and digital training strategies underway. Additionally, he introduced their newly developed certificate programs in Digital Divide and Emerging Wireless Technologies. These micro-credentials are designed to equip learners with both the socio-technical context and practical skills needed to close access gaps and support community-based broadband solutions, with a strong focus on CBRS, Wi-Fi 6, and 5G deployments. For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations, see Recording, Summary and Transcript July 31, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Updates
July 24, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Lucy Howell, CEO The Force for Health® Network provided an update on The Force for Health® Network and AZBSN partnership on the development of a collaborative platform for planning, strategy, and advocacy as well as Facilitate networking and resource sharing among organizations to support health promotion initiatives and Identify policy recommendations to enhance broadband access for health. Download Presentations July 24, 2025 Bill D'Agostino, Wireless Infrastructure Association July 24, 2025 Skye Downing, digitalLIFT Deputy Director Updates and Introductions Presentations
Bill will provide an overview of the spectrum and other wireless infrastructure legislation included in “Big Beautiful Bill” and other recent federal legislation and policy. He will also speak about the Wireless Infrastructure Association perspectives, and their workforce development initiatives. As you probably know, Spectrum is the invisible backbone of our wireless communications, powering everything from mobile networks to broadband, public safety communications, and emerging technologies like 5G. There are a number of important spectrum-related issues being discussed by Congress, the FCC, the Wireless Industry, and State and Local Governments. Skye Downing, Deputy Director Digital Lift DigitalLIFT is a national digital equity intermediary dedicated to accelerating community impact through capacity-building, training, resource development, and collaborative infrastructure. We work alongside nonprofits, public agencies, and trusted local partners to design and deliver scalable, culturally responsive solutions that close the digital divide. From training frontline digital navigators and customizing multilingual curricula to supporting organizations in securing funding and building sustainable programs, our work ensures communities are equipped with the tools and support they need to thrive in the digital age. Skye Downing, Deputy Director of digitalLIFT, will present an overview of their mission, programs, and resources during this week’s convening. O: 855.983.0318 • M: 720-289-6481, [email protected] For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations, see Recording, Summary and Transcript July 17, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Lucy Howell, CEO The Force for Health® Network provided an update on The Force for Health® Network and AZBSN partnership on the development of a collaborative platform for planning, strategy, and advocacy as well as Facilitate networking and resource sharing among organizations to support health promotion initiatives and Identify policy recommendations to enhance broadband access for health. Download Presentations Updates and Introductions Presentation Joey Wender, Executive Director, SHLB Schools, Health, Libraries Broadband Coalition Joey Wender discussed the recent Supreme Court case involving the Universal Service Fund (USF), which was resolved with a strong 6-3 decision affirming the fund's constitutionality. He explained that the court rejected challenges to the FCC's authority to delegate fund management, with Justice Elena Kagan writing a clear opinion that supported the existing USF structure. The key challenges from courts have been resolved, but reform is still needed, particularly in how the fund is funded, as current contributions come primarily from declining landline telephone services. Wender also highlighted ongoing challenges for the USF from Congress and the FCC, noting that there's a working group exploring potential reforms. The main focus is finding sustainable funding sources, potentially by assessing fees on broadband and other internet services. He emphasized the importance of preserving critical programs like E-Rate for schools and libraries, rural healthcare support, and the Lifeline program. Wender stressed that while legislative action seems unlikely in the short term, the working group's recommendations could provide a foundation for future reforms. Regarding cybersecurity, Wender highlighted the current cybersecurity pilot program, which allocated $200 million in funding. However, he noted that the demand far exceeded the supply, with billions of dollars in requests compared to the limited funding available. He suggested that the pilot program's results would likely underscore the critical need for more cybersecurity funding in schools and libraries. Wender believes the pilot will be instructive in potentially expanding cybersecurity support through E-Rate, while being careful not to overwhelm the program's primary mission of providing internet connectivity. For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations, see Recording, Summary and Transcript July 10, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Lucy Howell, CEO The Force for Health® Network provided an update on The Force for Health® Network and AZBSN partnership on the development of a collaborative platform for planning, strategy, and advocacy as well as Facilitate networking and resource sharing among organizations to support health promotion initiatives and Identify policy recommendations to enhance broadband access for health. Download Presentations Updates and Introductions
Randy provided an overview of the recent restructuring policy notice from the NTIA and its implications for state broadband offices and provided a general update on the progress of state broadband offices in meeting the new broadband requirements. He also discussed the timeline for the Benefit of the Bargain Round, the process for unlicensed fixed wireless providers, and the the July deadline. Randy highlighted the growth of fixed wireless services, particularly those offered by cellular providers, and their impact on broadband coverage and explains the strengths and weaknesses of different wireless architectures, including WISP and cellular solutions. He discussed the challenges of managing interference, weather risks, and the potential impact of spectrum auctions on current users. Randy emphasized the importance of affordability and the role of wireless solutions in providing accessible internet to price-sensitive consumers. For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations, see Recording, Summary and Transcript June 19, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Lucy Howell, CEO The Force for Health® Network provided an update on The Force for Health® Network and AZBSN partnership on the development of a collaborative platform for planning, strategy, and advocacy as well as Facilitate networking and resource sharing among organizations to support health promotion initiatives and Identify policy recommendations to enhance broadband access for health. Download Presentations
Rural Arizona Broadband Support Network (RABSN) & USDA Broadband Technical Assistance Program David Ackerman, CEO, Ackerman Consulting Group and; Rachael Maddock-Hughes, CEO, Rural Prosperity Partners If your organization is exploring broadband expansion or needs help navigating state or federal broadband programs, the FREE Rural Arizona Broadband Support Network (RABSN) is here to help. Ackerman Consulting Group (ACG) is a recipient of the USDA Broadband Technical Assistance (BTA) grant, awarded to support broadband planning, projects, and capacity-building across rural and tribal communities in Arizona. As a consulting and engineering firm specializing in rural telecommunications, ACG works directly with ISPs, public entities, and tribal governments to develop viable broadband projects and prepare for funding opportunities like BEAD. ACG has partnered with Rural Prosperity Partners to deliver outreach, training, and localized planning support tailored to the needs of each community. To carry out this work, ACG has launched the Rural Arizona Broadband Support Network (RABSN)—a new statewide initiative designed to offer subsidized, expert technical assistance throughout tribal lands and in nine Arizona counties: Apache, Cochise, Coconino, Greenlee, Maricopa, Mohave, Pima, Pinal, and Yuma. Services include:
To learn more or request assistance, contact our team at [email protected] or visit www.ackermancg.com. Video – AZ Broadband Closing The Digital Divide – Wired, Wireless And Digital Skills Paul Ross, Phoenix College AVP CIO created an amazing musical video that features Arizona’s initiatives to bring broadband and digital skills across the state and to Close the Digital Divide. View it on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/7m0JiwRJaKs. For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations, see Recording, Summary and Transcript June 12, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Lucy Howell, CEO The Force for Health® Network provided an update on The Force for Health® Network and AZBSN partnership on the development of a collaborative platform for planning, strategy, and advocacy as well as Facilitate networking and resource sharing among organizations to support health promotion initiatives and Identify policy recommendations to enhance broadband access for health. Download Presentation Randy Leuning Presentations Impact of Commerce Department’s new NOFO and BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice Featuring
By now you are probably aware that on the Commerce Department issued their new BEAD NOFO and Restructuring Policy Notice dramatically rewriting the rules governing BEAD. Among other changes, the new NOFO, has rescinded all final proposal approvals. The administration rescinded three state broadband plans, required a new round of bidding by broadband providers, opened priority projects potentially to non-fiber technologies, and temporarily rescinded approval for all nondeployment funding – pending future guidance. Internet service providers awarded funding under the original BEAD framework must now re-bid if they want to continue participating. After NTIA spent over a year approving 56 unique, state-tailored Final Proposals—each shaped by the original 2023 NOFO’s emphasis on flexibility, local coordination, affordability, and fiber preference—the agency has now rescinded those approvals, abandoned the fiber preference, and issued a uniform, cost-first, technology-neutral framework that all states must follow. NTIA’s Policy Notice also eliminates BEAD requirements for fair labor practices, factoring in climate changes over the lifetime of networks, consumer protections, and measures to ensure these taxpayer-funded networks are affordable for potential subscribers. States are on tight deadlines to implement the changes. To comply with the policy notice, representatives for all eligible entities “must submit a letter to NTIA within 30 calendar days ( July 6, 2025) requesting an Initial Proposal correction,” to the state’s Initial BEAD Proposal For more information see links to the Broadband Breakfast summary and the Commerce Department Restructuring Policy Notice. Video – AZ Broadband Closing The Digital Divide – Wired, Wireless And Digital Skills Paul Ross, Phoenix College AVP CIO created an amazing musical video that features Arizona’s initiatives to bring broadband and digital skills across the state and to Close the Digital Divide. View it on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/7m0JiwRJaKs. For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations, see Recording, Summary and Transcript June 5, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Matthew Roclevitch, Mission Telecom Presentations
Paul Ross, Phoenix College AVP CIO created an amazing musical video that features Arizona’s initiatives to bring broadband and digital skills across the state and to Close the Digital Divide. View it on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/7m0JiwRJaKs. For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations,
see Recording, Summary and Transcript June 5, 2025 Zoom meeting recording June 5, 2025 meeting Registration List June 5, 2025 meeting Chat June 5, 2025 Summary and Transcript May 29, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Presentations Download Presentation Brenna Leasor, Tech Policy Counsel, Common Sense Media, Another update from Washington, and Emerging AI Policies and Issues Again? Yes, since there is so much regarding broadband and digital inclusion happing in Washington, and it is changing day by day, and even hour by hour, we are going to provide another round of Things we know (and wish we didn’t), Things we think we know, and Things we don't know yet. We are pleased to welcome back Brenna Lessor, for another update. While there are still things "we don't know" unfortunately there are many things we do know, such as: Digital Equity grant funding ending; firing the Librarian of Congress, the new budget plan that called for halting new broadband funding through USDA, and eliminating USDA equity-focused funding criteria from 14 rural broadband grant programs including broadband initiatives like the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant and the Community Connect Grant; a Continuing Resolution to end support for Wi-Fi hotspots for schools and libraries; BEAD Guidance to States Delayed Until June Or July; cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS); spectrum changes, Universal Service Fund including the USF court case and implications for E Rate lifeline and the telemedicine/telehealth programs. Join us for this update and discussion. Brenna and AI Policies and Issues Brenna is leading initiatives focused on promoting safe and responsible artificial intelligence (AI), digital literacy, and online protections for children and families. Her work encompasses advocating for state and federal policies aimed at closing the digital divide and ensuring equitable access to technology. She has been instrumental in shaping AI-related policies that prioritize child safety and digital equity. She has participated in national forums, such as the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology summit, where she discussed the implications of AI in education and emphasized the importance of responsible AI use. In collaboration with OpenAI, Brenna contributed to the development of AI literacy resources tailored for K–12 educators. These resources aim to equip teachers with the knowledge and tools necessary to integrate AI responsibly into the classroom. Brenna's research highlights disparities in the use and perception of generative AI among teens. Notably, studies indicate that Black and Latino teens are more likely to use generative AI tools than their White peers. However, Black teens report higher instances of their work being incorrectly flagged as AI-generated, raising concerns about algorithmic bias. In May 2025, Brenna appeared on WQXR’s The Capitol Pressroom to discuss a package of bills in New York designed to enhance digital safety for children. These legislative efforts address the challenges posed by social media and AI companions, aiming to create a safer digital environment for young users. Brenna is an active voice in the digital equity space, frequently speaking at conferences and events. At the 2025 Net Inclusion conference, she participated in a panel titled “AI Skills ARE Digital Skills,” emphasizing the necessity of integrating AI literacy into broader digital inclusion strategies.. Video – AZ Broadband Closing The Digital Divide – Wired, Wireless And Digital Skills Paul Ross, Phoenix College AVP CIO created an amazing musical video that features Arizona’s initiatives to bring broadband and digital skills across the state and to Close the Digital Divide. View it on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/7m0JiwRJaKs. For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations,
see Recording, Summary and Transcript May 29, 2025, 2025 Zoom meeting recording May 29, 2025 meeting Registration List (Link to Google Sheet) May 29, 2025 meeting Chat (Link To Google Doc) May 29, 2025 Summary and Transcript May 15, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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Bad News: Digital Equity grant funding ending By know you may know that after worrying and waiting about the status of digital equity grant funding, President Trump on Thursday announced that the government would be "ending this immediately" and cancelling what he called a $2.5 billion "giveaway." In a post on his Truth Social network, Trump called the funding under the Digital Equity Act unconstitutional, racist and illegal. He said that he had spoken with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and that "we agree." https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-calls-joe-biden-digital-equity-act-racist-unconstitutional-2070080 Presentations
Paul Ross, Phoenix College AVP CIO created an amazing musical video that features Arizona’s initiatives to bring broadband and digital skills across the state and to Close the Digital Divide. View it on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/7m0JiwRJaKs. Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations,
see Recording, Summary and Transcript May 15, 2025, 2025 Zoom meeting recording May 15, 2025 meeting Registration List May 15, 2025 meeting Chat May 15, 2025 Summary and Transcript May 8, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript and Summary For Details Of All Updates and presentations
Lucy Howell, CEO The Force for Health® Network provided an update on The Force for Health® Network and AZBSN partnership on the development of a collaborative platform for planning, strategy, and advocacy as well as Facilitate networking and resource sharing among organizations to support health promotion initiatives and Identify policy recommendations to enhance broadband access for health. Presentation
Paul Ross, Phoenix College AVP CIO created an amazing musical video that features Arizona’s initiatives to bring broadband and digital skills across the state and to Close the Digital Divide. View it on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/7m0JiwRJaKs. Download Presentations Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
Presentations The meeting featured a conversation with Nick Capozzi Arizona’s State Broadband Director. Nick provided an update on the Broadband Office and the Bead and Digital Inclusion grants For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations,
see Recording, Summary and Transcript May 8, 2025, 2025 Zoom meeting recording May 8, 2025 meeting Registration List May 8, 2025 meeting Chat May 8, 2025 Summary and Transcript April 24, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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AZBSN and The Force for Health® Network Health and Education Task Force Lucy Howell, CEO The Force for Health® Network provided an update on The Force for Health® Network and AZBSN partnership on the development of a collaborative platform for planning, strategy, and advocacy as well as Facilitate networking and resource sharing among organizations to support health promotion initiatives and Identify policy recommendations to enhance broadband access for health. Presentation
Paul Ross, Phoenix College AVP CIO created an amazing musical video that features Arizona’s initiatives to bring broadband and digital skills across the state and to Close the Digital Divide. View it on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/7m0JiwRJaKs. Download Presentations
Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
Presentations Joseph Sepp Sprietsma, M.Ed., Center For the Future Of Arizona, Project Manager, College and Career Pathways, Southeast Arizona. Sepp provided an overview of the Center For The Future Of Arizona, their many education and workforce initiatives, and in particular, their College and Career Pathways initiative and, their virtual internship project they are working on with the Work Based Learning Alliance. The Center for the Future of Arizona brings Arizonans together to create a stronger and brighter future for our state. We listen to Arizonans to learn what matters most to them, share trusted data about how Arizona is doing in those priority areas, bring critical issues to public attention, and work with communities and leaders to solve public problems. Contact: 602.496.1360 520.307.5647 [email protected] April 17, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Documents and Videos See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript and Summary For Details Of All Updates and presentations
Video – AZ Broadband Closing The Digital Divide – Wired, Wireless And Digital Skills Paul Ross, Phoenix College AVP CIO created an amazing musical video that features Arizona’s initiatives to bring broadband and digital skills across the state and to Close the Digital Divide. View it on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/7m0JiwRJaKs. Download Presentations Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
Presentations
For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations,
see Recording, Summary and Transcript April 17, 2025 Zoom meeting recording April 17, 2025 meeting Registration List April 17, 2025 meeting Chat April 17, 2025 Summary and Transcript April 10, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Documents and Videos See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript and Summary For Details Of All Updates and presentations
Video – AZ Broadband Closing The Digital Divide – Wired, Wireless And Digital Skills Paul Ross, Phoenix College AVP CIO created an amazing musical video that features Arizona’s initiatives to bring broadband and digital skills across the state and to Close the Digital Divide. View it on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/7m0JiwRJaKs. Download Presentations Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
Presentations
For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations,
see Recording, Summary and Transcript April 10, 2025 Zoom meeting recording April 10, 2025 meeting Registration List April 10, 2025 meeting Chat April 10, 2025 Summary and Transcript April 3, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Documents and Videos See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript and Summary For Details Of All Updates and presentations
David Borofsky, Ed.D., Executive Director, Arizona Community College Coordinating Council. [email protected] 520-433-0049 See more info below Video – AZ Broadband Closing The Digital Divide – Wired, Wireless And Digital Skills Paul Ross, Phoenix College AVP CIO created an amazing musical video that features Arizona’s initiatives to bring broadband and digital skills across the state and to Close the Digital Divide. View it on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/7m0JiwRJaKs. Download Presentations Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
Presentations What Role can Community Colleges play in Digital Inclusion Join us for a presentation/discussion with David Borofsky, Ed.D., Executive Director, Arizona Community College Coordinating Council. He will introduce the Coordinating Council and join us in a discussion about the important role that Community Colleges can play in Digital Inclusion, and how they can play an anchor role collaborating with other organizations for the Digital Inclusion funding soon to be available. The Arizona Community College Coordinating Council (AC4) works to raise the visibility and understanding of the significant impact of community colleges, provides strong legislative and public advocacy and advances shared initiatives through the Arizona Center for Community College Success, strategic partnerships, and its various committee initiatives. Contact: [email protected] 520-433-0049 For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations,
see Recording, Summary and Transcript April 3, 2025 Zoom meeting recording April 3, 2025 meeting Registration List April 3, 2025 meeting Chat April 3, 2025 Summary and Transcript March 27, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript and Summary For Details Of All Updates
Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
Presentations
For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations,
see Recording, Summary and Transcript March 27, 2025 Zoom meeting recording March 27, 2025 meeting Registration List March 27, 2025 meeting Chat March 27, 2025 Summary and Transcript March 20, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript and Summary For Details Of All Updates
Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
You Gotta See This Video – AZ Broadband Closing The Digital Divide – Wired, Wireless And Digital Skills Paul Ross Phoenix College AVP CIO created an amazing musical video that features Arizona’s initiatives to bring broadband and digital skills across the state and to Close the Digital Divide. View it on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/7m0JiwRJaKs. Thank You Paul, this is amazing !!! Send It Out To All Your Contacts!!! Presentations
For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations,
see Recording, Summary and Transcript March 20, 2025 Zoom meeting recording March 20, 2025 meeting Registration List March 20, 2025 meeting Chat March 20, 2025 Summary and Transcript March 13, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript and Summary For Details Of All Updates
Iain Gillott Senior Technical & Research Advisor Wireless Infrastructure Association Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
You Gotta See This Video – AZ Broadband Closing The Digital Divide – Wired, Wireless And Digital Skills Paul Ross Phoenix College AVP CIO created an amazing musical video that features Arizona’s initiatives to bring broadband and digital skills across the state and to Close the Digital Divide. View it on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/7m0JiwRJaKs. Thank You Paul, this is amazing !!! Send It Out To All Your Contacts!!! Presentations
For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations,
see Recording, Summary and Transcript March 13, 2025 Zoom meeting recording (Due to YouTube technical issues this video is available on Vimeo) March 13, 2025 meeting Registration List March 13, 2025 meeting Chat March 13, 2025 Summary and Transcript March 6, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript and Summary For Details Of All Updates
Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
You Gotta See This Video – AZ Broadband Closing The Digital Divide – Wired, Wireless And Digital Skills Paul Ross Phoenix College AVP CIO created an amazing musical video that features Arizona’s initiatives to bring broadband and digital skills across the state and to Close the Digital Divide. View it on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/7m0JiwRJaKs. Thank You Paul, this is amazing !!! Send It Out To All Your Contacts!!! For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations,
see Recording, Summary and Transcript March 6, 2025 Zoom meeting recording (Due to YouTube technical issues recording currently not available)March 6, 2025 meeting Registration List March 6, 2025 meeting Chat March 6, 2025 Summary and Transcript February 27, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript and Summary For Details Of All Updates
Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
You Gotta See This Video – AZ Broadband Closing The Digital Divide – Wired, Wireless And Digital Skills Paul Ross Phoenix College AVP CIO created an amazing musical video that features Arizona’s initiatives to bring broadband and digital skills across the state and to Close the Digital Divide. View it on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/7m0JiwRJaKs. Thank You Paul, this is amazing !!! Send It Out To All Your Contacts!!! Recap: AZBSN February 27, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussions: Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Summary and Details Of All Updates and Presentations Featured Presentations
For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations,
see Recording, Summary and Transcript February 20, 2025 Zoom meeting recording February 20, 2025 Summary and Transcript February 20, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript and Summary For Details Of All Updates
Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
You Gotta See This Video – AZ Broadband Closing The Digital Divide – Wired, Wireless And Digital Skills Paul Ross Phoenix College AVP CIO created an amazing musical video that features Arizona’s initiatives to bring broadband and digital skills across the state and to Close the Digital Divide. View it on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/7m0JiwRJaKs. Thank You Paul, this is amazing !!! Send It Out To All Your Contacts!!! Recap: AZBSN February 20, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussions: Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Summary and Details Of All Updates and Presentations For Summary and Details Of Updates and Presentations,
see Recording, Summary and Transcript February 20, 2025 Zoom meeting recording February 20, 2025 Summary and Transcript February 13, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript and Summary For Details Of All Updates
Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
Recap: AZBSN February 13, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussions: Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Summary and Details Of All Updates and Presentations You Gotta See This Video – AZ Broadband Closing The Digital Divide – Wired, Wireless And Digital Skills If you have been attending AZBSN meetings you probably know Paul Ross, an amazing friend, AZBSN collaborator, and resource for Broadband and Digital Inclusion in Arizona. Paul has created an amazing musical video that features Arizona’s initiatives to bring broadband and digital skills across the state and to Close the Digital Divide. We shared the video at the February 6 AZBSN meeting, and you can view it on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/7m0JiwRJaKs. Paul is the Phoenix College AVP CIO on Special Assignment, and PI for NTIA CMC Broadband and NSF Externship/Internship grant. Thank You Paul, this is amazing !!! Send It Out To All Your Contacts!!! February 13 presentations featured
February 6, 2025 AZBSN Meeting Recap
See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript and Summary For Details Of All Updates
Jared Bodine AZ StRUT Internet Lending program Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
Recap: AZBSN February 6, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussions: Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Summary and Details Of All Updates and Presentations February 6 presentations featured
For Summary and Details Of these, and All Updates and Presentations,
see Recording, Summary and Transcript February 6, 2025 Zoom meeting recording February 6, 2025 meeting Registration List February 6, 2025 meeting Chat February 6, 2025 Summary and Transcript January 30 AZBSN Meeting Recap
See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript and Summary For Details Of All Updates
Connor Osgood, AgTech Program Manager University Of Arizona’s Yuma Center for Excellence in Desert Agriculture (YCEDA) Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
Recap: AZBSN January 30, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussions: Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Summary and Details Of All Updates and Presentations January 30 presentations featured:
Due to rising labor and input costs, as well as increasing environmental focus, there is significant interest in high-tech solutions for agricultural challenges, such as automated machinery, drones, sensors, and advanced data analysis tools, many of which require reliable network connectivity to function effectively in the field. However, limited broadband access poses a major barrier to the adoption of these technologies in Yuma’s $4 billion agriculture industry. To address this, YCEDA has two key ag-tech initiatives supported under NSF funding: an outdoor wireless testbed system at the UA research farm which enables companies to test their innovative technologies in real-world conditions, and the development of a county-wide broadband tower network dedicated to serving agriculture across Yuma’s 200,000 acres of farmland, ensuring access to new technologies in remote areas. Brenna Leasor provided insights on federal funding freezes and the impact on programs like BEAD and the Digital Equity Act. For Summary and Details Of these, and All Updates and Presentations,
see Recording, Summary and Transcript January 30, 2024 Zoom meeting recording January 30 Summary and Transcript January 23 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Presentations/Updates See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript and Summary For Details Of All Updates
Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
Recap: AZBSN January 23, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussions: Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Summary and Details Of All Updates and Presentations January 23 presentations featured: The 2025 Universal Connectivity Imperative: Sustaining Progress to Close the Digital Access Divide in K–12 Education report by Common Sense and SETDA, the State Educational Technology Directors Association and, Part Four in our AZBSN series: What We Know! What We Think We Know! What We Don't Know! About Broadband and Digital Inclusion Policy Changes Coming To Washington. Brenna Leasor, Tech Policy Counsel for Common Sense , coauthors, will provide an overview of the Brenna advocates for state and federal policies to close the digital divide, promote responsible AI, educate consumers on cybersecurity best practices to keep kids safe, and create a safer, healthier internet. Ji Soo Song is the Director of Projects and Initiatives at SETDA, where he designs, executes, and evaluates the organization’s efforts to support member states advocate for federal edtech policies and implement promising practices on topics such as digital equity, procurement, and professional learning. In addition to the overview of the SETDA report, Brenna provided: Part Four in our AZBSN series: What We Know! What We Think We Know! What We Don't Know! About Broadband and Digital Inclusion Policy Changes Coming To Washington About the SETDA 2025 Universal Connectivity Imperative: Sustaining Progress to Close the Digital Access Divide in K–12 Education. The report builds upon the groundbreaking research and insights of SETDA’s previous reports, most notably The Broadband Imperative III: Driving Connectivity, Access and Student Success, published in 2019. This fourth report provides a comprehensive analysis of the current state of internet access in K–12 education, examining the progress made since the last report and the emerging challenges that require urgent attention. It offers a clear roadmap to address the digital access divide, emphasizing the critical need for equitable access to broadband and devices. By focusing on both immediate actions and long-term solutions, the report equips policymakers, educators, and advocates with the tools needed to drive meaningful change. Through evidence-based strategies, policy recommendations, and real-world examples, the report outlines a path to achieving universal connectivity for students across the United States. Beth Neeley, ADE CIO, introduced Michael Kendall the new ADE Infrastructure/Broadband Project Manager. For Summary and Details Of these, and All Updates and Presentations,
see Recording, Summary and Transcript January 23, 2024 Zoom meeting recording January 23 Summary and Transcript January 16 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Presentations/Updates See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript and Summary For Details Of All Updates
Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
Recap: AZBSN January 16, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussions: Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Summary and Details Of All Updates and Presentations January 16 presentation featured Eric Rozencwaig, CEO, The Broadband Institute The Broadband Institute (BI) is a national non-profit that unites employers, educators, non-profits, associations, community-based organizations, and workforce systems to innovate and prioritize solutions that ensure the broadband industry is people-ready. We are dedicated to ensuring that the industry is equipped with a diverse, well-trained workforce ready to manage and expand our nation's digital infrastructure. Led by industry executives, the Broadband Institute is committed to driving innovation and prioritizing solutions to ensure the broadband industry has a diverse and well-trained workforce. We are developing the next generation of professionals by engaging veterans and young adults through targeted awareness, comprehensive training, and strategic job placement initiatives. The Broadband Institute Connects Veterans, Transitioning Military Personnel, and Young Adults with Training and Jobs. Eric provided a review of the
Contact: [email protected] 443-506-5121 January 9 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Presentations/Updates See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Details Of All
Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
Recap: AZBSN January 9, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussions: Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Summary and Details Of All Updates and Presentations January 9 presentation featured Part Three in our AZBSN series: What We Know! What We Think We Know! What We Don't Know! About Broadband and Digital Inclusion Policy Changes Coming To Washington. January is the perfect time for AZBSN to welcome Jonathan Adelstein who knows a lot about Washington, broadband policy, and technology. He shared his perspective about BEAD, Digital Equity Universal Service Fund and other issues happening in 2025. AZBSN is presenting a series on changes coming to federal broadband and digital inclusion policy, funding, and programs and what it may all mean for Arizona and programs and resources such as eRate, BEAD, Digital Inclusion, telemedicine funding, cybersecurity initiatives, spectrum, and more. Jonathon's distinguished public service career includes: A former 2 term FCC Commissioner and a former Administrator of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utilities Service. As RUS Administrator, he oversaw a $60 billion portfolio of rural electric, water, and telecommunications infrastructure loans. As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, he led the investment of $3.5 billion in rural broadband expansion to create jobs and provide new or improved broadband service to seven million residents, businesses and community facilities. His distinguished public service also included fifteen years as a staff member in the United States Senate. He was appointed by President Obama as a member of the White House National Science and Technology Council, which coordinates science and technology policy across the federal government, and the White House Business Council, leading Council meetings with business leaders across America. He was President and CEO of the Wireless Infrastructure Association and managing director and head of global policy and public investment for DigitalBridge, a global digital infrastructure investment firm. He also serves as the senior advisor to Vertical Bridge which may be the largest private owner and operator of communications infrastructure in the U.S., with more than 500,000 sites nationwide, including wireless and broadcast towers, rooftops, convenience stores, land parcels, utility structures and billboards. In April 2024, he was named as the executive vice president, chief strategy, and external affairs officer at TWN Communications which is a high-speed internet service provider offering fiber and fixed wireless options, plus digital phone, and TV services. Contact: [email protected] 703-243-3363 December 19, 2024 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Presentations/Updates See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Details Of All
Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
AZBSN December 12, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussions Featured: See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Summary and Details Of All Updates and Presentations Presentation 1: Paul Ross, Associate Vice President, and Chief Information Officer at Phoenix College The presentation highlighted several initiatives to address the digital divide, focusing on research, educational programs, and workforce development. Presented by Paul Ross, AVP CIO at Phoenix College & GCU doctoral candidate, it delves into innovative projects such as the NTIA CMC Grant, which funds technology-enhanced learning, digital literacy, and wireless network improvements—with practical strategies like offering loan-to-own laptops, developing certificates in emerging technologies, and fostering industry partnerships for student internships. Additionally, it emphasizes inclusive pedagogy and the intersection of technology with access, aiming to bridge connectivity gaps through education and access to digital resources. Research Study Help Wanted: Paul also shared that he is a doctoral student under the supervision of Dr. June Maul in the College of Doctoral Studies at Grand Canyon University. He is seeking participants for a research study on solutions and barriers to closing the digital divide. INCLUSION-I am recruiting individuals that meet these criteria:
All data in this study will be protected. Names of entities, people, and places are replaced with pseudonyms. All data collected will be encrypted. Access is password-protected. Data will be stored offline in a locked, secured location. Link to Informed Consent If interested, please click the link below for the informed consent form. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JFGNJBS If you have questions about this study, please contact me at [email protected]. Or via direct message on Linked-In. Contact [email protected] 614-946-4500 Presentation 2 Jon C. Haass, Ph.D., Professor and Founder, Cyber Intelligence and Security, Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University College of Business, Security and Intelligence, and Director, Center for the Future, a Prescott regional 501(c)(3) business incubator & accelerator – CenterFuture.org (21) Jon Haass | LinkedIn Jon will provide a recap of the December 11 Department of Homeland Security Prescott Community Safety Workshop, and other Cyber Security Resources. With the addition of several hundred thousand Arizonans to always on broadband connectivity comes the vulnerabilities associated with today’s internet. From PayPal and Amazon phishing to “drive by” website malware that requires no clicking for the poorly configured victim, part of BEAD education must include basic cybersecurity hygiene. DHS and CISA resources were presented in a packed 3 hour workshop with experts from different groups in the agencies. These are just a few of the links that were highlighted during the afternoon.
Arizona Department Of Education Update: Beth Neeley, CIO. Beth provided ADE updates related to the new website, recruitment, Erate, contact email address, more. Contact: Office: 602-542-1562 [email protected] December 12, 2024 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Updates and Presentations
Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
AZBSN December 12, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussions Featured:
Of All Updates and Presentations December 5, 2024 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Updates and Presentations
Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
AZBSN December 5, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussions Featured: December 5 AZBSN Digital Inclusion Presentation: Part Two in our AZBSN series: What We Know! What We Think We Know! What We Don't Know! About Broadband and Digital Inclusion Policy Changes Coming To Washington. Over next few months AZBSN will present a series on changes coming to federal broadband and digital inclusion policy, funding, and programs and what it may all mean for Arizona and programs and resources such as eRate, BEAD, Digital Inclusion, telemedicine funding, cybersecurity initiatives, spectrum, and more.
Of All Updates and Presentations November 21, 2024 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Updates and Presentations
Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
AZBSN November 21, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussions Featured:
Of All Updates and Presentations November 14, 2024 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Updates and Presentations
Frank Martinez, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Connected Nation Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
AZBSN November 7, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussions Featured: Frank Martinez, Connected Nation Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Frank Martinez, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, presented an overview of Connected Nation, a 501(c)3 non-profit that for more than 2 decades has been working at the federal, state, and local level to improve lives by increasing access, adoption, and usage of high-speed internet and related technologies. Connected Nation’s work includes policy and planning, grants & implementation strategy, digital equity & inclusion, broadband mapping & analysis, and internet exchange points. Prior to joining Connected Nation, Frank spent over a decade in the private sector building public private partnerships in the technology industry and directing and leading digital inclusion programs and initiatives in emerging markets in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Contact: m: (928) 286-7550 [email protected] See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Summary and Details Of All Updates and Presentations November 7, 2024 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Updates and Presentations
Carrie Rogers-Whitehead link to the Google Slides https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1g0r-A0r1EfPThbfj0df8WqqwODr39S3D06rdra14SpU/edit#slide=id.gc6f73a04f_0_0 Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
AZBSN November 7, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussions Featured: Carrie Rogers-Whitehead is the founder and CEO of Digital Respons-Ability
October 31, 2024 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Updates and Presentations
Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
AZBSN October 31, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussions Featured:
October 24, 2024 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Updates and Presentations
Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
AZBSN October 24, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussions Featured:
October 17, 2024 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Updates and Presentations
Download Presentations Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
AZBSN October 17, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussion Featured: Gordon Fuller- Communities Of Tomorrow: A Vision of a Connected, Immersive City through Spatial Computing Gordon spoke about imagining your community where every street corner, every historic building, and every hidden gem of the city comes alive through the power of augmented reality (AR) and spatial computing. In this not-so-distant future, your community isn’t just a place you visit; it’s an experience you live, breathe, and interact with—thanks to the Macrocommons, a groundbreaking distributed community spatial computing network. Gordon isa blind visionary artist, a tireless disability advocate, and creative technologist enhancing communities through the innovative application of place-based spatial computing. He is the Arizona representative for PLAN Systems, a 501(c)(3) Technology organization addressing digital privacy, ease of collaboration, and universal inclusion. See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Summary and Details Of All Updates and Presentations October 10, 2024 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
AZBSN October 3, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussion Featured: Mallory DeVol – Consultant with Consortia Consulting, Inc. Mallory will provide an overview of the financial, regulatory, and managerial consulting services Consortia has been providing to telecom companies for over 30 years. Although their focus was originally on the resources needed by rural telephone companies, they have expanded the services they offer and now serve all broadband providers. Mallory is specifically on the business development and regulatory advocacy team, focusing on analyzing FCC and state commission orders and their impact on their clients. Digital Equity is currently a major topic in the industry and is a main focus of the work Mallory does. See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Summary and Details Of All Updates and Presentations October 3, 2024 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
AZBSN October 3, Meeting Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussion Featured: Mallory DeVol – Consultant with Consortia Consulting, Inc. Mallory will provide an overview of the financial, regulatory, and managerial consulting services Consortia has been providing to telecom companies for over 30 years. Although their focus was originally on the resources needed by rural telephone companies, they have expanded the services they offer and now serve all broadband providers. Mallory is specifically on the business development and regulatory advocacy team, focusing on analyzing FCC and state commission orders and their impact on their clients. Digital Equity is currently a major topic in the industry and is a main focus of the work Mallory does. See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Summary and Details Of All Updates and Presentations September 19, 2024 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Note Due to a recording error there are 2 Recordings
Download Presentations Sponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
AZBSN September 19 Meeting Featured Three Digital Inclusion Presentations/Discussions:
September 5, 2024 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Download PresentationsSponsors Wanted: NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference May 2025 in Arizona NDIA, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance is looking for sponsors for the May 20-22, 2025 NDIA Net Inclusion Conference at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. See more info below.
AZBSN September 5 Meeting Featured Three Digital Inclusion Presentations/Discussions:
August 29 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Download Presentations AZBSN August 29 Digital Inclusion Presentation The meeting featured a presentation by Jared Bodine, Executive Director, and Maryanna Milton, Impact Manager at AZ StRUT, Arizona Students Recycling Used Technology. A nonprofit, established in 1998. AZ StRUT takes used technology from donors, and with the help of students, refurbish those devices. What can be reused is sent back out to underserved communities. What cannot be reused is responsibly recycled. They also focus on digital inclusion, with classes and educational programs that include communities beyond public schools. AZ StRUT is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that supports Arizona’s technical education and a community effort towards a more sustainable future. [email protected] 480-788-9463 See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Details Of Updates and Presentations August 15 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Download Presentations AZBSN August 15 Digital Inclusion Presentation Meeting featured: Most of this meeting was devoted to a discussion regarding the processes, timelines, requirements, and partnership application challenges to apply for the NTIA Competitive Grant. See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Details Of Updates and Presentations August 8 Two Announcements
Jobs for the Future, Inc. (JFF) Quality Green Jobs Regional Challenge ASU Grant Application Looking For Partner Organizations Response Need ASAP – Proposal Due Mid-August Quality Green Jobs Regional Challenge Download AZ 2024 Green Jobs ASU Grant Application Overview Our team at ASU is managing a grant in collaboration with key stakeholders Baltu Technologies, Chicanos Por La Causa, Arizona’s Office of Economic Opportunity, Greater Phoenix Economic Council, and other prominent partners throughout the state. We are spearheading an innovative workforce development program under the Quality Green Jobs Regional Challenge coordinated by Jobs for the Future (JFF). We invite you to become familiar with the initiative via the overview document attached. As a leader in the community, your participation is crucial. We are seeking engagement from esteemed community organizations like the Arizona Broadband Stakeholder Network to regularly engage with ASU and our regional team on this initiative. This collaboration will be mutually beneficial as we each share goals to support learners and workers throughout Arizona. If we are awarded Phase III funding, we will formally convene an Equity Council and determine how to allocate the funds to best achieve our outcomes. Our JFF Phase III application is due by mid-August, and we are attempting to identify organizations quickly. Please reply to this email within one week if you have any questions or to confirm your willingness to join us in this endeavor.
August 8 AZBSN Meeting Recap
Download Presentations AZBSN August 8 Digital Inclusion Presentation Meeting featured: Strider Denison, Senior VP of Sales and Marketing with Wecom Fiber, and Kristi Baker, Grants Manager, will provide an overview of WeCom Fiber’s fiber and fixed wireless broadband residential and enterprise communications in rural Arizona. Since 1958, Wecom, an Arizona Company based in Kingman has been bridging the digital divide in Arizona. They've connected schools, hospitals, and communities with reliable internet, focusing on underserved areas. Now, they are bringing fiber optic internet to Mohave, La Paz, Yavapai, Coconino, Flagstaff, and Cochise Counties!. They would also like to hear suggestions from you about what they can do to support digital inclusion in Arizona. They are looking for partners, ideas and resources for their current and future Digital Inclusion initiatives such as Digital navigators, workshops, community events, and more. See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Details Of Updates and Presentations August 1 Two Announcements
Jobs for the Future, Inc. (JFF) Quality Green Jobs Regional Challenge ASU Grant Application Looking For Partner Organizations Response Need ASAP – Proposal Due Mid-August Quality Green Jobs Regional Challenge Download AZ 2024 Green Jobs ASU Grant Application Overview Our team at ASU is managing a grant in collaboration with key stakeholders Baltu Technologies, Chicanos Por La Causa, Arizona’s Office of Economic Opportunity, Greater Phoenix Economic Council, and other prominent partners throughout the state. We are spearheading an innovative workforce development program under the Quality Green Jobs Regional Challenge coordinated by Jobs for the Future (JFF). We invite you to become familiar with the initiative via the overview document attached. As a leader in the community, your participation is crucial. We are seeking engagement from esteemed community organizations like the Arizona Broadband Stakeholder Network to regularly engage with ASU and our regional team on this initiative. This collaboration will be mutually beneficial as we each share goals to support learners and workers throughout Arizona. If we are awarded Phase III funding, we will formally convene an Equity Council and determine how to allocate the funds to best achieve our outcomes. Our JFF Phase III application is due by mid-August, and we are attempting to identify organizations quickly. Please reply to this email within one week if you have any questions or to confirm your willingness to join us in this endeavor.
August 1 AZBSN Meeting Recap
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AZBSN August 1 Digital Inclusion Presentation Meeting featured: Denise Atkinson-Shorey, CEO e-Luminosity and her partners: Michael Brennan, Brennan Group; Salvador Acuna, CoCreate,J Randolph Luening, Broadband Toolkit, provided a presentation "Designing for Broadband and Digital Equity" and an overview of the consultant services provided by each of their organizations. See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Details Of Updates and Presentations July 25, 2024, Meeting Recap
Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links below to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the July 25 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
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July 18, 2024, Meeting Recap
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AZBSN July 18 Digital Inclusion Presentation Meeting featured: Cisco Collaboration and Resources with Cisco Team Cisco Team Collaboration and Resources with Cisco Team
Of Updates and Presentations July 11, 2024, Meeting Recap
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Of Updates and Presentations Download Presentations AZBSN July 11 Digital Inclusion Presentation Meeting featured: Paul Wagner, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Practice, Director, University of Arizona Cybersecurity Clinic, Director, UArizona Cyber Sciences Academy (CSA), Cyber, Intelligence and Information Operations (CIIO) Paul provided an overview of the University Of Arizona $1 million Cybersecurity Clinic Grant to protect businesses, Community and nonprofit organizations from online threats and develop students' career skills Community and nonprofit organizations across Southern Arizona will soon have access to free cybersecurity services and support from the UArizona Cybersecurity Clinic, an initiative established by the University of Arizona College of Applied Science and Technology. The college, headquartered at the university's Sierra Vista campus, was recently awarded $1 million from Google's Cybersecurity Clinics Fund to establish the clinic, which will provide free digital security services to organizations, similar to how law or medical schools offer community clinics. Instead of assisting with court cases or health checks, faculty and students will conduct Risk and Vulnerability Assessments, vulnerability assessments, Security Awareness Training, Recommending Mitigations and Strategies (Alignment with Statewide Cyber Readiness Grant Program), security audits and compliance checks, and offer policy and procedure development and more. The Clinic is committed to providing tailored risk and vulnerability assessments to organizations of varying sizes and sectors, in general organizations that can’t afford cybersecurity support: K-12, Small and Medium Businesses, Non-profits; Government Organizations; Critical Infrastructure From https://news.arizona.edu/news/cybersecurity-clinic-will-protect-businesses-online-threats-develop-students-career-skills Contact Paul Wagner 513-255-0435, [email protected] See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Details Of Updates and Presentations June 27, 2024, Meeting Recap
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Of Updates and Presentations Download PresentationsMaricopa County Broadband Initiative, the Arizona Broadband Map, and AZ-1AZBSN June 27 Digital Inclusion Presentations Meeting featured: Kelly Chung Mukherjee, Director of Technical Program Management for Broadband & Digital Inclusion Programs at Arizona State University (ASU) and, Ciera Parkhurst, ASU Data Analyst who provided an overview of the strategic partnership between ASU and Maricopa County, focusing on enhancing digital connectivity and access throughout the region, creating reliable internet access and providing essential training for local communities, where projects like the Arizona Broadband Map and the AZ-1 web portal were born. Contact [email protected] 480-262-3442 and Ciera Parkhurst, ASU Data Analyst [email protected], 602-295-8664 See Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript For Details Of Updates and Presentations June 20, 2024, Meeting Recap
Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links below to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the June 20 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
Of Updates and Presentations Download Presentations
AZBSN June 20 Two Digital Inclusion Presentations
June 13, 2024, Meeting Recap
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Of Updates and Presentations Your Input Wanted Arizona Technology Council 2025 State and Federal Broadband Policy Recommendations - By June 17 Each year the Arizona Technology Council prepares a public policy guide, including state and federal broadband policy recommendations. The full 2024 Public Policy Guide is downloadable at https://www.aztechcouncil.org/public-policy/. Mark Goldstein is leading the development of the Broadband and Digital Equity Recommendations for 2025. Download the draft of the Arizona Technology Council’s 2025 state and federal broadband policy recommendations that currently reflects last year’s published version. FYI. Comments or markups on AZTC broadband policy should be sent to Mark by 6/17/24 at [email protected]. Will appreciate any of you reviewing and help freshen up for current circumstances and outlook. Appreciate any of you reviewing and help freshen up for current circumstances and outlook. Important: To submit your comments you must download and mark-up the 2025 Draft File and send to Mark by June 17 Download the draft Broadband and Digital Equity Recommendations for 2025 here. Mark Goldstein 602-670-6407 [email protected] Downloads AZBSN June 13 Digital Inclusion Presentation Featured: Arizona’s I-17, I-19 and I-40W Middle Mile Fiber Infrastructure Update. eX² Technology, a Vivacity Infrastructure Group company, has been selected as the ACA/ADOT’s exclusive I-17, I-19 and I-40W Middle Mile Fiber Infrastructure Operations, Maintenance and Commercialization partner. eX² is marketing recently deployed conduit and dark fiber as well as wireless development opportunities along Arizona’s I-17, I-19 and I-40W corridors and future communications infrastructure along I-10 and I-8. Kyle Hildebrand, eX²’s Executive Vice President of Project Development and Vivacity Infrastructure Group’s Executive Vice President of Business Development & Marketing provided an update on this great project for Arizona. See Recording and Transcript For Details June 26 Workforce Outreach Summit: Building Southern Arizona’s Workforce Talent Pipeline 9:00 am – 1:30 pm - Fred g. Acosta Job Corps Center, 901 South Campbell Avenue, tucson, arizona 85719 Download Details and Agenda Here Fred G. Acosta Job Corps Center is in Tucson to serve the community and outlying areas in economic development through workforce training. The Workforce Outreach Summit is structured to assess the extent of the need for career technical training based on industries and trades that are expanding. A range of agencies and workforce training programs will be represented including recruiting businesses to relocate to this region, City and County economic development, Community College with technical training, and University of Arizona with programs for engineers and specialized degrees. Alumni and local employers will be in attendance to acknowledge the success of Fred G. Acosta Job Corps Center and its future. Due to an increase in Federal funding Pima County and the surrounding area is a good place to find employment. However, there is a growing need for a trained workforce to match the demand. The Summit will focus on the present and the future outlining where we are and what is needed to meet future demands. Contact, Info, Registration Vaughn Croft (520) 879-9265 [email protected] Download Details and Agenda Here June 6, 2024, Meeting Recap
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Each year the Arizona Technology Council prepares a public policy guide, including state and federal broadband policy recommendations. The full 2024 Public Policy Guide is downloadable at https://www.aztechcouncil.org/public-policy/. Mark Goldstein is leading the development of the Broadband and Digital Equity Recommendations for 2025. Download the draft of the Arizona Technology Council’s 2025 state and federal broadband policy recommendations that currently reflects last year’s published version. FYI. Comments or markups on AZTC broadband policy should be sent to Mark by 6/17/24 at [email protected]. Will appreciate any of you reviewing and help freshen up for current circumstances and outlook. Appreciate any of you reviewing and help freshen up for current circumstances and outlook. Download the draft Broadband and Digital Equity Recommendations for 2025 here. Mark Goldstein 602-670-6407 [email protected] Important: To submit your comments you must download and mark-up the 2025 Draft File and send to Mark by June 17 Downloads
AZBSN Digital Inclusion Presentation Jerry Keely, US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Download Jerry Keely Presentation June 6, 2024 Jerry is the CISA Cyber Security Advisor (CSA) for Region 9 (includes Arizona) US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Jerry introduced himself and provided a brief overview of his role and Arizona initiatives in Arizona. He also provided a brief intro to a Cyber Security Training Program he is personally developing targeting small businesses, seniors, etc. CISA, the US cyber defense agency, stands ready to help organizations prepare for, respond to, and mitigate the impact of cyberattacks. CISA’s Secure Our World campaign webpage provides recommendations, products, and resources to increase organizational vigilance and keep stakeholders informed about cybersecurity threats and destructive exploits against critical infrastructure. CONTACT Cell: (202) 394-0491 | Email: [email protected] June 26 Workforce Outreach Summit: Building Southern Arizona’s Workforce Talent Pipeline 9:00 am – 1:30 pm - Fred g. Acosta Job Corps Center, 901 South Campbell Avenue, tucson, arizona 85719 Download Details and Agenda Here Fred G. Acosta Job Corps Center is in Tucson to serve the community and outlying areas in economic development through workforce training. The Workforce Outreach Summit is structured to assess the extent of the need for career technical training based on industries and trades that are expanding. A range of agencies and workforce training programs will be represented including recruiting businesses to relocate to this region, City and County economic development, Community College with technical training, and University of Arizona with programs for engineers and specialized degrees. Alumni and local employers will be in attendance to acknowledge the success of Fred G. Acosta Job Corps Center and its future. Due to an increase in Federal funding Pima County and the surrounding area is a good place to find employment. However, there is a growing need for a trained workforce to match the demand. The Summit will focus on the present and the future outlining where we are and what is needed to meet future demands. Contact, Info, Registration Vaughn Croft (520) 879-9265 [email protected] Download Details and Agenda Here May 30, 2024, Meeting Recap
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AZBSN Digital Inclusion Presentation:
Dr. Solís provided a overview of his work at ASU, including Arizona, and national and international projects. He spoke about technology innovation, federal grant opportunities and global workforce accelerator re micro electronics and semiconductor manufacturing, in Arizona, and so globally, with the partners that we have here, Kelly highlighted the collaboration with Maricopa County, which provided federal grant money, and partnerships with Sun Corridor Network and the Digital Equity Institute. Their efforts focus on expanding broadband infrastructure, digital skills building, navigation support, and device provisioning Dario combines academic credentials, business competencies, and global experience with: Providing international leadership in project formulation and implementation of key economic development projects that gathers world class teams; • Providing leadership in the consolidation of multidisciplinary teams that support the creation of large research, development, demonstration and deployment organizations with the participation of industry, academia and the federal government; • Using science and technology development to support innovation: • winning competitive funding and external support for research and development; • Communicating with decision makers for adopting research finding; • Capturing and developing the talent of individuals and teams of scientists; • Inspiring through intellectual leadership in science and technology; • Transforming and growing organizations; • Aligning relevance and performance to institutional development strategy; • Forging and nurturing multi-sectoral, multi-disciplinary R&D partnerships; • Creating, conducting, and directing projects in manufacturing, energy, transportation, logistics, engineering analysis, design, and optimization Kelly Mukherjee, director of Broadband and Digital Inclusion programs at Asus enterprise technology, spoke about their initiatives, particularly the Maricopa County Broadband Initiative. She collaborates with CIO Love Gornick, a seasoned professional in Broadband and Digital Inclusion, especially noted for his work in Cleveland, Ohio. Kelly Mukherjee ASU Director, Broadband & Digital Inclusion Programs, ASU's Enterprise Technology, highlighted the collaboration with Maricopa County, which provided federal grant money, and partnerships with Sun Corridor Network and the Digital Equity Institute. Their efforts focus on expanding broadband infrastructure, digital skills building, navigation support, and device provisioning. Mukherjee leads the team responsible for broadband mapping, facilitating cooperation between Maricopa and Pima Counties. The program includes a web portal named "AZ-1," resembling a highway sign, symbolizing statewide connectivity. Arizona State University oversees the program and grant management, Sun Corridor handles infrastructure, and the Digital Equity Institute addresses human elements of digital inclusion. ASU's Enterprise Technology, comprising 800 employees, supports the initiative, along with the broader ASU community of over 18,000 staff. Mukherjee appreciates the collaborative efforts with various partners, including Common Sense Media, Pima County, the State Library, and the ACA. She expressed gratitude for the platform enabling these connections and partnerships. Contacts
9:00 am – 1:30 pm - Fred g. Acosta Job Corps Center, 901 South Campbell Avenue, tucson, arizona 85719 Download Details and Agenda Here Fred G. Acosta Job Corps Center is in Tucson to serve the community and outlying areas in economic development through workforce training. The Workforce Outreach Summit is structured to assess the extent of the need for career technical training based on industries and trades that are expanding. A range of agencies and workforce training programs will be represented including recruiting businesses to relocate to this region, City and County economic development, Community College with technical training, and University of Arizona with programs for engineers and specialized degrees. Alumni and local employers will be in attendance to acknowledge the success of Fred G. Acosta Job Corps Center and its future. Due to an increase in Federal funding Pima County and the surrounding area is a good place to find employment. However, there is a growing need for a trained workforce to match the demand. The Summit will focus on the present and the future outlining where we are and what is needed to meet future demands. Contact, Info, Registration Vaughn Croft (520) 879-9265 [email protected] Download Details and Agenda Here May 23, 2024, Meeting Recap
Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links below to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the May 23 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
for Education and Workforce Development. There's an old saying Content Is King but in today’s world of technology any discussion about education and workforce development not only needs to address the content and topics to be taught, but new and innovative technologies to engage learners and stimulate interest in the process of learning. Education and workforce development is not only the what we need to teach, but the how. How we will we use new and innovative technologies for learner engagement? This was an engaging panel discussion by 3 innovative educators:
May 16, 2024, Meeting Recap
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Brian is an AT&T Fellow/AVP of Wireless Technology & Standards for AT&T and oversees AT&T’s strategy and leadership in global industry standards. He is a member of the FCC’s Technological Advisory Council and is chair of the Chair of the North American Fraud and Security Group NAFFSG . He will provide and update on 5G-Advanced and 6G cellular as well as the work of the FCC Task Force and NAFFSG. 5G Advanced is the next evolutionary step in 5G technology. It will bring a new level of enhanced capabilities beyond connectivity and enable a wider set of advanced use cases for verticals. It will support advanced applications with enhanced mobility and high reliability as well as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) that will improve network performance. Following 5G Advanced, 6G is the next generation of cellular technology. 6G is just starting to be standardized and will be launched in the early 2030s. Contact: m 425.241.7544 | o 678.917.1230| [email protected] File Downloads May 9, 2024, Meeting Recap
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County- Wide Planning For Broadband and Digital Inclusion The meeting featured an engaging and interactive dialog on developing county-wide Broadband and Digital Inclusion plans. We heard from county leaders about exemplary plans in Pima, Yuma and Apache Counties and the challenges, processes, and issues in developing a county plan. Our panel included:
File Downloads May 2, 2024, Meeting Recap
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AZBSN Digital Inclusion Presentation Matthew Suchodolski General Field Representative (Telecom) Arizona, Rural Development, United States Department of Agriculture. Matthew provided an overview of USDA and other federal grants, programs and resources, including projects in Arizona. Since August 2024 Matthew has been serving as Rural Utilities Service’s General Field Representative serving Arizona. In this capacity he engages with stakeholders & provides programmatic guidance to recipients as they implement their projects. In supporting broadband expansion in Arizona on behalf of USDA through RUS he brings over 20 years of public service experience in community & economic development at the local, regional & national levels. File Downloads File Downloads: Governor’s Interagency and Community Broadband Advisory Council
Working Group Meetings (ICBAC) March Meeting Recordings & April Meeting Agendas and Summaries
April 25, 2024, Meeting Recap
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April 18, 2024, Meeting Recap
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April 11, 2024, Meeting Recap
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Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Steve Peters: Steve reported See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Presentation/Discussion 1 Triad Wireless: Rory Conaway, CEO Triad Wireless presented/discussed how Triad Wireless believes that broadband carriers have a morapril_11_2024_task_force_registration.pdfal responsibility to step in and fill the void left by the demise of ACP. Triad, therefore, will extend the ACP rebate for those existing customers that apply until the ACP program is re-funded or another program is put in its place. In addition, they will extend this offer to any of their competitors’ customers that qualify for the Triad Affordable Connectivity Program (TACP). We will also discussed how we can get the word out about this initiative and encourage other ISPs to adopt a similar program. Contact: Contact: Rory Conaway, Triad Wireless CEO, [email protected] 602-426-0542 See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Presentation/Discussion 2 FCC and ACP: Amina Fazlullah, Head of Tech Policy Advocacy discussed the FCC draft of an upcoming decision related to title reclassification that include a forbearance provision that could slow or limit the ability of the FCC to effectively create an “ACP” like program in the Universal Service Fund. Common Sense Media and others have filed comments with the FCC flagging this issue and are following up with the Commission to try to correct this in their final draft. Considering the uncertainty of ACP extension and USF contribution reform moving through Congress it is especially critical that the FCC avoids forbearance on this issue and preserve their ability to fund a broadband affordability program without having to rely on Congressional appropriation. Contact: Amina Fazlullah [email protected] 650-814-800 365-0814-8003 See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Ilana Lowery, . See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Mark Goldstein, Chair, Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council reported that See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Mala Muralidharan, AZ State Library E-rate Administrator reported . See the Recording and Transcript For More Details John Kelly, a principal with the Government Relations consulting firm Triadvocates. . See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
April 4, 2024, Meeting Recap
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Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Steve Peters: Steve reported Steve reported In the next two or three weeks, there will be a presentation regarding EX2. In addition to Compudrop, there will be a presentation focusing on their work and involvement in a national coalition exploring funding options for ACP. This discussion, likely to be extended, will cover both their organizational initiatives and their role in the national coalition led by AT&T. Furthermore, there are plans to organize a panel discussion on the pros, cons, and benefits of municipally owned infrastructure. This topic has been gaining attention lately, and there is a growing interest in exploring various models and discussing their implications. Ex2 obtaining the contract from the ADOT. This contract will involve a commercial management partner for Arizona's highway right-of-way, particularly focusing on segments from Nogales to Flagstaff and new Broadband deployment projects from Flagstaff to California. See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Ilana Lowery, . See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Mark Goldstein, Chair, Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council reported that Broadband and Digital Inclusion Presentation: See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Mala Muralidharan, AZ State Library E-rate Administrator reported . See the Recording and Transcript For More Details John Kelly, a principal with the Government Relations consulting firm Triadvocates. . See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
March 28 2024, Meeting Recap
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Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Steve Peters: Steve reported update on the absence of Broadband office staff, who are hosting an event. Two new staff members, Kelly Kursee and Jamie Garrett, are introduced, with Kelly serving as the Broadband Community Engagement Manager and Jamie as the new senior Broadband Program Manager. Steve provided information about the RFQ (Request for Qualifications) for Broadband Digital Equity consulting and management services, with application questions due on March 14 and final applications due on April 1. The speaker directs attendees to their newsletter for further details. The Broadband office is currently conducting engagement tours, with events scheduled from March 25 to 27. Additionally, the Governor's Interagency Community Broadband Advisory Council working groups have been active, with recent sessions held on March 25 and upcoming sessions focused on workforce development. They have combined infrastructure, permitting and mapping. And then there was a Digital Inclusion, Workforce Development and the new tribal one Details on how to join these working groups are available in the newsletter. Steve reported In the next two or three weeks, there will be a presentation regarding EX2. In addition to Compudrop, there will be a presentation focusing on their work and involvement in a national coalition exploring funding options for ACP. This discussion, likely to be extended, will cover both their organizational initiatives and their role in the national coalition led by AT&T. Furthermore, there are plans to organize a panel discussion on the pros, cons, and benefits of municipally owned infrastructure. This topic has been gaining attention lately, and there is a growing interest in exploring various models and discussing their implications. Ex2 obtaining the contract from the ADOT. This contract will involve a commercial management partner for Arizona's highway right-of-way, particularly focusing on segments from Nogales to Flagstaff and new Broadband deployment projects from Flagstaff to California. See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Ilana Lowery, Common Sense Media Arizona Regional Director, Ilana reported that there is no significant new development regarding the ACP Extension Act. ISPs have issued their second notice, and there is uncertainty regarding the funding package approved in DC, which did not include provisions for the Extension Act. The focus now is on preparing for the wind down of the program and supporting the 525,000 Arizona residents who will need to transition to low-cost plans. Some smaller ISPs are retaining customers on the program to avoid potential gaps in coverage. Additionally, Mala shared a new Benton ACP risk assessment tool in the chat, allowing individuals to assess the risk by zip code for those who may lose their ACP benefits. Efforts to support this issue have included sending letters and documents of support to Capitol Hill, although there is no positive news to report at this time. See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Mark Goldstein, Chair, Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council reported that John Kelly, the lobbyist and officer for ATIC, has been working on organizing an broadband briefing for the rural Legislative Caucus, scheduled for April. Sandip and a few others will be presenting and engaging with the Rural Legislative Caucus during this event. Mark also reported on the Arizona Regional Economic Development Foundation Internet For All event. They hosted an on-site event on Monday, featuring a panel discussion. Ilana and Mark were part of the panel, alongside Sandip and Drew Garner and Gigi Sohn. Gigi shared an interesting perspective suggesting that the FCC might reform universal service to incorporate concepts similar to ACP, a process she estimated could take a year. She emphasized the importance of lobbying for such reform. Mark also provided a presentation showing the history of Broadband in Arizona, Additionally, he mentioned two other events: a fundraising and awards gala at the Phoenix Art Museum hosted by Erin Carr Jordan, and the sixth annual ASU Smart City conference led by Lev Gonick, ASU CIO, which featured national figures like Gigi Sohn and Larry Irving. Nubia Estrada, Chicanos Por La Causa ACP Administrator provided an update on the ACP program, mentioning that they are no longer accepting new applicants. They are informing the community through calls and a flyer, focusing on sharing information about the program's status. Despite the bleak outlook, they are staying vigilant for any potential developments. There's mention of partial coverage being available in May for non-tribal members, estimated between $7 to $16. Despite challenges, they continue to highlight the positive impact of ACP in their communities. See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Broadband and Digital Inclusion Presentation: Airvine, John Giarolo, VP Sales Airvine has developed the industry’s first indoor 60 GHz wireless system that exceeds the speed and rivals the reliability of existing cabling at a fraction of the deployment time and cost. Patented RF innovations extend the range and gain of wireless signals, penetrating walls and steering around obstacles that impede transmission. Something, they say, was never before possible within the 60 GHz band. Why Airvine?
See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Mala Muralidharan, AZ State Library E-rate Administrator reported the recent deadline for E Rate applications, indicating that late applications can still be submitted until April 10 with a waiver from the FCC. Despite this extension, there's a discussion about a reduction in reimbursement rates compared to previous years. Specifically, she mentioned that while the total amount applied for this year is around $85 million, the expected reimbursement, factoring in discounts, may be closer to $70 million. The importance of the Universal Service Fund (USF) in supporting various telecommunications programs is emphasized. Specifically, she mentioned programs like ACP and the hotspot program, which rely on the USF for funding. Senator Cruz's blueprint for increasing the USF base is brought up, highlighting potential strategies such as avoiding duplication between programs and targeting low-income groups without internet access. She also mentioned the National Education Technology Plan, a document by the Department of Education aimed at addressing digital divides among students and educators. They suggest that this plan could inform strategies for implementing BEAD funding and Digital Equity funding. Cybersecurity pilot programs are also briefly touched upon, with mention of a $200 million grant application by the FTC. Comments on the application suggest adjustments such as shortening the duration of the pilot program and ensuring technology-neutral implementation to address cybersecurity concerns. Lastly, she spoke about tools developed by the NTIA, including a mapping tool and permitting environment tool. These tools aim to address infrastructure development challenges, particularly in tribal areas, by providing better information and streamlining the permitting process. See the Recording and Transcript For More Details John Kelly, a principal with the Government Relations consulting firm Triadvocates. The lobbyists for the ATIC group as well. Last week he reported there was concern about a potential strike over an amendment in the Senate government committee to dismantle the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA), including transferring the Arizona Broadband program. The bill passed the committee and appears to have support to move forward. Additionally, in the House Appropriations Committee on Monday, there was another strike to save and maintain ACA in its current form. These competing proposals are still in the process, and their resolution may become part of the broader budget negotiations. Despite initial concerns, there is now more optimism about the future of ACA. See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
March 21 2024, Meeting Recap
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March 21, 2024 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Broadband and Digital Inclusion Presentation: Brian Fickett, General Manager Tohono O’odham Nation Tohono O'odham Utility Authority. Brian provided an overview of the Tohono O’odham Utility Authority (TOUA). Established in 1970 TOUA provides telephone, electric, water, cellular, propane, and internet services to the Tohono O’odham Nation and surrounding areas. As the only public utilities department on the reservation, we’re committed to offering reliable, high-quality services to our customers. The Tohono O’odham Nation stretches through Pima, Pinal, and Maricopa counties in Southern Arizona. It’s the second largest reservation in the state, with nearly three million acres. Much of this area is rural or remote, and it offers an abundance of scenic, rugged desert landscape. Sells, Arizona, operates as the capital of the Nation and is also where TOUA’s offices are located. Contact: [email protected] 520-383-5817 M 520-425-7373 See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Erin Lorandos, Digital Equity Program Manager, Arizona Broadband Office provided and update. She announced 2 new staff members, Kelly Krusee, Broadband Community Engagement Manager and Jamie Garrett, the Senior Broadband Program Manager focused primarily on the infrastructure side of the BEAD program. She also reported The Digital Equity plan is in its final stages of updates, with the submission deadline set for March 28. Following this, the Notice of Funding Opportunity for capacity grants is expected to be released shortly thereafter, although the exact timeline is yet to be determined. The sub-grant process is anticipated for the fall, with specific dates to be confirmed later. Additionally, members of the team will embark on an engagement tour, starting in the northeastern part of the state next week. This is the first of four trips, so we're going around the entire state meeting with every county and every federally recognized tribe here in Arizona. She also provided a reminder that the state Broadband office is hosting weekly office hours as well and those are one on one conversations built into the schedule directly with Sandip and Krystal and Perla Lopez Krystal Saverse, Arizona Broadband Office Broadband Data GIS Analyst explained that the challenge process provides an opportunity for individuals to contest the status of BEAD (Broadband Expansion and Adoption) eligible locations. Information and materials related to the challenge process can be accessed on the Broadband page of the Arizona Commerce website. Additionally, the AZ Broadband Navigator map displays all BEAD eligible locations, defined as areas receiving less than 100 by 20 megabytes per second broadband services without an existing federal commitment. Kelly Krusee introduced herself as the new Broadband Community Engagement Manager and announced that she is coming from the Arizona Department Of Education Nicole Umayam, Federal Program Officer with NTIA for Arizona, acknowledges her involvement in the ongoing broadband-related processes outlined by the Broadband office. She reiterated her availability as a resource for stakeholders, offering assistance and answering questions regarding the BEAD program, NTIA, and facilitating connections with other federal partners. She emphasized the significance of the current challenge process in ensuring accurate mapping of broadband locations and urges assistance in disseminating information about it, highlighting its critical importance. Michael Holcomb, Arizona Telemedicine Program, Interim Director, extends an ongoing invitation to collaborate with anyone involved in enhancing rural broadband infrastructure, telehealth, and healthcare services in rural and underserved areas. Megan Hammond, Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records, Library Development Administrator, introduced Anthony Constantini the State Library's new Digital Inclusion Library Consultant. Anthony Constantini the State Library's new Digital Inclusion Library Consultani introduced himself. I'm coming from ASU library, where as a public services coordinator for about a year. And then previous to that I was at Scottsdale Public Library for a little over four years. Mala Muralidharan, AZ State Library E-rate Administrator reported according to a report from Communications Daily, the additional funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is not included in the 2024 appropriations minibus package that Congress will address later this week. Despite an agreement reached by the White House for the funding, it remains absent from the package. Additionally, the report mentions the absence of provisions related to the rip and replace initiative, targeting the removal and replacement of Huawei and other Chinese products with approved alternatives. Mala also reported she is focused on ensuring that all applicants complete their ERate applications by the March 27 deadline for the cycle spanning July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. She highlights ongoing challenges with the Navajo Nation chapter house sites, particularly regarding right-of-way issues and stability concerns with poles, hindering fiber buildout progress. Despite yearly extensions, completion remains elusive. Additionally, she draws attention to the Benton Institute's recent publication on building public broadband networks, which serves as a comprehensive guide combining policy, technology, and finance based on studies of successful and cost-effective implementations. She recommend reviewing this report in preparation for the BEAD buildout and will share the link in the chat. Mala reported a discussion during the SHLB meeting regarding the FCC 706 report, which is released biennially and addresses changes in broadband speed standards. The report suggests higher broadband definitions for both anchor and non-anchor institutions. Currently, anchor institutions are standardized at one gigabit, with SHLB recommending improvements for schools, health organizations, and libraries' broadband access. See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Mark Goldstein, Chair, Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council reported PJ Way has expressed interest in initiating dialogue with the Broadband office regarding concerns about the ARDOF process, particularly in light of the FCC's raised expectations for broadband speed requirements and ongoing issues with ARDOF defaults. There are concerns about how these factors will impact the availability of broadband service in certain locations for funding in the BEAD round, potentially leaving some areas unserved. Some states have taken proactive measures by sending letters to ARDOF recipients to engage on their commitment and plans. Mark raised this issue on behalf of PJ and suggests exploring a focused discussion on the matter with Sandip and others involved. Mark explained providers participate in a reverse auction process to secure the right to cover specific areas and receive federal incentives. However, there have been winners and losers, such as Starlink, leading to uncertainty in the areas committed to. Defaults are occurring, with more anticipated, despite some providers fulfilling their commitments. These areas under the ART-OF program are excluded from BEAD service location availability. Failure to meet ARDOF infrastructure timelines will result in remaining unserved or underserved outside the BEAD funding window. Nicole Umyam said In other states, providers contest unfulfilled commitments, leading to re-releasing locations for BEAD eligibility. States rely on FCC designations despite accumulating evidence of potential build-out delays before removing locations as enforceable commitments. The ongoing challenge process and deduplication efforts remain critical in ensuring accurate mapping and potential adjustments to project areas for BEAD eligibility. Mark shared two other updates: first, mentioning an interesting report from Benton Institute titled "Own Your Own Internet: How to Build The Public Broadband Network," which provides a clear guide for tribes and communities interested in building public broadband networks. Second, he shares a link to an international cybersecurity conference taking place from May 8th to 10th, acknowledging its costliness and audience of IT cybersecurity professionals and managers. See the Recording and Transcript For More Details John Kelly, a principal with the Government Relations consulting firm Triadvocates. The lobbyists for the ATIC group as well as number of other entities but the state Broadband office sits within the Arizona Commerce Authority. The Arizona Commerce Authority is up for its sunset continuation review by the legislature. It's had a lot of great support out of the house of representatives on a bipartisan basis. But the Senate has been a different challenge the Senate government Chair, Senator Jake Hoffman from the Queen Creek area, has proposed to eliminate the ACA and most of its programs. He's running an amendment in a committee today, our committee on a bill a strike everything amendment that would eliminate ACA move most of its functions under the Office of Economic Opportunity changed the leadership of the ACA board to largely consist of small business members would create a private right of action. So anybody could sue the ACA for any of the economic development programs, they have the least or sorry, the most innocuous thing in it is just simply transferring the ACA from transferring the state Broadband office to the department administration. Now ACA is not formally a state agency, it operates under a different set of rules. So moving it from a non state agency, to a state agency may have some unforeseen consequences, both from a staffing standpoint and other standpoint, I don't see that as necessarily being the biggest problem with that amendment. But I wanted to make sure this group which is so heavily focused on Broadband was aware of this Judy Sulltrop, Senator Mark Kelly, Outreach and constituent services Northern Arizona. This is the submission period for cities, towns, and other jurisdictions to apply for congressionally directed spending, encompassing projects funded through existing grant programs via a non-competitive process. The deadline has been extended to April 5, with many jurisdictions utilizing these funds for broadband projects, albeit needing to qualify under relevant programs such as USDA Rural Development for rural projects. The team is busy fielding questions and coordinating with Senator Sinema's office to streamline the submission process. Budget agreements have been reached, awaiting a vote, with a potential government shutdown over the weekend. Recent developments include discussions on the Tick Tock ban and the announcement of funds for the CHIPS Act, anticipated to bring jobs to Arizona for national security purposes. Ilana Lowery, Common Sense Media Arizona Regional Director, Ilana reported on behalf of the Arizona Digital Inclusion Network, indicating ongoing discussions about post-Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) initiatives to assist organizations in supporting their clients. If anybody's got any ideas about what they're doing to help their customers and clients after ACP, we're putting together kind of a tip sheet, Additionally, she highlighted the upcoming TechFest: Bridging Digital Divides event scheduled for Saturday, April 13th, from 10 am to 3 pm at We Care Tucson, featuring various engaging activities for both children and adults, with free admission. Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
March 14 2024, Meeting Recap
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March 14, 2024 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Broadband and Digital Inclusion Presentation EJ John, Senior Research Analyst, American Indian Policy Institute, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University EJ provided an overview of the The American Indian Policy Institute (AIPI) and their focus on Tribal broadband connectivity. AIPI is an Indigenous-led and staffed research institute at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at ASU. AIPI works to support Tribal communities and Indigenous peoples nationwide by creating academic research focused on key issues in Indian Country. One Key issue that AIPI focused on is Tribal broadband connectivity, and their 2019 Tribal Technology Assessment was one of our most impactful contributions to the broadband space. Federal data continues to show tribal lands are the least connected areas of the country. AIPI launched the Tribal Technology Assessment: The State of Internet Service on Tribal Lands to collect information from residents of tribal reservations to determine what levels of Internet access they had and what types of devices they using to access it. The study also identified potential barriers to access, such as the lack of availability or its unaffordability for residents to purchase. Contact: EJ John, [email protected] 602-543-4514 See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Chris Becenti, NTIA is a federal program officer and The Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) Program Specialist with the tribal Broadband connectivity program here at NTIA. He is also part of mapping team. He provide a brief overview of Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program and an update on what is happening with the program. See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Michael Holcomb, Arizona Telemedicine Program, Interim Director, shared insights from attending the Tribal Health Literacy Summit, highlighting the significance of broadband and connectivity in addressing barriers to accessing essential services for indigenous communities. The discussions emphasized the pronounced determinants of health faced by indigenous populations and underscored the critical role of broadband in facilitating access to various services beyond telehealth. Megan Hammond, Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records, Library Development Administrator, announced the upcoming arrival of a new Digital Inclusion library consultant who will commence their role on Monday. She anticipates introducing him to the AZBSN the following Thursday. Mala Muralidharan, AZ State Library E-rate Administrator provided an overview of the ongoing ERate application process, which aids in reimbursing schools and libraries for internet and internal connection costs based on the National School Lunch Program data. She mentioned the availability of state master contracts for both Category One (internet) and Category Two (internal connections), along with her assistance to applicants. Additionally, she discussed a project involving fiber installation at Navajo Nation chapterhouse library sites, highlighting challenges such as permitting. She also commentsd on the The Affordable Connectivity Act, facing potential discontinuation, is noted to impact over 522,000 households in Arizona, with discussions on its extension bill (HR 6929) and its implications on the broader broadband ecosystem. She also reported on Senator Cruz's proposed reforms for the Universal Service Fund (USF) are outlined, focusing on eliminating duplication, subsidizing legacy telephone companies, and targeting low-income groups. These points reflect ongoing developments and debates in the realm of telecommunications policy. Mala also discussed the role of the Schools, Health, and Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB), comprising nearly 400 stakeholders including schools, libraries, health organizations, and service providers, in influencing FCC and US SEC policies. She highlighted SHLB's efforts in BEAD optimization, referencing a presentation on the Vernon Bolt model for cost-effective connectivity solutions, and Sanborn maps' webinars on broadband utilization strategies. Additionally, she touched upon recent telehealth initiatives, including a virtual conference organized by the Southwest Telehealth Resource Center, where she presented pilot projects integrating telehealth services into libraries. Yavapai County's plans for similar initiatives are also mentioned, signaling ongoing efforts to expand broadband access and telehealth services. See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Caroline Klebacha, State Historic Preservation Office, Compliance Specialist, is an archaeology compliance specialist at the State Historic Preservation Office. mentions She reviews projects for agencies such as the NTIA and FCC. She emphasized her role in the environmental team tasked with assessing cultural resources and historic properties as projects progress. She assured her availability for assistance and encourages reaching out for any related matters in the future. See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Mark Goldstein, Chair, Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council reported on the upcoming Arizona Regional Economic Development Foundation (AREDF, https://www.aredf.org/) & Arizona Broadband for All (https://arizonabroadbandforall.org/) are State of Broadband in Arizona in-person meeting on March 25th, 2024 from 11-1 PM at the Flinn Foundation in Phoenix limited to 50 attendees. For details and free registration see https://www.eventbrite.com/e/state-of-broadband-in-arizona-tickets-861823265587 or contact Mignonne Hollis at [email protected]. Mark also announced The Center on Rural Innovation has created a suite of BEAD application resources and an interactive mapping tool to help smaller ISPs be more competitive when applying for this historic funding. Their BEAD Broadband Funding Guide is at https://ruralinnovation.us/bead-broadband-funding-guide/ and their mapping tool at https://rural-broadband-map.ruralinnovation.us/ See the Recording and Transcript For More Details Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
March 7 2024, Meeting Recap
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March 7, 2024 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Broadband and Digital Inclusion Presentation Televeda. Kimber Tower, Televeda Director of Sustainability provide an overview of their end-to-end Services that are Bridging the Digital Divide and combating loneliness and isolation among older adults and other marginalized or difficult-to-reach populations with their virtual platform and social engagement solution. Televeda also provides subsidized devices & internet in low-income neighborhoods so every community can have resources to connect Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
February 29, 2024, Meeting Recap
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The following presentations were provided to the DES February 20 Community Economic Development Advisory Consortium (CEDAC) coordinated by Andy Sinclair, DES Capacity Development Coordinator, Division of Community Assistance and Development, 480-263-2271 [email protected]
Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Digital Inclusion, Cybersecurity and AI. On February 29, Ash Black, Director, AI & Industry, University of Arizona, and Mary Darling, Co-Chair, Arizona Technology Council’s Arizona Artificial Intelligence Ecosystem (AAIE) Committee, and CEO of Darling Geomatics kicked-off a discussion about regional approaches to Digital Inclusion, Cybersecurity in the age of AI, and provided an overview of the Arizona Technology Council’s Arizona Artificial Intelligence Ecosystem (AAIE) Committee. Ash introduced the topic and shared a number of conversations currently underway that might be leading us to an opportunity to galvanize strategically on cybersecurity regionally. Mary Darling, Co-Chair, Arizona Technology Council’s Arizona Artificial Intelligence Ecosystem (AAIE) Committee and CEO of Darling Geomatics provided and overview of her company and the Tech Council AI Ecosystem Committee. Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
February 22, 2024, Meeting Recap
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The following presentations were provided to the DES February 20 Community Economic Development Advisory Consortium (CEDAC) coordinated by Andy Sinclair, DES Capacity Development Coordinator, Division of Community Assistance and Development, 480-263-2271 [email protected]
Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
February 8, 2024, Meeting Recap
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Harry Meier presentation on Mesa Broadband and Digital Inclusion initiatives February 8 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Due to the length of the following updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
The following people provided updates on: the BEAD Challenge Process and Digital Equity Plan; ACP Status and;
Please see the following for details Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details February 1, 2024, Meeting Recap
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Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Due to the length of the following updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
The following people provided updates on: the BEAD Challenge Process and Digital Equity Plan; ACP Status and; Arizona Department Of Education Office Of Educational Technology
Please see the following for details Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details Recap: January 18, 2024 Arizona Digital Equity Draft Plan Study Session
On January 18, 2024 AZBSN hosted a Virtual and Interactive Arizona Digital Equity Draft Plan Study Session in cooperation with: the Arizona Commerce Authority Broadband Office, and Governor Hobbs Interagency and Community Broadband Advisory Council See details Below On January 2, 2024 the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) released for public comment the draft of the Arizona Digital Equity Plan. The Plan is an initiative to promote digital equity and inclusion and ensure that all people and communities have the skills, technology and capacity needed to reap the full benefits of our digital economy. The public Comments/Feedback for the draft plan will be accepted until the end of the day, Thursday February 1st The Study Session provided an overview of the plan, the next steps, and how you can provide input. There was also interactive opportunities for you to ask questions and provide your input. See details about the plan below. See the plan here Presenters included:
Session Recording, Presentations and Links See Summary Here or Links Below Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links below to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the January 18 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
January 11, 2024, Meeting Recap
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Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Due to the length of the following updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details January 4, 2024, Meeting Recap
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Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Due to the length of the following updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details December 21, 2023, Meeting Recap
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Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Due to the length of the following updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details December 14, 2023, Meeting Recap
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Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Due to the length of the following updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
December 7, 2023, Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 8:00 am MST Thursday Morning December 7 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the December 7, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Due to the length of the following updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
November 30, 2023, Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 8:00 am MST Thursday Morning November 30 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the November 9, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
November 30 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Due to the length of the following updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
November 16, 2023, Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 8:00 am MST Thursday Morning November 16 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the November 9, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
Nicole Umyam AZBSN Initial Proposal overview 11-09-2023.pdf November 16 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Due to the length of the following updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
November 9, 2023, Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 8:00 am MST Thursday Morning November 9 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the November 9, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
Nicole Umyam AZBSN Initial Proposal overview 11-09-2023.pdf November 9 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Due to the length of the following updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
November 2, 2023, Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 8:00 am MST Thursday Morning November 2 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the November 2, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
November 2 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Due to the length of the following updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
October 26, 2023, Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 8:00 am MST Thursday Morning October 26 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the October 26, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
Resound Networks, Tamara Rosenberg , State Broadband Coordinator October 26 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Due to the length of the following updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
October 19, 2023, Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 8:00 am MST Thursday Morning October 19 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the October 12, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
October 19 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Due to the length of the following updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
October 12, 2023, Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 8:00 am MST Thursday Morning October 12 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the October 12, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
October 12 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Due to the length of the following updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details
Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details --- October 5, 2023 Zoom meeting recording --- October 5, 2023 meeting Chat --- October 5, 2023 Zoom Transcript This link takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker . October 5, 2023, Meeting Recap Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 8:00 am MST Thursday Morning October 5 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the October 5 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
October 5 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Due to the length of the following updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details --- October 5, 2023 Zoom meeting recording --- October 5, 2023 meeting Chat --- October 5, 2023 Zoom Transcript This link takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker.
Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details --- October 5, 2023 Zoom meeting recording --- October 5, 2023 meeting Chat --- October 5, 2023 Zoom Transcript This link takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker . September 28, 2023, Meeting Recap Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 8:00 am MST Thursday Morning September 28 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the September 28 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
PDF-Ash Black, AI Consultant, Institute for Computation & Data-Enabled Insight, University of Arizona September 28 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Due to the length of the following updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details --- September 28, 2023 Zoom meeting recording --- September 28, 2023 meeting Chat --- September 28, 2023 Zoom Transcript This link takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
Due to the length of the updates, please see the links to the recording and the transcript for details --- September 28, 2023 Zoom meeting recording --- September 28, 2023 meeting Chat --- September 28, 2023 Zoom Transcript This link takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome. September 21, 2023, Meeting Recap Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 8:00 am MST Thursday Morning September 21 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the September 21, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
September 14, 2023, Meeting Recap Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 8:00 am MST Thursday Morning September 14 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the September 14, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
September 7, 2023, Meeting Recap Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm MST Monday Afternoon September 7 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the September 7, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
August 24, 2023, Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm MST Monday Afternoon august_24_2023_azbsn_chat_transcript.pdf August 24 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the August 21, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
August 24 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
AZBSN Broadband and Digital Inclusion Cyber Security Strategy Team Steve provided an update on AZBSN's plans to create a AZBSN Broadband and Digital Inclusion Cyber Security Strategy Team Cybersecurity Initiative for AC BSN. JT LaGrande and John Haas have offered to take the lead on this initiative. Steve has been in touch with about a dozen organizations, including the State Library, state broadband office, Pima College, Arizona Department of Education, and Homeland Security, that have expressed interest in participating. A small group of about a dozen people will initially come together to clarify the mission and how the Team will work together before opening it up to others who wish to participate. If anyone wants to be involved from the beginning they let the organizers know. The focus of the Cybersecurity Initiative for AZBSN is to address the issue of cybersecurity for people, particularly those who are are disadvantaged, marginalized or have little or no experience with technology and the Internet who are being connected to the internet, many of whom do not know how to use a computer or anything about cybersecurity. The goal is to figure out how to deal with cybersecurity as we sign people up and provide digital navigators. The focus will be fairly narrow to avoid duplicating the efforts of other organizations that are already doing cybersecurity education. The task of providing cybersecurity education for seniors, students, and others is a huge one. Three people stepped up to lead: JT LaGrand, Consultant, [email protected] 3038807584; Mala Muralidharan AZ State Library E-rate Administrator [email protected] 602-540-2592; JonHaass, President, Prescott Regional Opportunity Foundation (PROF) Center For the Future, [email protected]; Additional Updates Due to the length the following updates please see the following for details:
Lilian is the Digital Equity Program Manager for the Arizona commerce authority. So as many of you know, we kind of have two programs. We have the digital equity aspect and then we have the broadband aspect. Yesterday, we did finalize our bead five year plan and it is up on our website for everyone to view so after I'm done speaking, I will drop the link for everyone in the chat. There's a lot of alignment between this the digital equity plan that we are producing currently, with this five year plan, this broadband five year plan, so please take a look at it. Our state digital equity plan is underway. We are currently in the middle of writing it, We are coming towards the end of that and that draft will be up for public comment in October, our next community listening session that we host every month, we are going to be discussing what that public comment period will look like and what strategies we're taking. So I highly recommend everyone here register for that.. Janet Major-Arizona Telemedicine Program Janet reported they went to Nevada and scheduled facilities in Reno, Carson City, and Las Vegas for a telehealth statewide training about Nevada broadband and promoting ACP. They also had an online audience. They then went to Colorado and did only half of that, which was somewhat disappointing because they missed out on the benefits of a hybrid event. They went to Denver for a national caliber augmented reality virtual reality psychiatry event at the University of Colorado, where they had 50 people in the room. If it had been a hybrid event, they could have reached more people and had a recording of the event. The speaker is advocating for hybrid events for future educational opportunities, such as a tribal health equity event focused on diabetes and a community health worker conference in Tucson. They believe that hybrid events are necessary to truly be equitable and reach people in remote places. Mala Muralidharan AZ State Library E-rate Administrator. Mala reported that they planning a health fair at Tuba City on September 21st, where they will introduce the healthcare available at the library and a health kit that can be loaned out to other libraries. They want to sustain this effort by having regular telehealth events at the three libraries where they started this project. They also did a preventive healthcare approach for liver cancer at Navajo Nation, where they scanned more than 100 participants. They are planning to do a similar event in the northern tribes and cells, in partnership with NAU, U of A, and with grants from NIH and LSTA. She also mentions an upcoming tribal broadband summit on August 28-30th at the Wild Horse Pass Hotel and Casino in Chandler, AZ, where USAC will be present. They encourage those interested to register for the event. Karin Jones Arizona Department Of Education The Department of Education currently is, is exploring a new initiative and new new work that is moving under what now we are calling educational technology. So these used to be Office of Digital Teaching and Learning now is rebranding under educational technology and, and the goal is to directly utilize data standards and other technology integrations for the benefit of academic achievement. So we are directly working with the academic team to develop strategies around content management and data integrations that will aid educators in the future but still strategizing and still high level planning of the initiatives that we are going to be having. So not much to share at this point only a high amount of dreams and goals. And this is the fun part of the work as as we start looking ahead for how we can assist, continue to assist education. At the same time, Milan continues the great work on connectivity and broadband. So I let Milan speak on that side of things. Milan Eaton Arizona Department Of Education Milan Eaton is the State Director for schools in Arizona. He manages the eRate program for all schools, the broadband special construction program created in 2017, and the final mile project, which is funded by the Department of Education. The final mile project is managed in conjunction with the Arizona Rural Schools Association. For the eraser side, there is about $45 million worth of funding so far in the 20.3 funding year, with a projected total of 75 to 85 million by the end of the funding year. The State Procurement Office has posted an open 474 procurement for rural broadband, and interested carriers can respond to the RFP via the procurement website. Once an award is made, those carriers will be eligible to provide services for the next five years. For the final mile projects, 13 have been funded by the Department of Education. The final mile project started at the beginning of COVID. The Rural Schools Association realized a problem with students being at home with no internet access, especially in our rural areas. We know that in our metropolitan areas. We have lots of options for internet. It's not that they don't have internet it's just that they may not be able to afford it. But there's lots of carriers offering Internet in Phoenix and Tucson, Flagstaff, Yuma but and places like silver tube ash fork um yucca, there is no access, or it's so poor that it's unusable. So the final mile project is we build Internet access in those rural areas where there either is none or it's so poor that it's unusable. And we do that by typically will take one of our special construction projects when we go over to a location. And we'll take up a pair of fiber line it up and transmitted wirelessly into the community and provide internet services, typically 100 by 25, automatic over 25 to the residents for educational interview to $10 a month. These providers also provide regular commodity internet, anywhere from 40 to $60 a month for those the residents in the area and the businesses in the area. So we're we're we're bringing services into rural communities where they haven't done today. And one of them that is a really, I'm really proud of right now that we're halfway through within the syndicate area. Right now in the Apache area. Syracuse, a small community, school middle of nowhere, they have very poor internet access, they have the school district pays $50,000 a month for their students to have satellite access Geosynchronous Satellite access using geosynchronous, they can't do a zoom call like we're doing today. So it's not an interactive learning session that students can. So we are now in Sydney cue Conway on try, it's actually going to work. But we're in Civique installing the the network, we're installing the homes up to 30 new ones installed right now. And since we have no reliable internet there, we've actually have three upgrades from space net, or SpaceX, to provide our backhaul to bring those internet services into the community and then distributed via wireless network. So that's, that's what the final mile project is doing. We're providing services and areas. So we're saving the school district $50,000 a month, and we're providing good internet to those students and the rest of the community.. The Final Mile Project continues to build internet services in small communities that previously had no access. The project provides educational internet for $10 a month, and residents can also choose to purchase a full-blown internet package for $30 a month to watch Netflix and surf the web. These life-changing projects are bringing internet access to remote rural residents and improving their quality of life. Cindy Hogan - Arizona Digital Inclusion Alliance Cindy Hogan is the co-founder and current chairperson of the Arizona Digital Inclusion Alliance, a growing coalition affiliated with the National Digital Inclusion Alliance that works to advance digital equity in Arizona. The alliance meets twice a month and is currently looking for new members involved in digital inclusion work. They are hosting Nicole Umayam the federal program officer for the BEAD program, to talk about defining and identifying community anchor institutions for Bead. The alliance is also preparing for Digital Inclusion Week in October and looking for ways to participate and involve community organizations. Mark Goldstein - Tech Council Policy Document Mark reported that he received feedback from several people on a project that was due last Friday. They have integrated most of the feedback, but are still struggling with the cybersecurity recommendations and observations, as well as a tighter version of Library’s role. The user hopes to send a copy to Sandip, their co-author, by tonight for review. The Mark also mentioned the smart city and IoT conference on September 19th at Skysong, with no virtual option and registration fees of $40 for Tech council members and $55 for the public. There is also a discount code available from Carla Morales. The user will moderate a 45-minute Fireside Chat with Sandip at the event. Upcoming Events
August 14, 2023, Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm MST Monday Afternoon August 14 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the August 14, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
August 14 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Lieutenant Colonel Leslie King is a senior communications officer for the Arizona National Guard and manages communications for the Cyber Joint Task Force. The Arizona National Guard has a Cyber Joint Task Force with two missions: incident response and vulnerability assessment. In May, they entered into an agreement with the Arizona Department of Education to conduct vulnerability assessments on all 678 public and charter school districts in the state of Arizona on an opt-in basis. The MOU applies to all echelons of state government, but is specific to school districts. The second piece they do is incident response, which is for situations such as ransomware attacks. They can assist with identifying point of entry and next steps. To learn more about the cyber Joint Task Force vulnerability assessment, school districts can reach out to the Department of Education. The vulnerability assessments are conducted by signing an opt-in letter and doing a statement of work to identify the technical limits of what is to be looked at within the school district. But one of the things that there's no cost or reimbursement for what we do on the vulnerability side of the house. If there is an incident, then there is a reimbursement cost involved. He is collaborating with Ryan Murry with the Arizona Department Of Homeland Security Anything that ends in .gov is probably covered under some aspect of what we do. So any library that was be attached to a school district would be covered. Any standalone library like a city library or something That would probably come under the city IT or CIO, I'd have to double check with my legal department of how they wanted to draft that. Some additional details include that the National Guard Bureau authorized all 54 states and territories to stand up a defensive cyber operations element, but only a few states have a full-time team, including Arizona. His budget comes from the Department of Emergency and Military affairs. I have a line item in there through that budget. So my budget is as protected as the Arizona Department of Emergency Military Affairs Budget Karen Ziegler with the Arizona commerce authority, the eligible entity for the billion dollar BEAD funding that's coming to the state. So we are developing our five year plan, and then eventually the initial proposal. And you know, there's certainly going to be a cybersecurity piece to both the infrastructure part of the plan as well as the digital equity, you know, part. So, I'd love to pick your brain. And it's Due to the length of the discussion please see the following for details:
AZBSN Broadband and Digital Inclusion Cyber Security Strategy Team Steve provided an update on AZBSN's plans to create a AZBSN Broadband and Digital Inclusion Cyber Security Strategy Team Cybersecurity Initiative for AC BSN. JT LaGrande and John Haas have offered to take the lead on this initiative. Steve has been in touch with about a dozen organizations, including the State Library, state broadband office, Pima College, Arizona Department of Education, and Homeland Security, that have expressed interest in participating. A small group of about a dozen people will initially come together to clarify the mission and how the Team will work together before opening it up to others who wish to participate. If anyone wants to be involved from the beginning they let the organizers know. The focus of the Cybersecurity Initiative for AZBSN is to address the issue of cybersecurity for people, particularly those who are are disadvantaged, marginalized or have little or no experience with technology and the Internet who are being connected to the internet, many of whom do not know how to use a computer or anything about cybersecurity. The goal is to figure out how to deal with cybersecurity as we sign people up and provide digital navigators. The focus will be fairly narrow to avoid duplicating the efforts of other organizations that are already doing cybersecurity education. The task of providing cybersecurity education for seniors, students, and others is a huge one. Three people stepped up to lead: JT LaGrand, Consultant, [email protected] 3038807584; Mala Muralidharan AZ State Library E-rate Administrator [email protected] 602-540-2592; JonHaass, President, Prescott Regional Opportunity Foundation (PROF) Center For the Future, [email protected]; Mala commented on developing a proposal for the Cyber Security new pilot program that FCC chairperson Rosenworcel has proposed. The pilot program has not yet been approved and the rulemaking has not yet happened, but it is a good time to think about what kind of proposal to create. The program will provide about $200 million over three years for schools and libraries, with the goal of creating an effective cybersecurity implementation in these organizations. The idea is to train digital navigators and create a cheat sheet for the community plan and outreach program to get this information to the community. The hope is to put together a winning proposal, as has been done in the past from Arizona. Additional Updates Broadband Office Update Karen Ziegler provided and update on the Broadband Office. The five-year plan for bead allocation is in its final review stage and is due next week. After this, the focus will shift to the initial plan, which has two volumes: the challenge process (volume one) and the balance of the initial plan (volume two). Education and outreach to nonprofits and local governments will begin to solicit feedback for the challenge process, which will occur in the first part of 2024. The draft of the digital equity plan is due at the end of September and will be open for public comment in mid-October. After the plan is approved by NTIA, a digital equity capacity grant will be made available in spring of next year. The Arizona Broadband Development Grant (ABDG) was given $100 million for broadband projects. Most contracts are now executed and activity should begin soon. The state middle mile project with Aidan is still under review. Mala Muralidharan AZ State Library E-rate Administrator. Mala reported that Senator Ben Luhan, the US senator for New Mexico, has a Universal Service Fund working group seeking comments by August 25 on issues related to the Universal Service Fund (USF). The group is seeking comments on questions such as the collection mechanism, transparency of the collection process, legitimacy of it, supporting high cost and rural health care, and addressing fraud and abuse. The USF is vital for E-Rate as it is the collection base for internet payments received for schools and libraries. It is important that some people answer the questions posted by the working group. The Working Group, which is inviting comments on how Congress and the commission should evaluate the effectiveness of the existing USF program. The group is also considering whether there are any other entities that should be included in the USF funding model. The deadline for responding is August 25th. A study by SHLB proposes that the base be increased to include all broadband service providers as well as cell phone service providers. If this is not done, the study shows that contributions will reduce to 4%, which could impact the sustainability of the ERate program. The working group is also asking for feedback on whether the commission has adequately evaluated the effectiveness of each of the USF programs, what reforms are necessary to address inefficiencies, waste, fraud, and abuse in each of the four programs, and whether Congress should eliminate the eligible telecommunications carriers rules. It’s important for organizations to provide their thoughts and comments on these issues, as they will be taken into consideration by the working group and could help shape future rules and guidelines. Mala also provided a reminder about FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's Cyber Security proposal that would create a $200 million, three-year pilot program to help pay for data and information security services in K–12 schools and in libraries. The proposal is the third phase in Rosenworcel’s “Learn Without Limits” initiative1. While it is still only a proposal and has not yet been approved, it is a step towards addressing the growing concern of cyberattacks on schools and libraries. It is understandable that you feel that something needs to be done sooner, but this pilot program could provide valuable insights and help pave the way for more comprehensive solutions in the future. Due to the length of the discussion please see the following for details:
August 7, 2023, Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm MST Monday Afternoon August 7 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the August 7, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
August 7 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Steve reported that after reaching out to people who have not been attending meetings, it was found that afternoons do not work well for people and mornings would be best, around 8 or 9 o’clock. The meetings will probably be moved to 8 o’clock in the morning to accommodate Karen Ziegler, a key point of contact for the broadband office, who has meetings at 9 o’clock every day. Based upon our discussion we settled on Thursdays @ 8:00 am August 7, 2023: Digital Access Resource Highlight: Arizona Technology Council 2024 State and Federal Public Policy Guide Broadband and Digital Inclusion Section The Arizona Technology Council https://www.aztechcouncil.org/) is drafting their 2024 state and federal Public Policy Guide, with Mark Goldstein and Sandip Bhowmick as Co-editors of the Broadband and Digital Inclusion Section. They are seeking input from active participants in Arizona’s Broadband/Digital Inclusion community to update the section. There is a wave of federal recovery funding for economic stimulus and infrastructure investment, including new broadband funding. The council is developing updates based on newly announced programs and expected developments, and encourages suggestions or recommendations for the 2024 broadband policy. Mark and Sandip will act as the gathering point for feedback and suggestions, with a revised version available for final review as the deadline approaches. They request that suggested policy recommendations be sent ASAP as document markups or specific suggestions. Contact: Mark Goldstein, President, International Research Center, Office: 602-470-0389, Mobile: 602-670-6407, [email protected], Download the 10 page 2023 Broadband Excerpt Due to the length of the discussion please see the following for details:
AZBSN Broadband and Digital Inclusion Cyber Security Strategy Team Steve provided an update on AZBSN's plans to create a AZBSN Broadband and Digital Inclusion Cyber Security Strategy Team Cybersecurity Initiative for AC BSN. JT LaGrande and John Haas have offered to take the lead on this initiative. Steve has been in touch with about a dozen organizations, including the State Library, state broadband office, Pima College, Arizona Department of Education, and Homeland Security, that have expressed interest in participating. A small group of about a dozen people will initially come together to clarify the mission and how the Team will work together before opening it up to others who wish to participate. If anyone wants to be involved from the beginning they let the organizers know. The focus of the Cybersecurity Initiative for AZBSN is to address the issue of cybersecurity for people, particularly those who are are disadvantaged, marginalized or have little or no experience with technology and the Internet who are being connected to the internet, many of whom do not know how to use a computer or anything about cybersecurity. The goal is to figure out how to deal with cybersecurity as we sign people up and provide digital navigators. The focus will be fairly narrow to avoid duplicating the efforts of other organizations that are already doing cybersecurity education. The task of providing cybersecurity education for seniors, students, and others is a huge one. Three people stepped up to lead: JT LaGrand, Consultant, [email protected] 3038807584; Mala Muralidharan AZ State Library E-rate Administrator [email protected] 602-540-2592; JonHaass, President, Prescott Regional Opportunity Foundation (PROF) Center For the Future, [email protected]; Mala commented on developing a proposal for the Cyber Security new pilot program that FCC chairperson Rosenworcel has proposed. The pilot program has not yet been approved and the rulemaking has not yet happened, but it is a good time to think about what kind of proposal to create. The program will provide about $200 million over three years for schools and libraries, with the goal of creating an effective cybersecurity implementation in these organizations. The idea is to train digital navigators and create a cheat sheet for the community plan and outreach program to get this information to the community. The hope is to put together a winning proposal, as has been done in the past from Arizona. Additional Updates Broadband Office Update Karen Ziegler provided and updat on the Broadband Office. ACA is currently working on the BEAD five-year plan, which is the first document to be submitted as part of a series of planning documents for the deployment of BEAD funding. The plan is due at the end of August and is being edited and reviewed. It ties directly with the digital equity plan that Cindy and her team are working on. ACA is also planning webinars for outreach efforts across the state, some of which will be closed sessions with certain stakeholders and others will be open to everyone. Two other big things that we're working on as well is the Arizona Broadband Development Grant program, getting those contracts out the door and getting those programs or those projects started up? There the 100 million dollars that ACA awarded last year. And, you know, we're getting ready to kick those projects off, which is really exciting. Once the five-year action plan is submitted, ACA will turn their focus to volume one of the initial proposal, which focuses on the challenge process. This will be a massive undertaking and will involve a state-focused challenge process similar to what the FCC did, but focused on the speeds and eligibility of broadband service locations for funding. There will be a lot of webinars and outreach over the next couple of months to get everyone up to speed on this process. Also, ACA has hired a tribal liaison, Candice Hamana, to work directly with the tribes on the BEAD and digital equity programs. Updates on FCC Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grants in Arizona: Petra Falcon, Executive Director, Promise Arizona and; Nubia Estrada, ACP Administrator provided an update on implementation of their FCC Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grants. You may recall four Arizona organizations, Chicanos Por La Causa; City of Phoenix, Community and Economic Development; Promise Arizona; Navajo County have received FCC Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grants. For details see Cindy Hogan ACA Digital Equity Program Manager. Cindy provided an update on the ACA & DEI Listening Sessions and Roundtables. The team is wrapping up a listening tour across the state and will be in La Paz County, Mojave County, and Yuma County next week. They are also conducting a Digital Equity Survey in multiple languages to gather data on what’s going on throughout the state. There are two surveys, one for community members and one for community organizations. The goal is to collect data from two sets of people: those with lived experience who are trying to get online and facing barriers, and organizations that are working in the community. They want to know about the devices, usage, and speeds of the community members, as well as the needs of the organizations. Community anchor institutions are one of the places where they can spend the dollars if they find out that these institutions need a boost in their service. Mala Muralidharan AZ State Library E-rate Administrator. Mala reported that Senator Ben Luhan, the US senator for New Mexico, has a Universal Service Fund working group seeking comments by August 25 on issues related to the Universal Service Fund (USF). The group is seeking comments on questions such as the collection mechanism, transparency of the collection process, legitimacy of it, supporting high cost and rural health care, and addressing fraud and abuse. The USF is vital for E-Rate as it is the collection base for internet payments received for schools and libraries. It is important that some people answer the questions posted by the working group. Upcoming Events
July 31, 2023, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm MST Monday Afternoon July 31 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the July 24, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
July 31 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Dr. Bryan Carter, University Of Arizona Director of the Center for Digital Humanities and Project Principal Investigator for the University of Arizona’s $3M grant to expand Internet and Digital Inclusion in Southern Arizona provide an update and overview of the University of Arizona’s $3M grant to expand Internet and Digital Inclusion in Southern Arizona. The University of Arizona has received a $3M grant to help expand high-speed internet access and Digital Inclusion resources in Southern Arizona’s rural communities and; 1) Create “equipment bundles” that can be checked out by students from UA Libraries; 2) Expand UA network and classroom technologies; 3) Provide support personnel at education sites in rural Arizona; 4) Provide equipment and helping to facilitate educational opportunities and resources for project subrecipients Dunbar Pavilion and the as well as the surrounding community. The discussion including everything from progress on the project, protentional partnerships, cybersecurity, workforce development, telemedicine, innovative technologies, and more. Due to the length of the discussion please see the following for details: Contact: [email protected] // 520-621-0110 . AZBSN Cyber Security There was discussion again about the need for cyber security. We decided again to develop an AZBSN Cyber Security Team/Task Force. 4 people stepped up to lead: JT LaGrand, Consultant, [email protected] 3038807584; Mala Muralidharan AZ State Library E-rate Administrator [email protected] 602-540-2592; JonHaass, President, Prescott Regional Opportunity Foundation (PROF) Center For the Future, [email protected]; Additional Updates Updates on FCC Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grants in Arizona: Petra Falcon, Executive Director, Promise Arizona and; Nubia Estrada, ACP Administrator provided an update on implementation of their FCC Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grants. You may recall four Arizona organizations, Chicanos Por La Causa; City of Phoenix, Community and Economic Development; Promise Arizona; Navajo County have received FCC Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grants. For details see Cindy Hogan ACA Digital Equity Program Manager. Cindy provided an update on the ACA & DEI Listening Sessions and Roundtables. She reported Perla Lopez was recently promoted to be the broadband program manager. The team is wrapping up a listening tour across the state and will be in La Paz County, Mojave County, and Yuma County next week. They are also conducting a Digital Equity Survey in multiple languages to gather data on what’s going on throughout the state. There are two surveys, one for community members and one for community organizations. Mark Goldstein, International Research Center President reported that he is working on the annual refresh for the Arizona Technology Council's state and federal public policy. He posted a 10-page excerpt of last year’s state and federal policy in the chat. He and Sandip will be Co-editor. There is an open invitation for the next two weeks for people to comment or offer markups or specific suggestions. Download the 10 page 2023 Broadband Excerpt for review and comment Consolidated NTIA site: Mark also reported that there is now a consolidated NTIA site where all the submitted plans for both BEAD and Digital Equity are made available as soon as they open for their comment periods. The user can sign up to get updates from the site. There is nothing from Arizona there yet. Mala Muralidharan AZ State Library E-rate Administrator. Mala reported that Senator Ben Luhan, the US senator for New Mexico, has a Universal Service Fund working group seeking comments by August 25 on issues related to the Universal Service Fund (USF). The group is seeking comments on questions such as the collection mechanism, transparency of the collection process, legitimacy of it, supporting high cost and rural health care, and addressing fraud and abuse. The USF is vital for E-Rate as it is the collection base for internet payments received for schools and libraries. It is important that some people answer the questions posted by the working group. ACA Meeting with Senator Sinema Heather Floyd reported that the ACA held an industry roundtable with Senator Sinema to update on the grant process and discuss any hurdles at the federal level. Senator Sinema, who helped write the Arizona Capital Grants bill, wants to ensure its correct implementation. The meeting was productive, with great connections made and discussions on telemedicine with Janet Major and Joy from Apache County. Senator Sinema is committed to clearing obstacles and ensuring the success of the grants. See the recording and Transcript for details. Upcoming Events
July 24, 2023, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm MST Monday Afternoon July 24 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the July 24, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
July 24 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Sun Corridor Network Update- Derek Masseth, Executive Director The Sun Corridor Network is Arizona’s connection to the national and international research and education networks. A collaboration among ASU, NAU, & UA, and sponsored by the Arizona Board Of Regents, was originally created as a standalone research & education network has expanded its mission to connect every school, library, community anchor, healthcare organization, community organizations and public service agency in the state of Arizona on a dedicated ultra-high speed fiber network. Derek will provide a overview of the Network’s many initiatives and their current and future plans for this important Arizona resource. For Details see: Additional Updates
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July 17, 2023, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm MST Monday Afternoon July 17 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the July 17, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
July 17 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Steve on Vacation July 5-22 Please note that I will be on a semi vacation July 5-22. I will be working some, and will have access to email, phone, and text. I will also be coordinating the Task Force Meetings while I am away. July 17, 2023: Digital Access Resource Highlight: Sandip Bhowmick, State Broadband Director update on the status and plans for the BEAD and Digital Equity planning in Arizona. As you probably know, the Arizona Commerce Authority Broadband Office is the lead organization in for the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (BEAD, and Digital Equity planning and coordination in Arizona. Sandip Bhowmick, State Broadband Director provided us an update on the status and plans for the BEAD and Digital Equity planning and future opportunities for your input.. For Details see:
Updates on FCC Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grants in Arizona: Petra Falcon, Executive Director, Promise Arizona and; Nubia Estrada, ACP Administrator, and Lupe Valenzuela, Strategy and Tech Operations with Chicanos Por La Causa provided an update on implementation of their FCC Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grants. You may recall four Arizona organizations, Chicanos Por La Causa; City of Phoenix, Community and Economic Development; Promise Arizona; Navajo County have received FCC Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grants. Upcoming Events
July 10, 2023, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm MST Monday Afternoon July 10 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the July 10, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
July 10 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Steve on Vacation July 5-22 Please note that I will be on a semi vacation July 5-22. I will be working some, and will have access to email, phone, and text. I will also be coordinating the Task Force Meetings while I am away. July 10, 2023: Digital Access Resource Highlight: Intersection of Technology And Community Health Our distinguished panel for this amazing panel discussion included:
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June 26, 2023, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm MST Monday Afternoon June 26 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the June 26, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
June 26 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Steve on Vacation July 5-22 Please note that I will be on a semi vacation July 5-22. I will be working some, and will have access to email, phone, and text. I will also be coordinating the Task Force Meetings while I am away. Great news!!! Arizona to Receive $993,112,231.37 BEAD Funding Mark Goldstein, Cindy Hogan and Karen Ziegler reported that NTIA announced the $42.45B in BEAD allocations, with Arizona’s allocation set at $993,112,231.37 to build infrastructure and deploy technology that will expand high-speed internet access to millions of Arizonans. Congratulations and great work by Sandip Bhowmick, State Broadband Director, and his Team in the Arizona Broadband Office. See the announcement here. See Governor Katie Hobbs Announcement Here. Sandip was one of only 10 or 13, state broadband directors that was invited to attend the June 26 Investing in America Event announcement ceremonies at the White House with the President and Vice President. View the video of the announcement and Investing in America Event here. The money is received through the federal government’s Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (BEAD) managed by the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) under the US Department of Commerce. The BEAD Program provides critical funding that invests in long-needed infrastructure improvements to ensure broadband is affordable and accessible to hardworking families across the state. The funding was supported by the $23 million in this year’s Arizona budget for the creation of the new Rural Broadband Accelerated Match fund at Commerce that can provide matching funds for upcoming Bead grants. This can be used by communities, or other potential BEAD applicants, as part of their matching requirement, with a minimum of 25% matching required. The President announced this morning that they are pushing for the expansion of ACP and they hope to come to an agreement about the affordability of the internet within the next month or two Day and Time For Task Force Meetings Steve asked if the current day and time works for our meetings or should we consider changing. There was general consensus that this day and time works for those attending, but it was suggested that we should do a survey to get input from those not in attendance. Cindy Hogan Update
ACA Update - Karen Ziegler I’ve recently signed a contract with ACA to assist them with their broadband projects and grants administration. This is in light of the significant amount of funding that will be allocated to Arizona from various sources, including CPF, digital equity, and BEAD funding. The additional Bead funding Arizona will receive is a result of ACA’s diligent work during the challenge process. They were able to identify 60,000 additional addresses that were either unserved or underserved. A large portion of these addresses were located in high-cost areas, which resulted in a higher allocation of funds than we had originally anticipated. ACA has done an excellent job and is currently working with a contractor to put together the BEAD plan. There will be a challenge process followed by a competitive process for distributing the funds. We will have more information on this as it becomes available. Great work from ACA and more to come. Digital Inclusion Presentation: Michelle Simon, Co-Chair of Connect Pima, and Deputy Director, Support Services for the Pima County Public Library provided and overview of the Connect Tucson Strategic Digital Inclusion & Infrastructure Action Plan, and the Pima County $30M NTIA grant to construct a 134-mile fiber ring that will circle Pima County. Download Connect Pima Grant and, Connect Pima Strategic Plan. View Connect Pima community engagement page. Javier Baca, who is Pima County's IT director is co chair. Connect Pima is the Pima County's Task Force for digital infrastructure and inclusion. Connect Pima started in August of 2021. Our mission is to ensure that everyone in Pima County has affordable reliable high speed internet, and all the tools that they need to successfully participate in our ever growing virtual society and economy. We use a three pronged approach to improve digital inclusion by guiding the development of broadband infrastructure, implementing digital literacy initiatives and increasing access to devices and tools for connectivity throughout Pima County. Pima County will receive a five-year $30 million NTIA federal grant to expand access to high-speed broadband in underserved areas of Pima County. By next fall, 10 percent more households in in the county will have access to affordable broadband, officials said. The $30.3 million NTIA grant, and another $12.5 million match that will be paid for by the Pima County, City of Tucson, Marana, and Oro Valley, will fund a 134-mile fiber-optic cable ring circling Tucson. Once complete, Internet carriers will be able to lease access to the network, and connect users within 25 miles of the ring. Almost one in ten households in Pima County currently have no broadband or Internet access at all, and many more have poor connection speed, according to data from the Federal Communications Commission. “The areas served by this grant are also areas where many people avail themselves of county assistance programs,” Tucson’s “future-proof fiber ring” will be installed mostly along existing roads, looping from Marana at its northeast corner down to Sahuarita and Corona de Tucson. The grant requires newly connected households to receive at least 100-megabyte download speeds and 20-megabyte uploads—enough to stream 4K video on multiple devices at once. Javier Baca, the county IT director, said he expects the new connections to perform “well above” that speed. Contacts: Michelle Simon Deputy Director | Support Services, Pima County Public Library 520-594-5654 | [email protected]: and Javier Baca, Director, Pima County Information Technology Department 520-724-7580 (office), 520-304-8323 (cell) [email protected][email protected] Benton Institute “Boosting Digital Equity in Phoenix” available at https://www.benton.org/blog/boosting-digital-equity-phoenix. Ilana Lowery reported on the partnership between Common Sense Media, Arizona State University (ASU), and the Digital Equity Institute is working to increase awareness of and enroll eligible households in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Through a multipoint marketing campaign targeted to low-income communities with high eligibility for the federal broadband subsidy program, Common Sense Media is directing Phoenix residents toward the ASU Experience Center, a call center with more than 100 phone specialists. Here, trained employees walk Phoenicians through the ACP application process. With the Digital Equity Institute, ASU is working to bring a team of digital navigators to the Experience Center and build off of the partnership with Common Sense Media. With additional funding from Maricopa County, ASU’s Experience Center continues to expand its capabilities to make a range of digital equity resources available to callers. Regarding the project, they are waiting for contracts to be signed. They will start working with the Digital Equity Institute in the next few weeks to expand their work with the GBI grant. The City of Phoenix grant is focused on schools and getting information about ACP out to the community. Update Erin Lorandos, AZ State Library Digital Inclusion Library Consultant Janet and Erin had a third meeting with NACOG to discuss telehealth initiatives in rural areas of the state. They are continuing to plan and are working on leveraging library locations as telehealth access points, following a pilot program in Pima County. The next location will be in the city and will be starting soon. Erin will be responsible for this initiative going forward and hopes to expand it to at least three more locations in the next LSTA budget year, although this is not yet confirmed. Additionally, they are supporting the sharing of information about listening sessions with libraries and are excited to share flyers and other materials that Cindy has sent. This is all the information the Karina Jones Arizona Department of Education
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June 12, 2023, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: May15, 22. No Meeting May 29 Memorial Day Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm MST Monday Afternoon June 12 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the June 12, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Ted Kraver Passed Away Steve announced that Ted Kraver died. For his many friends and colleagues who knew him, he was a great friend, brilliant engineer, awesome person, and tireless advocate for economic development, technology, technology in education, and so much more in Arizona. Among his many contributions, he was instrumental in creating the Greater Arizona eLearning Association and the Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council. And God knows how many other groups and organizations he helped to create and lead. He was one of those people that he just wanted to do the right thing for people. There was no ego there. It was just let's do good things and make things happen for the state of Arizona for young people for education, and so forth. Anthony Matsuura Anthony Matsuura introduced himself. Steve met him at a meeting of IT people in Tucsoncalled Lambda Lambda Lambda and is coordinated by Involta. Anthony’s goal is to make internet free for everyone in Tucson. He is part of a nonprofit organization called Celebration of Lives that focuses on addressing problems of diversity and access for historically oppressed and marginalized communities. Anthony believes that providing access to educational resources through technology, particularly STEM education, would be beneficial. He is also interested in recycling e-waste and enabling privacy in networks. Anthony’s background is in linguistics, musicology, and computer science, and he is still a student. The meeting’s attendees share his interest in providing internet access to people. John LeGrand John Legrand former Vice President of Operations and Engineering at TELUS Spectra. He worked on a broadband community grant in Welton, Arizona about 20 years ago and has gone on to do other things related to access to unserved and underserved communities in the wireless space. He has also been involved with Clean Tech Open in Colorado and Phoenix. He has been away for a while and is now trying to get reintroduced. He shares the same interests and objectives as the group and is looking to see how he can get involved and help make sure that Arizona is connected with dignity, equity, and access to broadband. Day and Time For Task Force Meetings Steve asked if the current day and time works for our meetings or should we consider changing. There was general consensus that this day and time works for those attending, but it was suggested that we should do a survey to get input from those not in attendance. Nicole Umayam NTIA Federal Program Officer update Nicole is a federal program officer with NTIA and supports the bipartisan infrastructure projects on broadband and digital equity in Arizona. In her role, she supports the broadband office in administering project funds for the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program and the Digital Equity Act. She also supports a number of other NTIA broadband projects in the state. Okay, so this is a pretty busy month for NTIA. So we've got a couple of updates to share with you there. So most of the people in this group know that the infrastructure law created three different broadband and broadband adoption programs through the federal government, the middle mile program, the tribal broadband connectivity program, and the bead and digital equity programs, which can work together on middle mile. I know there's some of us in this group that are involved with applications. The only thing we can say is that a NOFOS are imminent. And today's committed to late spring and according to late spring in Washington, DC, that's that's the end of June. So stay tuned for those middle mile award announcements. The tribal broadband connectivity program has nearly administered $2 billion in funding for building tribal tribal broadband to different project areas throughout the nation. And they are expecting their second NOFO for an additional $1 billion in funding to be issued in late June or early July. So just a couple of weeks on when that window will open and it will be available for tribal applicants for six months. So this is funding that is supporting broadband infrastructure projects, as well as projects that are that are supporting the adoption and use of broadband including telehealth distance learning digital inclusion efforts and affordability projects. With bead as you know, the state is in their bid planning phase where they have until the end of August to submit their five year broadband plan. That's just one of multiple pieces involved in this federal grants that the state has to produce for NTIA. And they're making pretty good progress with that broadband plan utilizing their contractor. We know that NTIA is on track to be able to make their notice of funding amounts for states and territories on or before June 30. So June 30, is the committed date. And it's possible that we could see those announcements of how much funding is coming to the state of Arizona, even before that third year, which is exciting. The states all over have been involved in what's called the location challenge process or sometimes the fabric challenge process with the FCCs broadband data collection efforts. Arizona between volume one and Volume Two of that map, Arizona gained 31,536 broadband serviceable locations between those two maps. So that was a change of both net gain of 34 34,000 locations. They've also added 31,536 unserved or sorry, I'm sorry 34,000 unserved 31,000, broadband service Scible locations to the map. So different locations can be adjudicated in different ways. Sometimes things get taken off, and sometimes things get added on. But that's that's where Arizona's numbers stand to date. Of course, there are a number of third party blogs and speculations about what this means for that the allocation that Arizona will actually get. NTIA doesn't endorse any of these and of course not nobody really knows the secret sauce or also seems to be calculating things like administrative costs and the high the high cost allocations to so that is just to say any, any speculation about the total amount that Arizona will be receiving is to be taken with a grain of salt until we hear from NTIA. Those are the major updates at the NTIA level. Do we have any questions about those programs before I move on to what the states do? So there are two kinds of co- occurring projects for Arizona: the one year planning period for the broadband, the five year broadband action plan and as well as the state's digital equity plan under the digital equity standing grant to the states, they have employed two different contractors who are kind of working together to make sure that the state's deployment plan is matching with their digital equity objectives. So making sure that people have the skills to get online after that infrastructure is built and laid out. To do so the state broadband office is engaging in a few different public outreach events. And they've been surveying internet service providers and coordinating with other state agencies and all sorts of stakeholders. This includes a really a 20 session listening tour. It's one session per county for each of Arizona's 15 counties. They just held one in in Safford and Graham County. Today, there'll be headed to Clifton and then too Eiger throughout the week. And then they also intend to have five virtual listening sessions that are focused around some of the covered populations in the Bead program. You can find that information about the listening tours on the state Broadband offices website. They've also conducted one of two industry calls. So that's inviting any industry partner to interface with the Broadband office that's coordinated by their other contractor KPMG with support of connected nation. Digital Inclusion Presentation: Craig Settles is President of CJ Speaks and a nationally recognized Broadband author, expert, consultant and telehealth advocate I'm a broadband industry analyst and consultant. So I work with cities that want to build broadband networks and close the digital divide as much as possible. And I also, by default, to become a, an analyst in the sense of I write a lot of stuff about these different technologies and different issues that are breaking up, bringing in, you know, as we move along here, and so in that, I guess, in that role, I have learned a lot. And I've tried to help people understand, you know, what is basically complex and often boring technology and trying to make it understandable. So I started actually, in 1995, when I wrote a book called A cyber essentials for marketing. And the the irony of this whole thing is that I was working on a project with 18 T. And at the time, the rock, the web browser was released. I was working with them. And they said, Well, what do you what do you think can be done with this web thing? Right? They'd have an alarming lot of people that had no idea really what to do with this, right? It was before cat videos and so the best thing we had going on was lots of scam artists trying to give us the 1001 ways to break make a million dollars or some stop. But with the project without a TN T. I you know, spent a lot of time understanding how the various online services and bulletin boards and all these other acts and things going on within you know, this new Well, this thing called the internet or I should say the web and as a result That. That project, at&t said here, well, you know, if you want to write a book, go ahead and do that. And I said, Fine, let's do that thing. And so the first things that I noticed, like that I wrote about was, people needed a way to think and talk about this thing called the internet and the web. And there was a lot of disinformation and so forth. And so what I tried to do was create structure for not exactly, you know, not saying if you did this five different ways, this would lead to success. It was more one of the questions that you need to ask yourself and your organization to make better use of the Internet. Right. And I pretty much hold to that. That is that it's not the matter of, you know, giving to structure the thing, as much as it is important to have questions answered and asked about their communities, right. And so in that, that first book, you know, there was a lot of emphasis on the fact that you could communicate in a different way. And I don't think we've lost that. But sometimes it's good to remember that that's what this is a medium that is all about getting information from point to point to point. And by getting that kind of that communication out in the electronic way. This is how change happens in terms of what the unit what the internet can do. So I talked about, you know, the building the broadband, brand awareness and doing promotions, and education, market, education, so forth. And that's, that's kind of how I got started. In the subsequent books that I've written, I often come back to the basic thing of what do you want to talk about as telehealth, I'm sorry, as as the internet as a, as a Strat as a strategy? So what kinds of strategies can you put together using the internet? And then tactfully, how do you actually get things done with the Internet? And that communication tool? Right? And so? So yeah, it's been a long time. So anyway. And that's how we went forward. Right. And as, as more people got involved, that became, you know, this became a big operational tool that you can help communities and governments, businesses and so forth. And so yeah, and then that was fairly straightforward. Several years after that, I was working with a company. And they had what basically became the first community broadband, right, they hung up radios on telephone poles, and gave people access from that point, right. And the thing was, the, their customers, they were, you know, they were trying to sell the this idea of using wireless as a way of getting to the internet if you don't have DSL, right. And even though that was what the company had as a mission, right, when you talk to the customers, the customer said the benefit of ricochet, that's the name of the company. You know, the value is that they give untethered access when they're around when they're when they're in in the courtroom and in the lawyer they have been in business meetings and and so forth. People were able to make pictures and that deliver those like if you're a newspaper reporter, you can file your story. You can reply you can file your pay your or pictures and so forth. And in that discussion with the customers, what became apparent was the value of the untethered wireless internet was phenomenal. And people were ecstatic about being able to have that access, right. And so that became another book. Yes. And it also became, you know, a shift in how people did business and how they communicated how unfortunately, Ricochet and their company, Metacom went out of business. Alright, and this would have been 99. So before we really started talking about the, the internet, these guys came and went, but there was this idea that, well, maybe we can use the internet away from the office kind of thing. So we went from there to companies, I'm sorry, cities, were starting to figure out that they could use or they can build an internet network for their constituents. Right. And it was usually at the time, like from 2000 to 2003 or four, it was mostly the smaller cities, or towns that were coming out with this, this great way to deal with the, the internet and making it distributed, so that people who couldn't afford that, you know, luxury, became more, it became more equitable, the whole the internet. And so we go along for another couple of years, and Philadelphia says, Hey, we can do this, again, we can, we can build a border to border internet access, and have two purposes. One is to save the wireless cost, or the cell phone cost of the, the employees or the city, right, and there were a bunch of those. But they also thought, you know, we can actually take people and put them online, we are the mayor has his kindness on this, the this motto, you know, make things more in line online than waiting in line. And so they were having the biggest city at that time to want to use the internet, and you know, access as a equity building process, how to deal with the economics of, you know, the, whether it's urban or rural, and so forth. And so some of the life's lessons that came out of that exercise was one, you make sure that your son, your son solution is up to the task that you're basically placing on that technology. So in 2005, there was a huge, you know, outcry of, yes, let's do this. Let's get, you know, border border, wireless everywhere. Unfortunately, the wireless at the time, was not up for the task that the cities, mayors and so forth. Were trying to, to establish. And I think that that's like a lesson for the ages, which is basically we have lots of technology, we have more technology coming out the door than we can even keep track of like, but if you want to have success, if you want to bridge this digital divide, you have to understand the limitations of both the wireless and the wired. And how are we going to address that, right, because I've seen in these last few years, lots of qualities that have been given to the internet to wireless to fibre and so forth. And sometimes it isn't what that technology is capable of. So now we're talking about artificial intelligence and smart technology and so forth. Right. And it's great on paper. But when you look at the, you know, the realities of your world, you start out. And so so that's, that's a big next lesson from the mid part of the century, the first decade, right? The other Oh, yeah, for a second. Um, there was also another how to come back to that one. As we went from everybody's gonna have an internet network in every city town. Hi, boy. And by way, right, it went to a bit Ibis moment. And then when Obama came in, we got really, you know, the dream of telehealth, I'm sorry, of broadband, and so forth, came back when they had the broadband stimulus program. And so when we had that opportunity, right, at that time, it was like $7 billion. And no one ever had, you know, that much money put into broadband before. And so we went forward, and things were good or bad, and somewhere in between. And there are a lot of lessons to be learned from that, hopefully. And as we go into this speed world, and the A and middle mile and so forth, within Tia, we still need to come back to what are we trying to do? Is the technology up to the task? is, you know, are we going to do aggressive needs analysis, right. And then when when I when I wrote the book about Philadelphia's project, right, the biggest thing about that project was the extensiveness, of how the mayor and the city's CIO did a 90 day plan, which included all kinds of focus groups and meetings and pilot programs and all of this, within that time of that time frame. And, and that was actually the reason for doing the book, we had a customer, the product itself had problems, and eventually, it just felt petered out. Right. But the lesson to be learned from that episode was how aggressively you do your needs analysis will determine how effective and how successful you will be. Right. One of the things I noticed with the, the entire program now, is they put a lot of emphasis on the needs, you know, understand the needs of the constituencies, and you get dinged for your plan. If it hasn't, if it isn't clear that you have tapped into the needs of the community and the support of community, right, the days of just having a letter from the mayor as a sign of support that you haven't told us that's gone away, right? You got a net, you have to show your, your depth and breadth of support. And I think that's a great thing. That's the great thing because there's a lot of, you know, skeletons. We're just bad business plan. Doing the project. All right. So we've got to stick with that. Because that is that is is a big issue. I think the other thing, you know from the the 2005 to 2009 timeframe It was somehow we went from broadband is something that we're going into is a problem that we're going to solve, together, whether we're talking about rural or suburban or urban, it doesn't really matter, everybody was all on board. And then policies and in practice, we've lost some of that. And I think we have a situation where that's almost like, the urban area where we give, we give them a decent decent size, subsidy, and so forth, that's solves the problem. And that really doesn't solve the problem. The problem is solved by better technology that is available to everyone. And so we can talk about, yeah, we have the DHCP, you know, which is a good program by itself. But at the same time, we're also spending in, you know, in rural areas, maybe two $3,000 per person to get broadband. I don't, you know, I don't criticize the, you know, the rural folks for having that, because they need that, but what I get really is, you know, agitated about is the whole issue of, you know, what about the urban area, and what they need, and and is the stuff that we're giving them going to be sustainable, two or three years down the road, right. It's one thing to say, yes, we this is a great pro program. Right. But is it sustainable? I mean, we have, you know, by example, right, like, so we're talking about artificial intelligence, we're talking about telehealth, right, a number of these technologies, AI, are requiring much bandwidth, you know, both collectively as a community and individually. Right. And so, if we are sort of short changing the futures of our urban folk, then, you know, what have we learned from all of this, you know, these last few years? And I think that we have to reassess how we deal with the, the urban areas, right, and at night, and sometimes I think, Well, maybe it's because of the, you know, the federal government has, you know, it's hard to move the federal government. So, you know, can this slack be made up with the State governments and their programs? If we don't have this, this, the the Bible to the blinders on? That? It's just the urban area? I'm sorry, the or the rural areas, right? It is both, it is both. And then I'll leave, go into the like the last part of my. So the last book I wrote, was in seven years ago, and one of the trouble the challenges I had was, as we started talking about more and more, you know, the gigabit this, the gigabit that, and so forth, it became somewhat incomprehensible to the average average person on the street, why do we care? Why do we need to have all this broadband and so forth? And at that time, I've started to have a stroke because I have nothing else to do with my day. And so I had a stroke, went to the hospital. And I was introduced, not necessarily willingly but I was there. I was introduced to telehealth and telehealth, enabled my neurologist who was at home on a Saturday night she was able to log in and take over the the whole treatments now there's a whole exercise after go with him and try to save the person. And so we were you know, they they did that she did that. And and what I came from that experience with the understanding that if I have been in a rural area, I'd have been in trouble if I had been in a, you know, a urban area that was just had a bad, you know, there's more communication, that will have sucked. Right. And so the thing so the reverse of all that is, well, if you want to have these new technologies, you need to understand, and when you're talking to people about what's the value, because a lot of people don't understand they don't have the same way. They don't have the same value or interest that we in this group have, right. So you have to make sure that you have done that you can tell a story that compels people to then want to use the internet. And I thought I think that, you know, when I started writing the book again, you know, after the after the stroke, you know, I basically started talking about broadband as magic that enables you to do stuff that wasn't able that you weren't able to do before. And that's pretty much it. I mean, it's simple. I, but it is, it's good to then have that as though this is why we're here, right? Because now, you know, the last four or five years, I have been adamant about telehealth. Not that it's the only good new technology because there's there are other things, but it is the universality of the technology, everybody needs to deal with health care and their health, or if they're not that themselves directly, their parents, their kids, their, you know, other folks. And so that is why, in my mind, you know, all the stuff that I have seen for the last 30 years, which is insane, actually, when you kind of step back and look at it, right. But in that, in that period in those three decades, right, we have gone from, you know, 28 as super fast internet. Right? Now, we're talking about gigabits and whatever the next level is, and, and to try to get people to keep up with this. You can't talk about speeds and feeds and all of that you got to talk about the real personal issue. Right. And nothing is more important than my health, my ability to eat my ability to flip pride for the people who are, you know, that are dependent on myself? Right. That's the mission. I think that's where we are need to be when we're looking at this technology, right? It's nice, it's great. It's new and Fast, fast and all of those kinds of things. But is it making the difference? Do people understand what the, the businesses have, you know, broadband and, and telehealth and whole economic year, the economic development, workforce development and so forth. Right? Don't ever get so hung up on the awesomeness of the technology that we forget the benefit that is hitch should deliver. And if you don't deliver it, you know, people like you know, like the whole Philadelphia exercise, right? There was a lot of work, there was a lot of ink a lot of effort into that making that project work. And it wasn't the right time and it wasn't there for the best time for that technology and so forth. Right? And people got this collusion and unhappy and they can still pull into, you know, a Pio of wires Philadelphia exercise and say, Oh, wow, what was all out about? So here we are now. You know, can't say enough about you know, where we are, what the potential is, you know, what, just what can we get from here? You're too there. Hey, now, it's awesome questions, I can answer some of those. Cuz I can talk about this forever. There you have it. Contact: [email protected] 510-387-4176 Lupe Va;lenzuela, Chicanos Por la Causa Lupe reported that Chicanos Por La Casa has received a grant from the FCC for the ACP program and will be helping families enroll in 20 counties across California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. The positions have been posted on their website and they hope to hire soon. In Arizona, the will be working in areas such as Yuma, Tucson, Flagstaff, and Phoenix. Updates
May 22, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: May15, 22. No Meeting May 29 Memorial Day Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm MST Monday Afternoon May 22 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the 22, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
May 22 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Day and Time For Task Force Meetings Steve asked if the current day and time works for our meetings or should we consider changing. There was general consensus that this day and time works for those attending, but it was suggested that we should do a survey to get input from those not in attendance. Nicole Umayam NTIA Federal Program Officer update Nicole is a federal program officer with NTIA and supports the bipartisan infrastructure projects on broadband and digital equity in Arizona. In her role, she supports the broadband office in administering project funds for the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program and the Digital Equity Act. She also supports a number of other NTIA broadband projects in the state. FCC released a federal funding map for different broadband project areas, including capital project plans. There is also a broader guide from NTIA on the internet for all sites that talks about federal funding for both digital equity and broadband that municipalities and state entities are eligible for. The Arizona Broadband Office has been working closely with the governor’s office on stakeholder engagements, including a tribal consultation held last Friday in partnership with the Inter Tribal Council with Arizona, the governor’s office, and tribal relations. They will continue to engage with different news, municipalities, counties, and other stakeholders with the governor’s office. The state is rolling out in-person and virtual meetings for stakeholder engagement.. Update From Cindy Hogan. Arizona Broadband Office Digital Equity Program Manager Cindy Hogan, the Digital Equity Program Manager for the state broadband office. They are starting a monthly Arizona Internet for All Community Table conversation and an open office hour for the state broadband office. They are also setting up a listening tour to at least 15 different spots across the state and holding two types of listening sessions for community members and organizations. Surveys will be used to collect data for the state. Cindy encourages people to reach out to others outside their own locale to cover the state. The Arizona Internet for All Community Table is a monthly virtual meeting every third Tuesday from 3 to 4 pm with topics discussed each month where the broadband office gives updates and there are discussions around different topics. These meetings will have different themes and examples highlighted around different topics. The first session is May 16 and you can register by visiting the Commerce web page and following the links in the meeting notes Steve sent. The broadband office is also setting up a listening tour to at least 15 different spots across the state and holding two types of listening sessions for community members and organizations. Surveys will be used to collect data for the state. The first listening session is happening in Flagstaff on June 5th. The digital equity Institute is the contractor doing the digital equity plan for the state and was instrumental in pulling these outreach activities together. They are collecting data as part of these community events but have limited space in the halls and rooms they are getting for these events. If people have an interest in attending, they can contact Cindy Hogan via email. There will be two sessions each day, one for community members to get lived experience of barriers that individuals are experiencing and the other for community organizations working with populations addressed in the digital equity act as an underserved population. It’s community listening but also data collection with a prescribed way to do that best practice. Cindy attended a tribal consult on Friday and heard about innovative things happening on tribal lands, such as a tribal refurbishing effort where older equipment is refurbished and sold back to tribal members for $50. Erin Lorandos update on the ACP and Access initiative. The FCC is sending ACP print material with local contact information for distribution. The local contact information will direct people to Connect Arizona and digital equity Institute digital navigators for help. The continuous enrollment process for Medicaid that was in place during the pandemic is no longer happening. The Access and Kids Care Benefits webinar is coming up on May 30th at 1 PM and will be held online. Anyone is welcome to attend. It’s being hosted by Allen Gjersvig with the Children’s Action Alliance. The purpose of the webinar is to provide resources to library staff so they can better answer questions from people who come in about the continuous enrollment that ended for Medicaid and access in early April. Many people are now realizing that their benefits have ended, so the webinar will provide information and resources related to the process of re-enrollment and re-verification. The registration link for the event is available on the State Library’s website. The webinar is geared towards people who will be the point of contact for information, so it won’t go into really deep detail but will provide resources that can be passed along. to explain some of the Access and Kids Care Benefit resources that are available. The webinar is geared towards frontline library staff who might be asked questions so that they have an arsenal of resources at their fingertips. The webinar is advertised through the State Library’s event calendar and anyone is welcome to attend. It will take place on May 30th at 1 PM and will be held online. https://azsos.libcal.com/event/10657751?hs=a. Our webinars are recorded and put, up on the, state libraries YouTube channel as well. Mauricio Orozco discussed the ongoing effort to raise awareness about redetermination and making sure people keep their insurance and medical benefits. This effort will continue until the end of the year. Libraries have been a great partner in sharing information. There are two different deadlines. Mauricio clarifies that there was a federal deadline on May 11th announcing the end of the public health emergency. However, in Arizona and other states, the state Medicaid administrator started cutting people off benefits starting April 1st. Updates
May 15, 2023, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: May15, 22. No Meeting May 29 Memorial Day Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm MST Monday Afternoon May 15 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the May 15, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
May 15 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Nicole Umayam NTIA Federal Program Officer update on the Arizona Broadband Office The Arizona Commerce Authority, which houses the broadband office, is the recipient of two grant funds. The first program is the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. The state has planning funds for this program and has selected a contractor to begin work on their five-year broadband plan, which is due August 28th of this year. They also have to do form locations with tribal nations, which is happening this Friday. Another deliverable for the BEAD program is the state’s mapping challenge process, which is their methodology for running their state’s availability challenge. The broadband office can submit this as early as June 30th, which is the notice of the award funding. The initial proposal for the BEAD program is due December 27th and is heavily reviewed with a formal comment period. This date is also based on the Notice of Funding Availability on June 30th. The second program is focused on digital equity. The main deliverable for this program is the state digital equity plan, which is due September 30th of 2023. Drafts of the plan will be available in August for public comment and review before being submitted to NTA. The state also has to engage with the community and ensure everyone is represented in the process, especially around the sub-grant program and capacity programs. The Arizona Internet for All Community Table is a monthly virtual meeting where the broadband office gives updates and there are discussions around different topics. These meetings will have different themes and examples highlighted around different topics. The first session is May 16 and you can register by visiting the Commerce web page and following the links in the meeting notes Steve sent. Update From Cindy Hogan Cindy Hogan, the Digital Equity Program Manager for the state broadband office is starting a monthly table conversation and an open office hour for the state broadband office. They are also setting up a listening tour to at least 15 different spots across the state and holding two types of listening sessions for community members and organizations. Surveys will be used to collect data for the state. Cindy encourages people to reach out to others outside their own locale to cover the state. Update FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Phoenix Visit Erin Lorandos reported that FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel was in Phoenix for a 10:00 a.m. press conference with Phoenix Mayor Mayor Kate Gallego to discuss efforts within the city of Phoenix to close the digital divide and talk about digital inclusion and ACP. FCC outreach coordinator Lyle Ishida Chief of the FCC Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division with the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau, and a staff member, were also in town to conduct a one-hour workshop to train people on how to help their constituents sign up for ACP. Erin Reported that The day started with a press conference attended by about 80 people. After the press conference, there was a train-the-trainer event where the FCC went over the ACP process and information at a high level. About 70 people stayed for this training session and became digital navigators to help their community navigate the process. Information about other established groups of digital navigators from the digital equity Institute and connect Arizona through the State Library was shared, as well as the resources offered by these organizations. Overall, the day was very upbeat and positive, with lots of great questions asked during the training session. The FCC has launched a new application landing page that makes it easier for people to sign up. The page allows people to see what documents they need to bring in advance, which saves time during the sign-up process. This is especially helpful for those who come to the library to sign up. The landing page is useful for those signing up at home or on their phones as well. Update May 9, 2023 Statewide Healthcare & Transportation Technology Summit Erin Lorandos reported on the Statewide Healthcare & Transportation Technology Summit presented by NACOG, the Northern Arizona Council of Governments help healthcare and transportation providers in Arizona identify and support technology projects to improve access to healthcare. The workshop was held at the Maricopa Association of Governments offices in Phoenix and brought together people from libraries and other organizations. In the afternoon, there were breakout sessions where smaller conversations took place about how some groups could continue to work together. One session discussed libraries being telehealth access points and the challenges of getting to libraries due to transportation and distance. Other opportunities such as mobile telehealth stations built into buses were also discussed. The drivers could act as digital health navigators to help people through the process. They talked about programs that were already happening with kits in the libraries with materials needed to take data points for telehealth visits. They also discussed resources such as library maps and public availability of Wi-Fi maps. The group plans to have at least one more conversation like this in the future and hopes to eventually come out with a deliverable plan with options on how to better deliver telehealth. Todd Morris, who has been in AZBSN and presented, would be the point of contact for being involved with that, but they don’t have it on the schedule yet. Mala mentioned that in a conversation with Todd, it was suggested that instead of transporting people long distances to a hospital or healthcare facility, it would be better to take them to the nearest library. This is because the library is closer and provides a safe environment for children while the caregiver receives healthcare via telehealth. This solution was seen as the best option for the Department of Transportation. Erin Lorandos update on the ACP and Access initiative. The Access and Kids Care Benefits webinar is coming up in just over two weeks. It’s being hosted by Allen Gjersvig with the Children’s Action Alliance . The purpose of the webinar is to provide resources to library staff so they can better answer questions from people who come in about the continuous enrollment that ended for Medicaid and access in early April. Many people are now realizing that their benefits have ended, so the webinar will provide information and resources related to the process of re-enrollment and re-verification. The registration link for the event is available on the State Library’s website. The webinar is geared towards people who will be the point of contact for information, so it won’t go into really deep detail but will provide resources that can be passed along. to explain some of the Access and Kids Care Benefit resources that are available. The webinar is geared towards frontline library staff who might be asked questions so that they have an arsenal of resources at their fingertips. The webinar is advertised through the State Library’s event calendar and anyone is welcome to attend. It will take place on May 30th at 1 PM and will be held online. May 24th Compudopt is launching their Mesa programs. Allison Katarski, Chief Operating Officer On May 24th Compudopt, through a large financial gift from Santander, is launching their Mesa programs with a press event, a computer distribution and a community meet and greet. Alison will be speaking about the official launch of their operations in Mesa as well as how we might be able to partner together throughout Arizona. Compudopt is a national nonprofit organization with a mission to provide technology access and education to under-resourced youth and their communities. We are a full digital equity solution. We provide digital access to computers, technology education, digital literacy programs and connectivity. We have expanded to 40 cities in 19 states and Mesa is our newest city with a brick and mortar site. We received a large gift from Santander Consumer USA to bring our digital equity solution to the Mesa area. Over the next two years in Mesa, we will distribute 7500 computers at no cost to community members, connect 10,000 households to the internet, provide digital literacy skill building classes for 24,000+ individuals and provide technology education programs to 300 students. Our goal is to stay in Mesa long-term. We have four pillars: device access, technology education programs for K-12th grade, digital literacy skill builder programs for anyone supporting the student and connectivity. We have partnered with the city of Mesa and Motorola to connect households within a certain service area and also help connect households that might not be in our network through ACP. Our Digital Literacy resources are available to anyone online. The program in Mesa involves Motorola and the building of 21 towers using LTE technology to provide connectivity to homes. The program includes a comprehensive support center that offers tech support and outreach to help people get connected. The support center is open Monday through Saturday with varying hours. The program also includes a community portal to help individuals with housing and food support. The main point of the text is to announce the program’s entry into the Mesa market and their search for community advocates to spread the word about their free computer offerings to households with an annual income of $60,000 or lower. The digital literacy skill builder classes are available in various formats to accommodate different needs. They can be accessed online or through Zoom. For those without stable internet connections, the classes are also available on USB. If there is a large enough group, the classes can be offered in person as well. The classes consist of five different modules that can be broken up into separate classes if delivered in person. Additionally, there is a train-the-trainer model available with the curriculum to support partners through ACR The Support Center supports national efforts in all 50 states. Anyone located outside of Mesa can use the Support Center to get connected to ACP or the internet through ACP. The Support Center is happy to walk individuals through the process and is always looking for partners in other areas. There are opportunities to get connected with the Support Center and they will come where they can serve. The program provides computers to individuals who do not have a working computer in their home. Work or school-based devices do not count. The program distributes computers through a lottery system and individuals can apply through their website. Eligibility is based on self-reported household income and whether the individual owns a computer at home. The program does not require documentation or immigration status. I would love to have a conversation with anybody on how we can partner. See AZBSN meeting recording and minutes for details. Contact: Allison Katarski, Chief Operating Officer E: [email protected] | W: www.compudopt.org P: (281) 572-0419 | Updates
May 8, 2023, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: 15, 22. No Meeting May 29 Memorial Day Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm MST Monday Afternoon May 8 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the May 8, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
May 8 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
Welcome Craig Settles We were pleased to introduce Craig Settles, who is a nationally recognized author, expert, consultant and telehealth advocate. Craig has expressed interest in continuing to participate in AZBSN and connecting with our telehealth expertise in Arizona. Saved from a stroke by telehealth, Craig pays it forward by uniting community broadband teams and healthcare stakeholders through telehealth projects that transform healthcare delivery. He conducts needs analyses with community stakeholders who want broadband networks and/or telehealth to improve economic development, healthcare, education and local government. His needs analyses opens up additional opportunities to raise money for networks, as well as increase the financial sustainability of your network. He’s been doing this work since 2006. He authored Fighting the Good Fight for Municipal Wireless in 2005, and since then, Mr. Settles has provided community broadband consulting services. In addition, he has testified for the FCC and on Capital Hill. Craig hosts the radio talk show Gigabit Nation, His in-depth analysis reports are valuable resources for community broadband project teams and stakeholders. Building the Gigabit City, His blog, further showcases his expertise in this area. He s frequently called upon as an municipal broadband expert for journalists at CNN, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Time Magazine and a host of business, technology and local media outlets. He has spoken at various conferences in the U.S, Europe, South America, Australia and Asia. May 8, 2023 AZBSN Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussion Mikhail Sundust, Executive Director, Gila River Telecommunications Digital Connect Initiative Gila River Telecommunications Digital Connect Initiative and Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for a digital inclusion study for a Digital Equity Plan for the Gila River Indian Community. Mikhail provided a brief overview of the RFQ and the plans for the Digital Equity Plan they will be developing. He will also provided an update on the great work that the Digital Connect Initiative is doing. Digital Connect is an initiative of Gila River Telecommunications that aims to help people in the Gila River Indian Community get connected and acquire crucial digital skills. They are currently working on a digital inclusion study to conduct asset mapping on the Gila River Indian Community and to learn more about the goals and desires of the people as well as the gaps that exist on their tribal lands. The study will help them write up a digital equity plan for the tribe. Digital Connect also hosts events and one-on-one trainings to help residents with their devices. They have several other projects in the works, including an apprenticeship program with a local community college and a plan to install free public Wi-Fi in all of the service centers. Digital Connect is part of Gila River Telecommunications, which has been around for 35 years and provides phone and internet service to the reservation. Gila River Telecommunications has four subsidiary companies: Native Technology Solutions, AIluvien, Gila River Broadcasting Corporation, and Digital Connect. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Phoenix Visit Ilana Lowery reported that FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel will be in Phoenix tomorrow morning for a 10:00 a.m. press conference with Phoenix Mayor Mayor Kate Gallego to discuss efforts within the city of Phoenix to close the digital divide and talk about digital inclusion and ACP. FCC outreach coordinator Lyle Ishida Chief of the FCC Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division with the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau, and a staff member, will also be in town to conduct a one-hour workshop to train people on how to help their constituents sign up for ACP. Ilana also commented that ACP is currently slated to run out of money in mid 2024. We don't know if it will be continued after that date. What will happen to all the people benefitting from ACP? National Collaborative for Digital Equity National Summit on state planning for digital equity and economic inclusion Steve asked if anyone attended the the National Collaborative for Digital Equity National Summit on state planning for digital equity and economic inclusion back in April. One of the topics discussed was CRA funding or Community Reinvestment Act funding and there is a lot of interest in funding digital inclusion projects through this. The proceedings of the conference are now available online and it would be beneficial to look at what they discussed in terms of state planning and the opportunity for CRA funding. Updates
May 1, 2023, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: April 3, 10, 17, 24, May 1, 8, 15, 22. No Meeting May 29 Memorial Day Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm MST Monday Afternoon May 1 Meeting Update Missed the meeting? Want to review the meeting? Want to find a contact that attended the meeting? See the links on this page to view/download the Meeting Summary, Recording, Registration List, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files. BTW, the May 1, 2023 Zoom Transcript link below takes you to the Otter AI webpage where you can review the transcript, and, if you double click on the paragraph, you can also hear the speaker. Pretty awesome.
May 1 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
FCC Update Lyle Ishida, Chief of the Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division with the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau @ the Federal Communications Commission provided and update on the FCC and ACP. He reported that Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman, Jessica Rosenworcel, will be in Phoenix on May 9 and will participate in an ACP press conference with the Mayor of Phoenix. Details are still being planned. He also participated in a discussion regarding ACP sign-up issues. May 1, 2023 AZBSN Digital Inclusion Presentation/Discussion Janet Major, Associate Director for Innovation & Digital Health, Arizona Telemedicine Program & Southwest Telehealth Resource Center Arizona Telemedicine Program ,Southwest Telehealth Resource Center Janet presented an update on telemedicine in Arizona and nationally. We heard about Janet’s amazing leadership in telemedicine, and she provided an update on telehealth resources, and projects that she is involved in. Speaking of leadership, Janet was recently elected as a Fellow with the American Telemedicine Association (FATA). We will also heard about that. [email protected] Updates
April 10, 2023, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: April 3, 10, 17, 24, May 1, 8, 15, 22. No Meeting May 29 Memorial Day New Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm Monday Afternoon Meeting Update For details about updates and upcoming events, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
April 3, 2023, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: April 3, 10, 17, 24, May 1, 8, 15, 22. No Meeting May 29 Memorial Day New Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm Monday Afternoon Meeting Update For details about updates and upcoming events, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
March 27, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: March 20, 27 New Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm Monday Afternoon Meeting Update For details about updates and upcoming events, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
March 20 Meeting Review Reminder: For details and contact info see the Meeting recording, Chat, Zoom Transcript and Registration Files listed above The meeting included:
March 20, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: March 20, 27 New Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm Monday Afternoon Meeting Update For details about updates and upcoming events, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
--- City of Phoenix, Community and Economic Development Dept $700,000 --- Promise Arizona $251,000 --- Navajo County
The meeting included:
March 13, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: March 20, 27 New Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm Monday Afternoon march_13_2023_azbsn_chat_transcript.pdf Meeting Update For details about updates and upcoming events, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
The meeting included:
March 6, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: March 6, 13, 20, 27 New Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm Monday Afternoon Meeting Update For details about updates and upcoming events, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
March 6 Meeting Review The meeting included:
Dr. Bryan Carter, Project Principal Investigator and Director of the Center for Digital Humanities at the University Of Arizona provided an overview of this awesome University of Arizona $3M NTIA Connecting Minorities Communities Pilot Program grant to expand Internet and Digital Inclusion in Southern Arizona. The details of that plan include: 1) Creating “equipment bundles” that can be checked out by students from UA Libraries. The equipment bundles will include hotspots, laptops, headphones and webcams; 2) Expanding UA network and classroom technologies; 3) Providing support personnel at education sites in rural Arizona. The grant will provide broadband internet access and equipment and help to facilitate educational opportunities and resources for project subrecipients Dunbar Pavilion and the Tucson Urban League, as well as the surrounding community. About the Connecting Minorities Communities Pilot Program: The Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program is a $268 million grant program to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) for the purchase of broadband internet access service and eligible equipment or to hire and train information technology personnel. NTIA has awarded more than $175 million to 61 colleges and universities as part of the Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program (CMC). These new awards cover colleges and universities in 29 states and four territories. With these grants, all funding from this Internet for All grant program has been awarded to 93 universities. Including 43 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 24 Hispanic Serving Institutions, 21 Minority Serving Institutions, and five Tribal Colleges and Universities. These grants will help expand community technology hubs, upgrade classroom technology, and increase digital literacy skills at their minority serving colleges and universities. This program specifically directs $268 million from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 for expanding high-speed Internet access and connectivity to eligible HBCUs, Tribal Colleges or Universities (TCUs), and other Minority-serving institutions (MSIs). Arizona Grant recipients:
February 27 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: March 6, 13, 20, 27 New Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm Monday Afternoon Meeting Update For details about updates and upcoming events, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
February 27 Meeting Review The meeting included:
February 13, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: February 27. No Meeting February 20 (Presidents Day) New Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm Monday Afternoon Meeting Update For details about updates and upcoming events, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
February 13 Meeting Agenda The meeting included:
February 6, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: February 6, 13, 27. No Meeting February 20 (Presidents Day) New Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm Monday Afternoon Meeting Update For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
February 6 Meeting Agenda The meeting included:
January 30, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: January 30. February 6, 13, 27. No Meeting February 20 (Presidents Day) New Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm Monday Afternoon Meeting Update For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
January 30 Meeting Agenda The meeting included:
January 23, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: January 30. February 6, 13, 27. No Meeting February 20 (Presidents Day) New Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm Monday Afternoon Meeting Update For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
January 23 Meeting Agenda The meeting included:
Additional Updates
January 9, 2023 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: January 9, 23, 30. No meeting January 16 (Martin Luther King Day) New Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm Monday Afternoon Meeting Update For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
The meeting included:
December 19, 2022 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: December 19 January 9, 23, 30. No meeting December 26 & January 2, January 16 (Martin Luther King Day) Beginning in January, new Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm Monday Afternoon Meeting Update For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
Beginning January 9 the Task Force will meet at 3:00 pm Monday Afternoon
instead of our 7:30 meeting time. Why you ask? Due to conflicting meetings on Monday mornings, Sandip Bhowmick the Vice President of Infrastructure and State Broadband Director at the Arizona Commerce Authority and: Nicole Umayam, Federal Program Officer, NTIA Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth OICG for Arizona, may not be able to attend many of our Task Force meetings. Because of the all the BEAD, Digital Equity, Mapping, state planning, and other funding and initiatives, it is important that they can attend and provide regular briefings. We felt that we should schedule around Sandip and Nicole's availability. Steve talked with them, and they felt the best time was Monday afternoon @ 3:00. So, beginning in January we will meet @ 3:00 Monday afternoon. Look for updated meeting announcement for new meeting times beginning in January. Updating the AZBSN Comprehensive Statewide 2020 Digital Access Strategy Report & input into AZ Bead and Digital Equity Planning
In November 2020, the Task Force published a Comprehensive Statewide Digital Access Strategy Report that includes short and long term tactical and strategic recommendations and initiatives to address the Internet and other digital access needs of all Arizona citizens. Lots has changed. With transitions for Governor, State School Superintendent, and the Arizona Legislature, as well as the BEAD and Digital Equity planning and funding, we felt It is time for a refresh. We will initiate a process to update the plan and explore how AZBSN will provide input into AZ Bead and Digital Equity Planning. John Kelly a Principal with Triadvocates, Karen Ziegler Owner Karen Ziegler Consulting Services, and Jan Schiller a Partner with Berkshire Consulting will lead the process. They reported on the tentative process that we felt needs to be concluded no later than mid to end of January. The tentative plan is to create the following Teams:
Review and download the plan here. FCC Wireline Competition Bureau Seeks Comment On Requests To Allow The Use Of E-Rate Funds For Advanced Or Next-Generation Firewalls And Other Network Security Services. (DA No. 22-1315).
Reply comments dues February 13, 2023 (Dkt No 13-184). WCB seeks comment on petitions requesting that the Commission permit the use of E-Rate funds to support advanced or next-generation firewalls and services, and network security services . Comments Due: 2023-02-13. Reply Comments Due: 2023-03-30. WCB. Contact: Joseph Schlingbaum at (202) 418-0829, email: [email protected]. DA-22-1315A1.docx DA-22-1315A1.pdf DA-22-1315A1.txt The FCC has opened a rulemaking proceeding to provide E-rate support for these necessary expenses. Eligible Services list for 2023-24 for E-Rate: E-rate reimburses Schools and Libraries for their internet and internal connections to use the internet. Only prescribed services are eligible for reimbursement. https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-22-1315A1.pdf. SEE APPENDIX in the 2023 list Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition Joins Other Organizations to Urge E-rate Modernization in Light of Recent Cyberattacks on Schools The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN); State E-rate Coordinators' Alliance (SECA); State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA); and Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition on the recent cyber-attack on the LA Unified School District: "The recent cyber-attack on the LA Unified School District, along with hundreds of similar attacks on schools, libraries, and other educational institutions over the past few years, highlights the urgent need for federal officials to take immediate action to protect our nation's educational entities from cyber-attacks. The FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) have previously warned that educational networks are soft targets and vulnerable to cyber-criminal behavior, but the US government has not done enough to protect these networks from harm. The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN); State E-rate Coordinators Alliance (SECA); State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA); and Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition jointly call upon the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to immediately modernize its definition of "firewalls" to allow E-rate funding to be used to safeguard school and library networks. We also urge the FCC to open a rule-making proceeding and take comment on the Petition filed by our organizations in February 2021 to adopt long-term solutions to this growing cyber security crisis." Attached are SHLB’s (Schools Health Libraries Broadband) and SECA ( State E-rate Coordinators) Ex Parte filing. We need the FCC to consider long-term solutions and not do it piece-meal. Discussion and special AZBSN meeting to discuss Arizona’s response to the National Broadband Map and Mapping challenge process.
NTIA & FCC are looking for input to the National Broadband Map and mapping challenge process. We will convene a meeting (s) to discuss Arizona input into the process. Paul Ross, AVP and CIO at Phoenix College and Rory Conaway Triad Wireless Managing Partner / CEO, with input by Sandip, Nicole, Mala and Milan, will lead the meeting. Date TBA. Deadline for input: November 18, 2022-January 13, 2023 - Best opportunity for eligible entities to submit challenges in time for the FCC to include corrections in the final version of the map that will be used to allocate Internet for All funding in the summer of 2023. Note, several states, including Arizona, have requested deadline extension The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) announcement of a timeline for the National Broadband Map and mapping challenge process. By law NTIA will allocate BEAD funds according to a formula derived from the map data. NTIA coordinates closely with the FCC to ensure that this data is accurate and reliable and will continue to do so. NTIA will engage in a comprehensive outreach effort to support the FCC in its efforts to ensure that every state that wishes to file a challenge can do so. This effort will include: 1) Technical assistance to state broadband officials and governors’ offices as they prepare challenges; 2) Webinars for members of the public wishing to learn more about how to participate in the challenge process; 3) Regular engagement with state officials to identify and resolve issues. The latest FCC National Broadband Map is available: https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/home. See additional Mapping Challenge Process info below. The latest FCC National Broadband Map is available: https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/home Timeline:
Additional Information From FCC Press Release: The Federal Communications Commission announced that it will unveil a pre-production draft of new broadband maps on November 18, 2022. This version is the first release of the map required by the Broadband DATA Act and will begin an ongoing, iterative process that will improve the data submitted by providers by incorporating challenges from individuals and other stakeholders. Broadband availability will be based on data submitted by providers during the initial Broadband Data Collection filing window and will reflect services available as of June 30, 2022. When published, the draft maps will display location level information on broadband availability throughout the country and will allow people to search for their address, and review and dispute the services reported by providers at their location. The FCC will also accept bulk challenges to the reported availability data from state and Tribal governments and other entities. As a result, this map will continually improve and refine the broadband availability data relied upon by the FCC, other government agencies, and the public. The pre-production draft map release is an important first step forward in building more accurate, more granular broadband maps, which are long overdue and mandated by Congress. Historically, the FCC’s maps have been based on broadband availability data collected at just the census block level rather than the location level, which kept unserved locations hidden if they were in partially served census blocks. To generate this version of the map, providers’ availability data has been matched to the location information contained in the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric (Fabric). The Fabric is a common dataset of all locations in the United States where fixed broadband internet access service is or can be installed. To improve the accuracy of the FCC maps, the Commission began accepting challenges to Fabric information from providers, states, local and Tribal governments starting in September. Once the draft maps launch, individuals will also be able to submit challenges, or request corrections, to Fabric locations directly through the map interface. They will also be able to request missing locations be added. Information from those challenges will be incorporated in future versions of the Fabric. For more information about the BDC, please visit the Broadband Data Collection website at https://www.fcc.gov/BroadbandData. NTIA/Arizona Industry Listening Sessions
Nicole Umayam, Federal Program Officer, NTIA Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth OICG for Arizona, in cooperation with the Arizona Broadband Office, will convene Industry Listening Sessions to get input from industry representatives regarding BEAD funding. Listening Sessions tentatively scheduled for January 11 and again January 18 have been postponed. Look for email announcements later. January 26th, 2023 3rd Annual National DataCenter & SmartCity IoT Edge Summit
Join Business & Government Leaders from some of the MOST Innovative Companies & Organizations in the World! Learn, Engage & Network in a Collaborative Environment to Maximize the Creation of STEM Jobs & Promote Global Sustainability. Information and Registration December 12, 2022 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: December 19 January 9, 23, 30. No meeting December 26 & January 2, January 16 (Martin Luther King Day) Beginning in January, new Task Force meeting time 3:00 pm Monday Afternoon Meeting Update For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
If Abbott and Costello were around today...
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello's famous sketch "Who's on first?" might have turned out something like this: COSTELLO CALLS TO BUY A COMPUTER FROM ABBOTT . . . . ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you? COSTELLO: Thanks. I'm setting up an office in my den and I'm thinking about buying a computer. ABBOTT: Mac? COSTELLO: No, the name's Lou. ABBOTT: Your computer? COSTELLO: I don't own a computer. I want to buy one. ABBOTT: Mac? COSTELLO: I told you, my name's Lou. ABBOTT: What about Windows? COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here? ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with Windows? COSTELLO: I don't know. What will I see when I look in the windows? ABBOTT: Wallpaper. COSTELLO: Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software. ABBOTT: Software for Windows? COSTELLO: No. On the computer! I need something I can use to write proposals, track expenses and run my business. What have you got? ABBOTT: Office. COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything? ABBOTT: I just did. COSTELLO: You just did what? ABBOTT: Recommend something. COSTELLO: You recommended something? ABBOTT: Yes. COSTELLO: For my office? ABBOTT: Yes. COSTELLO: OK, what did you recommend for my office? ABBOTT: Office. COSTELLO: Yes, for my office! ABBOTT: I recommend Office with Windows. COSTELLO: I already have an office with windows! OK, lets just say I'm sitting at my computer and I want to type a proposal. What do I need? ABBOTT: Word. COSTELLO: What word? ABBOTT: Word in Office. COSTELLO: The only word in office is office. ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows. COSTELLO: Which word in office for windows? ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue "W". COSTELLO: I'm going to click your blue "w" if you don't start with some straight answers. OK, forget that. Can I watch movies on the Internet? ABBOTT: Yes, you want Real One. COSTELLO: Maybe a real one, maybe a cartoon. What I watch is none of your business. Just tell me what I need! ABBOTT: Real One. COSTELLO: If it's a long movie I also want to see reel 2, 3 & 4. Can I watch them? ABBOTT: Of course. COSTELLO: Great! With what? ABBOTT: Real One. COSTELLO: OK, I'm at my computer and I want to watch a movie. What do I do? ABBOTT: You click the blue "1". COSTELLO: I click the blue one what? ABBOTT: The blue "1". COSTELLO: Is that different from the blue w? ABBOTT: The blue "1" is Real One and the blue "W" is Word. COSTELLO: What word? ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows. COSTELLO: But there's three words in "office for windows"! ABBOTT: No, just one. But it's the most popular Word in the world. COSTELLO: It is? ABBOTT: Yes, but to be fair, there aren't many other Words left. It pretty much wiped out all the other Words out there. COSTELLO: And that word is real one? ABBOTT: Real One has nothing to do with Word. Real One isn't even part of Office. COSTELLO: STOP! Don't start that again. What about financial bookkeeping? You have anything I can track my money with? ABBOTT: Money. COSTELLO: That's right. What do you have? ABBOTT: Money. COSTELLO: I need money to track my money? ABBOTT: It comes bundled with your computer. COSTELLO: What's bundled with my computer? ABBOTT: Money. COSTELLO: Money comes with my computer? ABBOTT: Yes. No extra charge. COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much? ABBOTT: One copy. COSTELLO: Isn't it illegal to copy money? ABBOTT: Microsoft gave us a license to copy money. COSTELLO: They can give you a license to copy money? ABBOTT: Why not? THEY OWN IT! A FEW DAYS LATER . . ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you? COSTELLO: How do I turn my computer off? ABBOTT: Click on "START December 5, 2022 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: December 5, 12, 19. No meeting December 26 & January 2 Meeting Update For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
At the meeting the agenda included:
RFQ for Broadband Consulting Services
The Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) announced Request for Qualifications (RFQ) # 2023-12 to identify vendor(s) to provide Broadband Consulting Services. Scope Of Work - Program Requirements: ACA is seeking assistance to build its capacity to execute a number of broadband initiatives and major deliverables:
To request a copy of the RFQ and be added to the notification list for this solicitation, click here. Solicitation Point of Contact: Teri Orman, Procurement/Grants Manager (602) 845-1245 | [email protected] RFP for Arizona Middle-Mile Fiber Infrastructure Operations, Maintenance, and Commercialization (“OMC”) Services The Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) is pleased to announce the opening of Request for Proposals (RFP) # 2023-06. The purpose of this RFP is to identify Operations, Maintenance, and Commercialization (“OMC”) Entities to provide OMC Services for Arizona’s Middle-Mile Fiber Infrastructure. This RFP is being issued by the ACA in collaboration with the Arizona Department of Transportation (“ADOT”). ACA is seeking a well-qualified OMC Entity capable of operating and maintaining the Fiber Infrastructure which includes, but not limited to I-17, I-19, and I-40 West. Additionally, the ACA is seeking an OMC Entity with the ability and experience to commercialize the excess capacity (i.e., MicroDucts, dark fiber, etc. - Commercialization Assets) to offset the O&M costs associated with the ADOT network and generate revenue for the ACA. Given the criticality of the Fiber Infrastructure and ongoing expansion efforts, the ACA requires a firm that is flexible and adaptable to changes and can provide OMC Services at a high level of service and reliability. To request a copy of the RFQ and be added to the notification list for this solicitation, click here. Solicitation Point of Contact: Teri Orman, Procurement/Grants Manager (602) 845-1245 | [email protected] FCC Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program A great overview video of the ACP Outreach Grant Program is available from NDIA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chBLHqxx6_k The FCC has released their Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program Notice Of Funding Opportunity NOFO. Application Submission Deadline: January 9, 2023. Eligible applicants must submit a complete application to CGB for funding consideration before the application submission deadline which consists of standard forms and program-specific forms. See Details Here The Outreach Grant Program provides eligible governmental and non-governmental entities with the funding and resources needed to increase awareness of and participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program among those eligible households most in need of affordable connectivity. November 28, 2022 Meeting Recap
Meeting Schedule: November 28, December 5, 12, 19. No meeting December 26. Meeting Update For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
As you may already know, after a national search, Sandip Bhowmick, the current Assistant Broadband Director, has been promoted to Vice President of Infrastructure and State Broadband Director at the Arizona Commerce Authority. Sandip provided an overview of: the status of the BEAD and Digital Equity applications; his vision and plans for Arizona and the Broadband Office; the plan to release an RFQ for organizations to apply to lead planning for: 1) BEAD 2) Digital Equity, 3) Mapping; and more. Following his presentation there was considerable discussion about the the National Broadband Map and mapping challenge process. See below FCC announces timeline for the National Broadband Map and mapping challenge process
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) announcement of a firm timeline for the National Broadband Map and mapping challenge process. NTIA expects to communicate Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) allocation levels to eligible entities (states and territories) by June 30th. Also today, NTIA has announced more details on how the FCC’s mapping process will impact the BEAD program. Here is the BEAD timeline Key Dates Description
As the Biden-Harris Administration is required by law to allocate BEAD funds according to a formula derived from the map data, NTIA coordinates closely with the FCC to ensure that this data is accurate and reliable, and will continue to do so. NTIA’s efforts to date include: 1) Calling every single Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the United States to remind them of their obligations relating to the Broadband Data Collection (BDC) process, register any concerns or technical assistance requests, and relay those to the FCC; 2) Engaging in sustained outreach with Governors’ offices, state broadband offices, and stakeholder communities to share technical assistance resources, solicit feedback, and relay major areas of concern; and 3) Producing and sharing materials to break down the process with key dates and deadlines for affected stakeholders. NTIA will engage in a comprehensive outreach effort to support the FCC in its efforts to ensure that every state that wishes to file a challenge can do so. This effort will include: 1) Technical assistance to state broadband officials and governors’ offices as they prepare challenges; 2) Webinars for members of the public wishing to learn more about how to participate in the challenge process; 3) Regular engagement with state officials to identify and resolve issues. |
FCC Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program - AZBSN Meeting
The FCC has released their Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program Notice Of Funding Opportunity NOFO. Application Submission Deadline: January 9, 2023. Eligible applicants must submit a complete application to CGB for funding consideration before the application submission deadline which consists of standard forms and program-specific forms. See Details Here. Since there is no state agency review or state plan required, and any eligible organization can apply, we thought it might be beneficial to identify which organizations plan to submit an application, and to explore the feasibility of a voluntary and collaborative application. Steve will convene a meeting the week after Thanksgiving (date TBA) for all interested parties.
Recognizing the importance of effective outreach to eligible households from trusted messengers to historically underserved communities, Congress authorized the FCC to establish the Outreach Grant Program. The Outreach Grant Program provides eligible governmental and non-governmental entities with the funding and resources needed to increase awareness of and participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program among those eligible households most in need of affordable connectivity.
See Details Here
The FCC has released their Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program Notice Of Funding Opportunity NOFO. Application Submission Deadline: January 9, 2023. Eligible applicants must submit a complete application to CGB for funding consideration before the application submission deadline which consists of standard forms and program-specific forms. See Details Here. Since there is no state agency review or state plan required, and any eligible organization can apply, we thought it might be beneficial to identify which organizations plan to submit an application, and to explore the feasibility of a voluntary and collaborative application. Steve will convene a meeting the week after Thanksgiving (date TBA) for all interested parties.
Recognizing the importance of effective outreach to eligible households from trusted messengers to historically underserved communities, Congress authorized the FCC to establish the Outreach Grant Program. The Outreach Grant Program provides eligible governmental and non-governmental entities with the funding and resources needed to increase awareness of and participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program among those eligible households most in need of affordable connectivity.
See Details Here
November 21, 2022
Meeting Schedule: November 28, December 5, 12, 19. No meeting December 26.
Meeting Update
For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
As you may already know, after a national search, Sandip Bhowmick, the current Assistant Broadband Director, has been promoted to Vice President of Infrastructure and State Broadband Director at the Arizona Commerce Authority. Sandip provided an overview of: the status of the BEAD and Digital Equity applications; his vision and plans for Arizona and the Broadband Office; the plan to release an RFQ for organizations to apply to lead planning for: 1) BEAD 2) Digital Equity, 3) Mapping; and more.
Meeting Schedule: November 28, December 5, 12, 19. No meeting December 26.
Meeting Update
For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
- November 21, 2022 meeting recording
- November 21, 2022 Registration List
- November 21, 2022 Chat
- November 21, 2022 ZOOM Transcript (coming later) (Note: We are experimenting with the use of OttorAI for a meeting transcript. Much better than the Zoom Transcript but still needs work. Does not identify the speakers. Anyway check it out.
As you may already know, after a national search, Sandip Bhowmick, the current Assistant Broadband Director, has been promoted to Vice President of Infrastructure and State Broadband Director at the Arizona Commerce Authority. Sandip provided an overview of: the status of the BEAD and Digital Equity applications; his vision and plans for Arizona and the Broadband Office; the plan to release an RFQ for organizations to apply to lead planning for: 1) BEAD 2) Digital Equity, 3) Mapping; and more.
FCC Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program - AZBSN Meeting
The FCC has released their Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program Notice Of Funding Opportunity NOFO. Application Submission Deadline: January 9, 2023. Eligible applicants must submit a complete application to CGB for funding consideration before the application submission deadline which consists of standard forms and program-specific forms. See Details Here. Since there is no state agency review or state plan required, and any eligible organization can apply, we thought it might be beneficial to identify which organizations plan to submit an application, and to explore the feasibility of a voluntary and collaborative application. Steve will convene a meeting the week after Thanksgiving (date TBA) for all interested parties.
Recognizing the importance of effective outreach to eligible households from trusted messengers to historically underserved communities, Congress authorized the FCC to establish the Outreach Grant Program. The Outreach Grant Program provides eligible governmental and non-governmental entities with the funding and resources needed to increase awareness of and participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program among those eligible households most in need of affordable connectivity.
See Details Here
The FCC has released their Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program Notice Of Funding Opportunity NOFO. Application Submission Deadline: January 9, 2023. Eligible applicants must submit a complete application to CGB for funding consideration before the application submission deadline which consists of standard forms and program-specific forms. See Details Here. Since there is no state agency review or state plan required, and any eligible organization can apply, we thought it might be beneficial to identify which organizations plan to submit an application, and to explore the feasibility of a voluntary and collaborative application. Steve will convene a meeting the week after Thanksgiving (date TBA) for all interested parties.
Recognizing the importance of effective outreach to eligible households from trusted messengers to historically underserved communities, Congress authorized the FCC to establish the Outreach Grant Program. The Outreach Grant Program provides eligible governmental and non-governmental entities with the funding and resources needed to increase awareness of and participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program among those eligible households most in need of affordable connectivity.
See Details Here
November 14, 2022
Meeting Schedule: November 14, 21, 28
Meeting Update
For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
November 14 Digital Access Presentation
Digital Equity and Digital Divide Research, Data Sources, Future Research Planning presented by Paul Ross, Phoenix College AVP CIO on Special Assignment, Executive Director Phoenix DECC & Chief Architect/Implementation Agent, and Ph.D. student at Grand Canyon University.
Experienced and witnessed over the last two years, there has been tremendous funding and growth in solutions and discussions connected to the 'Digital Divide.' Paul discussed some of the research discovered, data sources available, and future research planning, and outline why there needs to be a broader conversation and recognition that the space is multifaceted and interdisciplinary, extending beyond internet access to include digital equity reflecting the environment, the individual and society as a whole. The digital divide is present from the cloud to the closet to the classroom, from the formation of cells to supercentenarians.
Contact: O: 602.764.1859, [email protected]
Meeting Schedule: November 14, 21, 28
Meeting Update
For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
- November 14, 2022 meeting recording
- November 14, 2022 Registration List
- November 14, 2022 Chat
- November 14, 2022 ZOOM Transcript (Note: We are experimenting with the use of OttorAI for a meeting transcript. Much better than the Zoom Transcript but still needs work. Does not identify the speakers. Anyway check it out.
November 14 Digital Access Presentation
Digital Equity and Digital Divide Research, Data Sources, Future Research Planning presented by Paul Ross, Phoenix College AVP CIO on Special Assignment, Executive Director Phoenix DECC & Chief Architect/Implementation Agent, and Ph.D. student at Grand Canyon University.
Experienced and witnessed over the last two years, there has been tremendous funding and growth in solutions and discussions connected to the 'Digital Divide.' Paul discussed some of the research discovered, data sources available, and future research planning, and outline why there needs to be a broader conversation and recognition that the space is multifaceted and interdisciplinary, extending beyond internet access to include digital equity reflecting the environment, the individual and society as a whole. The digital divide is present from the cloud to the closet to the classroom, from the formation of cells to supercentenarians.
Contact: O: 602.764.1859, [email protected]
FCC Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program
Mala, Muralidharan, E-rate Administrator for Public Libraries with the Arizona State Library, Archives & Public Records provided an overview of the FCC Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program NOFO that was recently released. Application Submission Deadline: January 9, 2023. Eligible applicants must submit a complete application to CGB for funding consideration before the application submission deadline which consists of standard forms and program-specific forms. See Details Here
Recognizing the importance of effective outreach to eligible households from trusted messengers to historically underserved communities, Congress authorized the FCC to establish the Outreach Grant Program. The Outreach Grant Program provides eligible governmental and non-governmental entities with the funding and resources needed to increase awareness of and participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program among those eligible households most in need of affordable connectivity.
See Details Here
Contact [email protected], Cell: 480-221-5120
Mala, Muralidharan, E-rate Administrator for Public Libraries with the Arizona State Library, Archives & Public Records provided an overview of the FCC Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program NOFO that was recently released. Application Submission Deadline: January 9, 2023. Eligible applicants must submit a complete application to CGB for funding consideration before the application submission deadline which consists of standard forms and program-specific forms. See Details Here
Recognizing the importance of effective outreach to eligible households from trusted messengers to historically underserved communities, Congress authorized the FCC to establish the Outreach Grant Program. The Outreach Grant Program provides eligible governmental and non-governmental entities with the funding and resources needed to increase awareness of and participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program among those eligible households most in need of affordable connectivity.
See Details Here
Contact [email protected], Cell: 480-221-5120
November 7, 2022
Meeting Schedule: November 14, 21, 28
Meeting Update
For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
University of Arizona Information Assurance and Security Education Center: Paul Kealey, Lecturer in Management Information Systems at the University of Arizona, and Associate Director, Information Assurance and Security Education Center
Paul is a professor in the MIS Department which is part of the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. He specializes in data communications and information risk assessment. He is also the Associate Director of the Information Assurance and Security Education Center.
Designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, IASEC offers faculty, students, and the community, resources to study and address the cyber vulnerabilities of our nation’s information infrastructure. The IASEC team works collaboratively to promote responsible information and cybersecurity practice through curriculum development, industry partnerships, cutting-edge research and community outreach.
Paul will provided an overview of the Information Assurance and Security Education Center and then shared opportunities for AZBSN to collaborate with Paul and Center. Contact: [email protected]
Meeting Schedule: November 14, 21, 28
Meeting Update
For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
- November 7, 2022 meeting recording
- November 7, 2022 Registration List
- November 7, 2022 Chat
- November 7, 2022 ZOOM Transcript (Note: We are experimenting with the use of OttorAI for a meeting transcript. Much better than the Zoom Transcript but still needs work. Does not identify the speakers. Anyway check it out.
University of Arizona Information Assurance and Security Education Center: Paul Kealey, Lecturer in Management Information Systems at the University of Arizona, and Associate Director, Information Assurance and Security Education Center
Paul is a professor in the MIS Department which is part of the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. He specializes in data communications and information risk assessment. He is also the Associate Director of the Information Assurance and Security Education Center.
Designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, IASEC offers faculty, students, and the community, resources to study and address the cyber vulnerabilities of our nation’s information infrastructure. The IASEC team works collaboratively to promote responsible information and cybersecurity practice through curriculum development, industry partnerships, cutting-edge research and community outreach.
Paul will provided an overview of the Information Assurance and Security Education Center and then shared opportunities for AZBSN to collaborate with Paul and Center. Contact: [email protected]
October 31, 2022
Meeting Schedule: November 7, 14, 21, 28
Meeting Update
For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
Meeting with Paul Kealey, Lecturer in Management Information Systems at the University Of Arizona, and Associate Director, Information Assurance and Security Education Center. Steve reported on a meeting with Paul to learning more about the Center and to explore opportunities for collaboration
Two Digital Access Presentations:
Meeting Schedule: November 7, 14, 21, 28
Meeting Update
For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed below
- October 31, 2022 meeting recording
- October 31, 2022 Registration List
- October 31, 2022 Chat
- October 31, 2022, 2022 ZOOM Transcript (Note: We are experimenting with the use of OttorAI for a meeting transcript. Much better than the Zoom Transcript but still needs work. Does not identify the speakers. Anyway check it out.
Meeting with Paul Kealey, Lecturer in Management Information Systems at the University Of Arizona, and Associate Director, Information Assurance and Security Education Center. Steve reported on a meeting with Paul to learning more about the Center and to explore opportunities for collaboration
Two Digital Access Presentations:
- AARP Foundation Grant to Help Older Adults Build Digital Skills
- Possible FCC ACP Pilot Project
AARP Foundation Grant to Help Older Adults Build Digital Skills
Bring Digital Skills Training to Older Adults in Your Community
The AARP Foundation has received a grant to Help Older Adults Build Digital Skills and to bring Digital Skills Training to Older Adults in Your Community. The AARP Foundation is seeking non-profit community organizations to implement the Digital Skills Ready@50+ trainings in Arizona to provide essential workplace skills training to older adults living with low-income, with a focus on women and people of color.
AARP Foundation, through a generous grant from Google.org, is partnering with OATS (Older Adults Technology Services) by AARP to train older adults in basic technology and digital skills through the Digital Skills Ready@50+ initiative. We are seeking community partners to help us provide essential workplace skills training to older adults living with low-income, with a focus on women and people of color. In partnership with Senior Planet/OATS by AARP, the Digital Skills Ready@50+ curriculum offers foundational digital courses like Remote Work Basics, Tools for Aspiring Entrepreneurs, and Workplace Productivity Tools, that are designed to help participants find jobs, change careers, or explore entrepreneurship.
AARP Foundation is seeking non-profit community organizations to implement the Digital Skills Ready@50+ trainings in Arizona.
We are looking for organizations that: 1) Can each serve 75-200 people over the course of the initiative; 2) Have the capacity to deliver the trainings and track and support outcomes; 3) Share our commitment to supporting older adults; 4) Demonstrate that equity and inclusion are core to their work.
Funding is available from $4,000 to $10,000 to support training implementation. Please click here to complete an application. Questions? Email [email protected]
Bring Digital Skills Training to Older Adults in Your Community
The AARP Foundation has received a grant to Help Older Adults Build Digital Skills and to bring Digital Skills Training to Older Adults in Your Community. The AARP Foundation is seeking non-profit community organizations to implement the Digital Skills Ready@50+ trainings in Arizona to provide essential workplace skills training to older adults living with low-income, with a focus on women and people of color.
AARP Foundation, through a generous grant from Google.org, is partnering with OATS (Older Adults Technology Services) by AARP to train older adults in basic technology and digital skills through the Digital Skills Ready@50+ initiative. We are seeking community partners to help us provide essential workplace skills training to older adults living with low-income, with a focus on women and people of color. In partnership with Senior Planet/OATS by AARP, the Digital Skills Ready@50+ curriculum offers foundational digital courses like Remote Work Basics, Tools for Aspiring Entrepreneurs, and Workplace Productivity Tools, that are designed to help participants find jobs, change careers, or explore entrepreneurship.
AARP Foundation is seeking non-profit community organizations to implement the Digital Skills Ready@50+ trainings in Arizona.
We are looking for organizations that: 1) Can each serve 75-200 people over the course of the initiative; 2) Have the capacity to deliver the trainings and track and support outcomes; 3) Share our commitment to supporting older adults; 4) Demonstrate that equity and inclusion are core to their work.
Funding is available from $4,000 to $10,000 to support training implementation. Please click here to complete an application. Questions? Email [email protected]
Possible FCC ACP Pilot Project
At this meeting we discussed a possible ACP Pilot project with the FCC and Lisa Gustinelli. Lisa contacted AZBSN about collaboration on an ACP demonstration project. She has been collaborating with Lyle Ishida (Chief, Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division, Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau, Federal Communications Commission).
Lyle contacted her about a huge ACP push in Florida and Arizona in January of 2023. Lisa is the Innovator in Residence, ASU ShapingEDU, Arizona State University Broadband Access and Equity project, but lives in Florida. She suggested that we form a working committee for Arizona.FYI Lisa has been doing amazing ACP work in Florida and has lots of “lessons learned”. For example, she did a huge signup event October 15th in West Palm Beach, Florida. She thought it may be of interest to the task force because it was done at the Caridad Center in West Palm Beach. The center is the largest free medical clinic in Florida serving mostly the Hispanic community. They are holding a health fair on October 15th for Hispanic Heritage month and I she had an ACP signup table at their fair. They provided two tables and five bilingual volunteers for the signup. They expect 600-1000 people at the fair!!! It is a good model for getting health clinics involved in signups. She also coordinated a signup for Mexican migrant workers in Belle Glade Florida. Lisa has presented in the past to AZBSN about the work she is doing in Belle Glade Florida, and her collaboration with Lyle and the FCC.
Contact Lisa Gustinelli, [email protected] 561-901-5089
At this meeting we discussed a possible ACP Pilot project with the FCC and Lisa Gustinelli. Lisa contacted AZBSN about collaboration on an ACP demonstration project. She has been collaborating with Lyle Ishida (Chief, Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division, Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau, Federal Communications Commission).
Lyle contacted her about a huge ACP push in Florida and Arizona in January of 2023. Lisa is the Innovator in Residence, ASU ShapingEDU, Arizona State University Broadband Access and Equity project, but lives in Florida. She suggested that we form a working committee for Arizona.FYI Lisa has been doing amazing ACP work in Florida and has lots of “lessons learned”. For example, she did a huge signup event October 15th in West Palm Beach, Florida. She thought it may be of interest to the task force because it was done at the Caridad Center in West Palm Beach. The center is the largest free medical clinic in Florida serving mostly the Hispanic community. They are holding a health fair on October 15th for Hispanic Heritage month and I she had an ACP signup table at their fair. They provided two tables and five bilingual volunteers for the signup. They expect 600-1000 people at the fair!!! It is a good model for getting health clinics involved in signups. She also coordinated a signup for Mexican migrant workers in Belle Glade Florida. Lisa has presented in the past to AZBSN about the work she is doing in Belle Glade Florida, and her collaboration with Lyle and the FCC.
Contact Lisa Gustinelli, [email protected] 561-901-5089
October 24, 2022
Meeting Schedule: October 24, 31 November 7, 14, 21, 28
Monday October 24 Task Force Zoom Meeting Fiasco
For those of you that attempted to join our meeting on Monday and couldn’t get connected, sorry about that. We used the same link and login info we have used for the past 2 years. To make a long story short, Zoom did an update that caused the problem. I think it is now fixed! I have done several tests and it seems to be working, although there may still be a problem if you try to login using the Zoom app on your phone. I will be working on that. FYI, a few of our collaborators were able to login using the Zoom website and others called in by phone. We did have a short meeting anyway, and the recording is available below. BTW, if you haven’t done so, please update your
desktop app to the latest version.
Meeting Update
A special thanks to Karen Ziegler, Owner, Karen Ziegler Consulting Services for stepping up to be our newest sponsor. Karen has been with us long before AZBSN and long before the Task force. She has been a valuable partner and leader with the Task Force and a great resource for the state of Arizona. . Karen provides community and broadband planning and grant writing.
Karen worked for the State of Arizona for 30 plus years, and retired then contracted back with the Department of Administration (DOA), and ran the Arizona FirstNet and state 911 programs. She also worked on the rural broadband initiative and formed a group to develop the state rural broadband strategic plan at that time to help us position ourselves for additional federal funding and kind of give a roadmap for the work that we knew that needed to be done in Arizona to expand broadband. She left DOA in 2020, and then started her own consulting firm. She provides a lot of financial and grant management consulting for public safety agencies across the country. She is affiliated with Community Broadband Advocates, and John Lucas, who she partnered with back in 2020, to work specifically on rural broadband projects. And so they have a lot of great projects that they are working with across the state.
For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed above
Meeting Schedule: October 24, 31 November 7, 14, 21, 28
Monday October 24 Task Force Zoom Meeting Fiasco
For those of you that attempted to join our meeting on Monday and couldn’t get connected, sorry about that. We used the same link and login info we have used for the past 2 years. To make a long story short, Zoom did an update that caused the problem. I think it is now fixed! I have done several tests and it seems to be working, although there may still be a problem if you try to login using the Zoom app on your phone. I will be working on that. FYI, a few of our collaborators were able to login using the Zoom website and others called in by phone. We did have a short meeting anyway, and the recording is available below. BTW, if you haven’t done so, please update your
desktop app to the latest version.
Meeting Update
- October 24, 2022 meeting recording
- October 24, 2022 Registration List - Due to Zoom issue no list available
- October 24, 2022 Chat - - Due to Zoom issue no Chat is available
- October 24, 2022, 2022 ZOOM Transcript (Note: We are experimenting with the use of OttorAI for a meeting transcript. Much better than the Zoom Transcript but still needs work. Does not identify the speakers. Anyway check it out.
A special thanks to Karen Ziegler, Owner, Karen Ziegler Consulting Services for stepping up to be our newest sponsor. Karen has been with us long before AZBSN and long before the Task force. She has been a valuable partner and leader with the Task Force and a great resource for the state of Arizona. . Karen provides community and broadband planning and grant writing.
Karen worked for the State of Arizona for 30 plus years, and retired then contracted back with the Department of Administration (DOA), and ran the Arizona FirstNet and state 911 programs. She also worked on the rural broadband initiative and formed a group to develop the state rural broadband strategic plan at that time to help us position ourselves for additional federal funding and kind of give a roadmap for the work that we knew that needed to be done in Arizona to expand broadband. She left DOA in 2020, and then started her own consulting firm. She provides a lot of financial and grant management consulting for public safety agencies across the country. She is affiliated with Community Broadband Advocates, and John Lucas, who she partnered with back in 2020, to work specifically on rural broadband projects. And so they have a lot of great projects that they are working with across the state.
For details about updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed above
October 17, 2022
- October 17, 2022 meeting recording
- October 17, 2022 Registration List
- October 17, 2022 Chat
- October 17, 2022, 2022 ZOOM Transcript (Note: We are experimenting with the use of OttorAI for a meeting transcript. Much better than the Zoom Transcript but still needs work. Does not identify the speakers. Anyway check it out.
- Meeting Schedule: October 24, 31 November 7, 14, 21, 28
-
October 3, 2022
For details about the ASU & Maricopa County Digital Equity Initiative, and other updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed above
- October 3, 2022 meeting recording
- October 3, 2022 Registration List
- October 3, 2022 Chat
- October 3, 2022, 2022 ZOOM Transcript (Note: We are experimenting with the use of OttorAI for a meeting transcript. Much better than the Zoom Transcript but still needs work. Does not identify the speakers. Anyway check it out.
- Meeting Schedule: October 17, 24,31
- October 3 Digital Access Resource Highlight Recap: - Do to Zoom issue there was no presentation at this meeting
See ASU Announcement
Erin and Derek provided an overview of the recently announced ASU & Maricopa County $34.6 million Digital Equity Initiative. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will provide ASU, and its collaborators, $34.6 million through 2026 to advance broadband, community support, equipment and training across Maricopa County, which includes the metro Phoenix area. The funding makes ASU home to the largest university-led digital equity initiative in the country. ASU Enterprise Technology, Sun Corridor Network and the 501(c)(3) Digital Equity Institute will lead the effort along with hundreds of faculty, students and staff to bolster digital proficiency and distribute internet-connected devices to those in need. A broadband task force convened under the umbrella of The Connective, Greater Phoenix’s smart region consortium and an initiative of the Partnership for Economic Innovation.
The group consisted of government officials, Maricopa County and a technical advisory team led by ASU and the Digital Equity Institute. The nearly $35 million in funding to ASU comes through the American Rescue Plan package, awarded by Maricopa County. Moving forward, collaboration will remain at the center. ASU Enterprise Technology, Sun Corridor Network and the Digital Equity Institute will partner to connect community anchor institutions, such as schools, health clinics and other neighborhood assets, and provide educational programs that support communities’ journeys from digital inequity to full participation.
Contacts: Erin Carr-Jordan Erin, [email protected], Derek Masseth [email protected]
For details about the ASU & Maricopa County Digital Equity Initiative, and other updates, see the Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed above
September 26, 2022
For details about Nicole's presentation, and other updates, see the
Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed above
October 7 Chicanos Por La Causa and Common Sense “Help Our Community Connect” ACP sign-up event
Chicanos Por La Causa and Common Sense are teaming up for an event called “Help Our Community Connect” during Digital Inclusion Week in Phoenix to help even more families get connected. The event is free and open to the public. There will be light refreshments and activities for kids as well. Please bring anyone you’d like along.
WHO: Chicanos Por La Causa and Common Sense Media
WHAT: Help Our Community Connect
WHERE: Central Park Recreation Center in Phoenix, 140 E. Tonto, Phoenix
WHEN: October 7th, 3-7 p.m.
Families that receive free and reduced school lunch, WIC, or SNAP benefits, or are enrolled in other programs like Medicaid, Head Start, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are eligible for the program.
We are looking for volunteers who might be interested in helping on the day of the ACP event. Volunteer Here
Download the following ACP Event Documents
- September 26, 2022 meeting recording
- September 26 Registration List
- September 26, 2022 Chat
- September 26, 2022 ZOOM Transcript (Note: We are experimenting with the use of OttorAI for a meeting transcript. Much better than the Zoom Transcript but still needs work. Does not identify the speakers. Anyway check it out.
- Download Nicole Umayam's Digital Access Presentation here
- Meeting Schedule: October 3,10,17, 24,31
- Digital Inclusion Library Consultant: The Arizona State Library is hiring! Please share this link with your networks.
- September 26 Digital Access Presentation: Nicole Umayam, Federal Program Officer – Arizona, Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth (OICG), National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce
Download Nicole's presentation here
Most of you will remember Nicole, who was the Digital Inclusion Consultant with the Arizona State Library. Nicole did a great job setting up the Connect Arizona Web site and the State Library Digital Navigator project, among many other accomplishments. Nicole is now a Federal Program Officer (FPO) with NTIA, supporting the grant administration, development, and implementation of the IIJA broadband programs in Arizona. This discussion will include an overview of the broadband programs in Arizona, the role of coordination, and key priorities for AZBSN members. She will focus on the structures NTIA has established to support States, the nature of the Federal Program Officer (FPO) roles, and how the AZBSN can be involved in Arizona’s planning and implementation.
You probably know that NTIA, located within the Department of Commerce, is the Executive Branch agency that is principally responsible by law for advising the President on telecommunications and information policy issues. NTIA administers four high-speed Internet programs enacted in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which includes an investment of $65 billion to close the digital divide and ensure all Americans have access to reliable, high speed, and affordable broadband.
Contact: Nicole Umayam, Federal Program Officer – Arizona, Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth (OICG), National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce 202-308-7160 | [email protected]
For details about Nicole's presentation, and other updates, see the
Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed above
October 7 Chicanos Por La Causa and Common Sense “Help Our Community Connect” ACP sign-up event
Chicanos Por La Causa and Common Sense are teaming up for an event called “Help Our Community Connect” during Digital Inclusion Week in Phoenix to help even more families get connected. The event is free and open to the public. There will be light refreshments and activities for kids as well. Please bring anyone you’d like along.
WHO: Chicanos Por La Causa and Common Sense Media
WHAT: Help Our Community Connect
WHERE: Central Park Recreation Center in Phoenix, 140 E. Tonto, Phoenix
WHEN: October 7th, 3-7 p.m.
Families that receive free and reduced school lunch, WIC, or SNAP benefits, or are enrolled in other programs like Medicaid, Head Start, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are eligible for the program.
We are looking for volunteers who might be interested in helping on the day of the ACP event. Volunteer Here
Download the following ACP Event Documents
September 19, 2022
Thank You Jeff Sobotka
This morning Jeff announced that he will be leaving his position as State Broadband Manager. He is heading out for a much needed rest and long delayed honeymoon. Jeff, as you heard this morning, we will miss you and greatly appreciate your leadership, friendship and amazing accomplishments. Arizona is a better place because of your hard work. We will miss you but wish you the best.
September 19 Digital Access Presentation: Coconino County SpaceX StarLink project
PJ Way | Coconino County Information Technology Rural Broadband and Special Initiatives
Coconino County has been working with SpaceX in the StarLink project to deliver high speed connectivity to rural areas of the county within the Navajo Nation. I would like to share a little background to how this relationship came to exist, the model used, and the results/current status. Please join in the conversation. I look forward to presenting more. Thank you
Contact [email protected] Direct: 928-607-4373| IT Service Desk: 928-679-7900
For details about the Coconino County SpaceX StarLink project, and other updates, see the
Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed above
October 7 Chicanos Por La Causa and Common Sense “Help Our Community Connect” ACP sign-up event
Chicanos Por La Causa and Common Sense are teaming up for an event called “Help Our Community Connect” during Digital Inclusion Week in Phoenix to help even more families get connected. The event is free and open to the public. There will be light refreshments and activities for kids as well. Please bring anyone you’d like along.
WHO: Chicanos Por La Causa and Common Sense Media
WHAT: Help Our Community Connect
WHERE: Central Park Recreation Center in Phoenix, 140 E. Tonto, Phoenix
WHEN: October 7th, 3-7 p.m.
Families that receive free and reduced school lunch, WIC, or SNAP benefits, or are enrolled in other programs like Medicaid, Head Start, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are eligible for the program.
We are looking for volunteers who might be interested in helping on the day of the ACP event. Volunteer Here
Download the following ACP Event Documents
- September 19, 2022 meeting recording
- September 19 Registration List
- September 19, 2022 Chat
- September 19, 2022 ZOOM Transcript (Note: We are experimenting with the use of OttorAI for a meeting transcript. Much better than the Zoom Transcript but still needs work. Does not identify the speakers. Anyway check it out.
- Meeting Schedule: September 26 October 3,10,17, 24,31
- Digital Inclusion Library Consultant: The Arizona State Library is hiring! Please share this link with your networks.
Thank You Jeff Sobotka
This morning Jeff announced that he will be leaving his position as State Broadband Manager. He is heading out for a much needed rest and long delayed honeymoon. Jeff, as you heard this morning, we will miss you and greatly appreciate your leadership, friendship and amazing accomplishments. Arizona is a better place because of your hard work. We will miss you but wish you the best.
September 19 Digital Access Presentation: Coconino County SpaceX StarLink project
PJ Way | Coconino County Information Technology Rural Broadband and Special Initiatives
Coconino County has been working with SpaceX in the StarLink project to deliver high speed connectivity to rural areas of the county within the Navajo Nation. I would like to share a little background to how this relationship came to exist, the model used, and the results/current status. Please join in the conversation. I look forward to presenting more. Thank you
Contact [email protected] Direct: 928-607-4373| IT Service Desk: 928-679-7900
For details about the Coconino County SpaceX StarLink project, and other updates, see the
Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed above
October 7 Chicanos Por La Causa and Common Sense “Help Our Community Connect” ACP sign-up event
Chicanos Por La Causa and Common Sense are teaming up for an event called “Help Our Community Connect” during Digital Inclusion Week in Phoenix to help even more families get connected. The event is free and open to the public. There will be light refreshments and activities for kids as well. Please bring anyone you’d like along.
WHO: Chicanos Por La Causa and Common Sense Media
WHAT: Help Our Community Connect
WHERE: Central Park Recreation Center in Phoenix, 140 E. Tonto, Phoenix
WHEN: October 7th, 3-7 p.m.
Families that receive free and reduced school lunch, WIC, or SNAP benefits, or are enrolled in other programs like Medicaid, Head Start, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are eligible for the program.
We are looking for volunteers who might be interested in helping on the day of the ACP event. Volunteer Here
Download the following ACP Event Documents
September 12, 2022
Pima County’s Digital Infrastructure and Inclusion Action Plan
Michelle provide an overview of Pima County’s Digital Infrastructure and Inclusion Action Plan and planning process. PCPL, the largest provider of free technology and internet access in the county, has been integral to the creation of Connect Pima. Connect Pima’s mission is that all Pima County community members will have equitable access to affordable and reliable high-speed broadband internet to successfully participate in our democratic society.
This work has resulted in a highly collaborative group of partners from local, state, and national organizations, internet service providers, and governmental entities focused on developing broadband infrastructure, implementing digital literacy initiatives, and increasing access to devices and tools for connectivity throughout Pima County.
Michele was joined by Cindy Hogan, Connect Pima Co-Chair, Digital Inclusion Committee who provided an overview of the work of that Committee. Pima County is the first Arizona county to tackle digital equity with a strategic planning effort.
Contact: Michelle Simon (520) 594-5654 [email protected], Cindy Hogan 520-891-1285 [email protected]
For details about Pima Connects, and other updates, see the
Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed above
- September 12, 2022 meeting recording
- September 12 Registration List
- September 12, 2022 Chat
- September 12, 2022 ZOOM Transcript (Note: We are experimenting with the use of OttorAI for a meeting transcript. Much better than the Zoom Transcript but still needs work. Does not identify the speakers. Anyway check it out.
- Meeting Schedule: September 19, 26 October 3,10,17, 24,31
- Digital Inclusion Library Consultant: The Arizona State Library is hiring! Please share this link with your networks.
Pima County’s Digital Infrastructure and Inclusion Action Plan
- Michelle Simon, Deputy Director of Support Services, Pima County Public Library and Steering Committee Co-Chair of Connect Pima
- Cindy Hogan, Connect Pima Co-Chair, Digital Inclusion Committee
Michelle provide an overview of Pima County’s Digital Infrastructure and Inclusion Action Plan and planning process. PCPL, the largest provider of free technology and internet access in the county, has been integral to the creation of Connect Pima. Connect Pima’s mission is that all Pima County community members will have equitable access to affordable and reliable high-speed broadband internet to successfully participate in our democratic society.
This work has resulted in a highly collaborative group of partners from local, state, and national organizations, internet service providers, and governmental entities focused on developing broadband infrastructure, implementing digital literacy initiatives, and increasing access to devices and tools for connectivity throughout Pima County.
Michele was joined by Cindy Hogan, Connect Pima Co-Chair, Digital Inclusion Committee who provided an overview of the work of that Committee. Pima County is the first Arizona county to tackle digital equity with a strategic planning effort.
Contact: Michelle Simon (520) 594-5654 [email protected], Cindy Hogan 520-891-1285 [email protected]
For details about Pima Connects, and other updates, see the
Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed above
Download Pima County’s Digital Infrastructure and Inclusion Action Plan
| Pima County’s Digital Infrastructure and Inclusion Action Plan 2022 |
October 4 Pima Connect Virtual Digital Literacy Forum “Why Digital Literacy Matters”
Featuring Francella Ochillo, Executive Director of Next Century Cities
Registration And Information
Cindy announced the virtual Digital Literacy Forum on Tuesday October 4, 2022 as we explore “Why Digital Literacy Matters”. Without digital skills training (digital literacy) many are not comfortable using devices or confident about going online. Connect Pima plans to develop five digital literacy initiatives with community partners to reach new learners who need access to skills training. We hope you will join us to learn more about the importance of digital literacy and to find out how you and your organization can join Connect Pima in our efforts to close the “digital divide”. Contact Cindy Hogan for additional information 520-891-1285 [email protected]
Featuring Francella Ochillo, Executive Director of Next Century Cities
Registration And Information
Cindy announced the virtual Digital Literacy Forum on Tuesday October 4, 2022 as we explore “Why Digital Literacy Matters”. Without digital skills training (digital literacy) many are not comfortable using devices or confident about going online. Connect Pima plans to develop five digital literacy initiatives with community partners to reach new learners who need access to skills training. We hope you will join us to learn more about the importance of digital literacy and to find out how you and your organization can join Connect Pima in our efforts to close the “digital divide”. Contact Cindy Hogan for additional information 520-891-1285 [email protected]
Launch of Pima County Library Telehealth Demonstration Initiative and
Arivaca Community Health Day
Saturday, October 1st from 9am –12pm Arivaca Historic Schoolhouse ~ 17180 W Fourth St
Network with YOUR community resources in Arivaca, FREE Health Screening, Eye Screening & Covid Testing; Get connected to the internet with resources and discounts thru the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP); Exciting Telehealth Technology Demonstrations; Check out the new telehealth resources available for you at the Caviglia-Arivaca Branch Library
This project is supported by the Arizona State Library, Archives & Public Records, a division of the Secretary of State, with federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
For more info contact the Arizona Telemedicine Program @(520)626-0131 or [email protected]
Arivaca Community Health Day
Saturday, October 1st from 9am –12pm Arivaca Historic Schoolhouse ~ 17180 W Fourth St
Network with YOUR community resources in Arivaca, FREE Health Screening, Eye Screening & Covid Testing; Get connected to the internet with resources and discounts thru the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP); Exciting Telehealth Technology Demonstrations; Check out the new telehealth resources available for you at the Caviglia-Arivaca Branch Library
This project is supported by the Arizona State Library, Archives & Public Records, a division of the Secretary of State, with federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
For more info contact the Arizona Telemedicine Program @(520)626-0131 or [email protected]
| Arivaca Telehealth And Community Health Day Oct 2022 |
Download Telehealth Resources, Grants and Connectivity September 2022
The attached file provides the September 2022 Distance Learning/Telehealth Calendar of Events for the Arizona Telemedicine Program/Southwest Regional Telemedicine Resource Center and other national events and resources
| Telehealth Resource, Events and Connectivity |
August 29, 2022
Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed above
- August 29, 2022 meeting recording
- August 29, 2022 Registration List
- August 29, 2022 Chat
- August 29, 2022 ZOOM Transcript (Note: We are experimenting with the use of OttorAI for a meeting transcript. Much better than the Zoom Transcript but still needs work. Does not identify the speakers. Anyway check it out.
- Meeting Schedule: August 29, September 12, 19, 26. No meeting Labor Day September 5
- Digital Inclusion Library Consultant: The Arizona State Library is hiring! Please share this link with your networks.
- August 29 Digital Access Presentation: Instead of our usual presentation, the following 6 people provided a brief introduction about themselves and their organization:
--- Aaron Ball, Center for the Future of Arizona, Director of College and Career Pathways [email protected] 520 271 4497
--- Will McCullen, Pima Community College, program manager for the IT Center of Excellence , [email protected], 520-300-1985
--- Shelby Brown, Arizona Department of Education, Erate Coordinator and collaborator with the ADOE Office of Digital Teaching and Learning [email protected], 801-388-4418
--- Jan Schiller. Berkshire Consulting, LLC, Partner [email protected], 414-31-59797
--- Vaughn Croft, Fred G. Acosta Job Corps Center, Business Community Liaison [email protected] 520-879-9265
--- Fernando Roman Communications Workers of America, Campaign Lead,
[email protected] 520-709- 7199
Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed above
August 22, 2022
Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed above
- August 22, 2022 meeting recording
- August 22, 2022 Registration List
- August 22, 2022 Chat
- August 22, 2022 ZOOM Transcript (Note: We are experimenting with the use of OttorAI for a meeting transcript. Much better than the Zoom Transcript but still needs work. Does not identify the speakers. Anyway check it out.
- Meeting Schedule: August 29, September 12, 19, 26. No meeting Labor Day September 5
- Digital Inclusion Library Consultant: The Arizona State Library is hiring! Please share this link with your networks.
- August 22 Digital Access Presentation – TEALS Microsoft Technology, Education, and Literacy in Schools (TEALS) program presented by Regional (Reggie) Carrillo, Arizona Regional Manager for the Microsoft Philanthropies Technology, Education, and Literacy in Schools (TEALS) program
Reggie provided an awesome overview of the TEALS program, his engagements with schools in Arizona, and the many other digital inclusion initiatives he is engaged in. Reggie works to continue to expand computer science (CS) opportunities and pathways to build educator capacity to teach CS at the high school level for historically excluded students. TEALS (Technology Education and Literacy in Schools) is a FREE Microsoft Philanthropies program that builds sustainable computer science programs in high schools.
Reggie has transitioned to this role with Microsoft from being a former educator to continue to focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEM. Reggie’s goals as Regional Manager role is to strengthen Arizona’s STEM culture in educational spaces and the surrounding communities as well as empowering students to be able to see a professional future for themselves in Arizona’s up and coming digital and tech landscape. He knows that diversity is our strength and collaboration is a key component when it comes to utilizing STEM to address issues at the forefront of Arizona’s community. Reggie is currently engaged with a number of high schools in Arizona. He is interested in supporting and partnering with other digital inclusion organizations in Arizona.
Contact: [email protected] | Cell: 623-999-7784 | Work: 602-805-8999 microsoft.com/TEALS.
Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files listed above
August 15, 2022
Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files
- August 15, 2022 meeting recording
- August 15, 2022 Registration List
- August 15, 2022 Chat
- August 15, 2022 ZOOM Transcript (Note: We are experimenting with the use of OttorAI for a meeting transcript. Much better than the Zoom Transcript but still needs work. Does not identify the speakers. Anyway check it out.
- Meeting Schedule: : August 22, 29, September 12, 19, 26. No meeting Labor Day September 5
- Digital Inclusion Library Consultant: The Arizona State Library is hiring! Please share this link with your networks.
- August 15 Digital Access Presentation – WanRack Blake Mayfield, Director of Business Development
Download Presentation
Blake provided an overview of Wanrack and the services they are providing in Arizona. WANRack, headquartered in the Kansas City, is a turn-key middle mile and last mile infrastructure provider. Our team has been engineering, constructing, and maintaining fiber networks across the nation for a decade! WANRack’s executive management team has deep experience in the telecommunications industry with a history of successful completion of large and complex fiber-optic construction projects for school districts, counties, municipalities, wireless carriers, and private enterprises.
WANRack’s model is designed for Open Access Networks (OANs). Under our open access model, WANRack seeks to build a twenty-first-century fiber network in which multiple services can be offered over the network. WANRack is also a certified E-Rate service provider. WANRack offers Commercial & Wholesale services as well as a full fiber to the home solution tailored to meet the needs of your community.
WANRack has built more than a dozen private fiber networks in Arizona. In fact, out of the 23 states WANRack operates in, our largest fiber footprint resides in Arizona. WANRack looks forward to the opportunity to provide your community with a free quote! Contact: Blake Mayfield, Director of Business Development, 913-660-6085 [email protected] - Holly Henley announced that, until they find a permanent replacement for Nicole Umayam, the State Library will be contracting with Cindy Hogan to support Connect Arizona, the digital navigators and our digital inclusion projects.
- Common Sense ACP awareness campaign: Ilana Lowery announced that Common Sense will launch their ACP awareness campaign Aug. 15. They are partnering with the Digital Equity Institute and ASU's Experience Center on a Phoenix pilot for their ACP campaign. For information Ilana Lowery Common Sense Media, Arizona Director, [email protected] 623-341-0177
Download Common Sense ACP Fliers - From Sherika Jackson: Join us for the Inaugural Future Stars, Inc Fundraiser: Adult STEM Party with a Purpose on September 9,2022 from 6pm-8pm at Arizona Science Center, Phoenix, AZ. Your ticket price includes first-floor access to Arizona Science Center, Hands on STEM activities, light hors 'oeuvres, and a fabulous Silent Auction. Your chance to be a kid again! Best of all we will award five laptop scholarships during the event. All proceeds benefit the operational expansion of Future Stars, Inc.
Information and Registration - Mark Goldstein: The Arizona Technology Council is drafting their 2023 Public Policy Guide and will refine and lock down the content by late August. We want your input for this year’s update. See and download 2002 Policy Guide or download Word Version for editing here. Please review and send me any suggestions or markups to [email protected]
Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files
August 1, 2022
Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files
- August 1, 2022 meeting recording
- August 1, 2022 Registration List
- August 1, 2022 Chat
- August 1, 2022 ZOOM Transcript (Note: We are experimenting with the use of OttorAI for a meeting transcript. Much better than the Zoom Transcript but still needs work. Does not identify the speakers. Anyway check it out.
- Steve's Vacation And Meeting Schedule. Steve will be on vacation from July 14 - August 11. During that time he will coordinate the Task Force meetings, however, we will skip a couple of meetings. Meeting Schedule: August 15, 22, 29
- Digital Inclusion Library Consultant: The Arizona State Library is hiring! Please share this link with your networks.
- Valley TeleCom Group Update
Download Presentation
June and July came with big announcements which will lead to massive fiber expansion for SE Arizona. Tune in to hear about Valley’s $45M Rural Utility Service (RUS) loan to fund its commitment to the FCC’s Alternative Connect America Cost Model (ACAM II) for Universal Service (USF) Fund reimbursement and Valley’s three ACA AZ State Broadband Development Grant Projects. Cochise, Graham, Greenlee and Santa Cruz counties will all be benefiting by getting more fiber internet through these two programs. Contact: Heather Floyd (520) 384-8912 Office (520) 349-6658 Cell [email protected]. Website www.vtc.net - August 5, 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time FCC ACP Open Meeting: The FCC will be considering two important ACP-related items at our next Open Meeting, to be conducted on August 5, 2022 beginning at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. These items include: 1) Consideration of a Second Report and Order which would establish the Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program to provide eligible governmental and non-governmental entities funding to conduct outreach to increase awareness of and encourage participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program among eligible low-income households. And; 2) Consideration of a Third Report and Order which would establish the one-year Your Home, Your Internet Pilot Program with the goal of increasing awareness of the Affordable Connectivity Program among recipients of federal housing assistance and facilitating enrollment in the ACP by providing targeted assistance with the ACP application.
Both items have the potential to positively influence our work together toward building greater awareness and enrollment into the ACP from eligible households. If passed more information about these new opportunities will be shared in the near future. We encourage your virtual (or in-person) attendance at the meeting. - Holly Henley announced that, until they find a permanent replacement for Nicole Umayam, the State Library will be contracting with Cindy Hogan to support Connect Arizona, the digital navigators and our digital inclusion projects.
- Ilana Lowery announced that Common Sense will launch their ACP awareness campaign Aug. 15. They are partnering with the Digital Equity Institute and ASU's Experience Center on a Phoenix pilot for their ACP campaign. Please let her know if you can help spread the word. For information Ilana Lowery Common Sense Media, Arizona Director, [email protected] 623-341-0177
Download Common Sense ACP Fliers - From Shereka Jackson: Join us for the Inaugural Future Stars, Inc Fundraiser: Adult STEM Party with a Purpose on September 9,2022 from 6pm-8pm at Arizona Science Center, Phoenix, AZ. Your ticket price includes first-floor access to Arizona Science Center, Hands on STEM activities, light hors 'oeuvres, and a fabulous Silent Auction. Your chance to be a kid again! Best of all we will award five laptop scholarships during the event. All proceeds benefit the operational expansion of Future Stars, Inc.
Information and Registration - From Kelly Greene: Arizona SciTech Festival September 27 - STEM & Innovation Summit at Arizona Science Center. Sponsor, Exhibitor and panel opportunities available. Contact: [email protected]
- From Kelly Krusee: Erate questions (and other questions!) in Digital Office Hours, from Office of Digital Teaching & Learning, Arizona Department of Education:https://azed-gov.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAlf-qhqT0qGtYWppOsTkOUKRsEOv-HWAKS. Digital Office Hours are drop in, Thursdays, 11am-1pm MST. https://www.azed.gov/odtl/odtl-digital-office-hours
- From: Mark Goldstein: Commnet Broadband plans to acquire Sacred Wind Enterprises uniting two broadband providers focused on serving tribal areas in the Four Corner area. See Telecompetitor article
Meeting recording, Chat, and Zoom Transcript files
July 18 2022
- July 18, 2022 meeting recording
- July 18, 2022 Registration List
- July 18, 2022 Chat
- June 18, 2022 ZOOM Transcript (Note: We are experimenting with the use of OttorAI for a meeting transcript. Much better than the Zoom Transcript but still needs work. Does not identify the speakers. Anyway check it out.
- Steve's Vacation And Meeting Schedule. Steve will be on vacation from July 14 - August 10. During that time he will coordinate the Task Force meetings, however, we will skip a couple of meetings. Meeting Schedule: July 18, August 1, 15. No meetings July 25 and August 8
- Digital Inclusion Library Consultant: The Arizona State Library is hiring! Please share this link with your networks.
- July 18 Task Force Briefing: Arizona Broadband and Digital Inclusion Planning
Jeff Sobotka, Vice President & State Broadband Director, Arizona Commerce Authority.
Jeff provided an excellent update on Arizona Broadband and Digital Inclusion initiatives including funded broadband projects, Bead planning, the mapping initiative, onboarding consultants & the initial paperwork to receive our planning funds for the IIJA programs and more. This was an extended presentation rather than just his usual 10-15 minute briefing.
Jeff Sobotka, Vice President & State Broadband Director. Contact: 602-845-1287 [email protected] - See other updates
- For details about Jeff's, and other updates, see the meeting recording and Zoom Transcript
July 11 2022
- July 11, 2022 meeting recording
- July 11, 2022 Registration List
- July 11, 2022 Chat
- June 11, 2022 ZOOM Transcript (Note: We are experimenting with the use of OttorAI for a meeting transcript. Much better than the Zoom Transcript but still needs work. Does not identify the speakers. Anyway check it out.
- Steve's Vacation And Meeting Schedule. Steve announced that he will be on vacation from July 14 - August 10. During that time he will coordinate the Task Force meetings, however, we will skip a couple of meetings. Meeting Schedule: July 18, August 1, 15. No meetings July 25 and August 8
- Nicole Umayam, State Library Digital Inclusion Library Consultant moved on to bigger and better things. Nicole: Congratulations and Thank you! Nicole left the State Library for a position as Arizona BEAD representative with NTIA.
Thank you Nicole for all the great work you did with Connect-Arizona. - Digital Inclusion Library Consultant: The Arizona State Library is hiring! Please share this link with your networks.
- Arizona Digital Inclusion Planning. The Arizona Commerce Authority is contracting with Erin Carr-Jordan, Executive Director and the Digital Equity Institute to lead the development of the state Digital Inclusion plan. Erin provided an update about the planning and Institute initiatives
- Digital Access Resource Presentation – Microsoft Digital Equity Dashboard
Ryan Palmer, Global Digital Equity Strategist on the Microsoft Airband team
We are in discussion with Microsoft about opportunities to collaborate with them on their digital inclusion dashboard, broadband and other digital inclusion opportunities and resources. As a starting point Ryan provided a brief overview of of at their soon-to-be-released Digital Equity Dashboard They will emphasize insights it can provide and what you and other practitioners can do with the information.
As part of Microsoft’s cross-company focus on digital equity, Microsoft has developed the Digital Equity Dashboard to help policymakers and digital inclusion practitioners identify areas within a state with high digital inequities, using a data-driven approach to maximize resources and investments in the communities most impacted by the digital divide. The Dashboard will be free and publicly available; it generates visualizations based on data from the Census, the FCC, Microsoft, and BroadbandNow.
Link To Dashboard: Here is the link to the Dashboard. Please note that it is a work in progress and has been not been officially released so they have asked that you do not share this link with others
Contacts: Ryan Palmer 425.421.5333, M 206.962.1171, Allen Kim (Director of Data Analytics with Microsoft’s AI for Good Research Lab, Maile Martinez (Program Manager, Airband US)
June 27 2022
- June 27, 2022 meeting recording (Sorry no recording available)
- June 27, 2022 Registration List
- June 27, 2022 Chat
- June 27, 2022 ZOOM Transcript: (Sorry no transcript available)
- Steve's Vacation. Steve announced that he will be on vacation from July 11 - August 10. During that time I tentatively plan to coordinate the Task Force meetings, however, we may go to every other week. Dates TBA.
- Tentative Meeting Schedule: July 11, 25, August 8, 15. No meeting July 4
- Nicole Umayam, State Library Digital Inclusion Library Consultant is leaving. Nicole: Congratulations and Thank you! Nicole is leaving the State Library for a position as Arizona representative with NTIA.
Thank you Nicole for all the great work you did with Connect-Arizona. We - Digital Inclusion Library Consultant: The Arizona State Library is hiring! Please share this link with your networks.
- June 27, 2022 Digital Access Resource Presentation:
June 20 2022
- June 20, 2022 meeting recording
- June 20, 2022 Registration List
- June 20, 2022 Chat
- June 20, 2022 ZOOM Transcript: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- Steve's Vacation. Steve announced that he will be on vacation from July 11 - August 10. During that time I tentatively plan to coordinate the Task Force meetings, however, we may go to every other week. Dates TBA.
- Tentative Meeting Schedule: June 20, 27. July 11, 25, August 8, 15. No meeting July 4
- June 20, 2022 Digital Access Resource Presentation: Connect-Arizona (Download Presentation Here) – Nicole Umayam, Digital Inclusion Library Consultant with the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records provided an update on the Connect-Arizona website and resources. Connect Arizona is a digital inclusion initiative led by the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records. Our activities are informed by a network of community partners, government agencies, broadband stakeholders, leaders in education, and the people we serve. This initiative has two primary aims: (1) To connect Arizonans with information resources needed for affordable home internet access, personal devices, and local technology training and support programs and (2) To inspire digital empowerment in Arizona via Digital Navigators, a free library service for individuals to develop digital and web literacy skills, find internet service, get technical assistance, and become confident users of technology. See the Connect-Arizona website here.
- AZBSN NTIA Internet For All Workshop. We were tentatively planning an ASBSN Workshop to provide an overview of the complex NTIA Internet For All initiative for their Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program ($42.5 billion); Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program ($1 billion); State Digital Equity Act programs ($1.5 billion). See the https://www.internetforall.gov/ web site where you can access the three new NTIA Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs). Drew Garner, State Broadband Policy Fellow with Common Sense, Mala and Cindy are working on summary presentation of these complex programs. We decide that since NDIA and many other organizations are providing webinars, including Q&A, instead of providing our own webinar, we would prepare an email and web page, with links to the many existing webinars and downloads to the presentations being developed by Drew/Mala/Cindy and Cindy. In the meantime see:
--- National Digital Alliance webinar recording and slides here
--- NTIA past events archived here where you can find a reverse chronologic list of webinars linking to their slide decks and video playback.
--- NTIA Chief Answers 5 Burning Broadband Funding Questions: NTIA recently unveiled the rules that will apply to $45 billion in broadband funding, opening the door to an influx of investment. However, the rules, which were presented in a series of Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) releases, seem to have raised as many questions as they answered. Speaking at the Mountain Connect conference NTIA chief Alan Davidson tackled a range of queries in both a keynote session and a media roundtable. Davidson said there was a lot of information that was not included in the NTIA’s NoFOs and it plans to issue additional guidance around topics such as supply chain and workforce issues. (Mountain Connect) Here’s what he had to say about five key issues. See Fierce Telecom Article: NTIA Chief Answers 5 Burning Broadband Funding Questions - National Telehealth Technology Assessment Center (TTAC) Telehealth Technology Report
Submitted be Janet Major - Download Here Survey Description and Trends Overview. The National Telehealth Technology Assessment Center (TTAC) conducts a biennial technology survey. This survey consists of 17 questions with a goal of identifying: 1. Telemedicine Technologies that are currently being used in telemedicine programs, 2. Telemedicine Technologies that may be of interest for future assessment, 3. How TTAC can best provide relevant information and technology resources to telemedicine users. TTAC uses the results of this survey to direct assessments, outreach, and future work.
June 13, 2022
- June 13, 2022 meeting recording
- June 13, 2022 Registration List
- June 13, 2022 Zoom Chat
- June 13, 2022 ZOOM Transcript: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- Steve's Vacation. Steve announced that he will be on vacation from July 11 - August 10. During that time I tentatively plan to coordinate the Task Force meetings, however, we may go to every other week. Dates TBA.
- Cyber Security: Ryan Murray, Deputy Director/Deputy State Chief Information Security Officer, State of Arizona Department of Homeland Security | Cyber Command provided an overview and discussion regarding the CISA, Federal Cyber Security And Infrastructure Security Agency will be providing $1 billion for State and Local Cybersecurity Grants Ryan will provide an overview, and discuss the $200 million worth of federal cybersecurity grant money slated to come to state and local governments this year, with another $800 million arriving over the next three years. Localities are to be the biggest recipients — with 80 percent of the funds promised to them. See the Government Technology Article for more info.
- AZBSN NTIA Internet For All Workshop. We were tentatively planning an ASBSN Workshop to provide an overview of the complex NTIA Internet For All initiative for their Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program ($42.5 billion); Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program ($1 billion); State Digital Equity Act programs ($1.5 billion). See the https://www.internetforall.gov/ web site where you can access the three new NTIA Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs). Drew Garner, State Broadband Policy Fellow with Common Sense, Mala and Cindy are working on summary presentation of these complex programs. We decide that since NDIA and many other organizations are providing webinars, including Q&A, instead of providing our own webinar, we would prepare an email and web page, with links to the many existing webinars and downloads to the presentations being developed by Drew/Mala/Cindy and Cindy. In the meantime see the National Digital Alliance webinar recording and slides here.
June 6, 2022 Meeting Agenda: In lieu of a resource presentation, our agenda included:
ASU ShapingEDU's Global Virtual Summer Space Camp. Stephanie Pierotti Director, ShapingEDU is looking for presenters for the June 21-23 ASU’s ShapingEDU Global Virtual Summer Space Camp. Education 2030 session is where we have the most availability for speakers.
About ASU ShapingEDU: Formed in 2018 by ASU CIO Lev Gonick, we are now a global community of over 4,000 passionate and insightful educators, students, researchers, storytellers, edtech creators and education futurists, all of whom are dedicated to creating change so that lifelong learners may thrive in the digital age. Learn More: https://shapingedu.asu.edu/. Stephanie invited everyone to join ShapingEDU. They meet virtually every Tue @ 1:00 Arizona time. Sign-up Here or contact Stephanie Pierotti Director, ShapingEDU, ASU Technology Office, Creative + Communications. 702-858-7200, [email protected]
About the Space Camp: At the first two half-day sessions of this year’s “Summer Camp”, we’ll explore the latest in edtech tools, advances in teaching and learning, our path to Education 2030 (Sustainable Development Goal 4) and we’ll hear about what’s working in education systems from around the globe. We’ll then take what we learned the first two days and – starting with a blank slate - work in teams to develop an education system for Mars. After developing this utopian system, we’ll consider ways to get a bit closer to that right here on Earth.
Here’s how we’re positioning the tracks for the first two days: Teaching & Learning: Check out some of the latest and greatest discoveries from changemakers who are paving the way for the future of education.
EdTech Tools: Discover tips and tricks from both the ShapingEDU Community and the developers of new EdTech tools. Education 2030: What will learning look like less than 10 years from now? Stargaze into the EdTech universe to explore the possibilities and best prepare for 2030 and beyond. Learn More: https://shapingedu.asu.edu/event/shapingedu-global-virtual-summer-camp Contact: Stephanie Pierotti Director, ShapingEDU, ASU Technology Office, Creative + Communications. 702-858-7200, [email protected]
- Regular Task Force Updates
- We are planning to schedule a Task Force Networking event similar to the networking event we hosted just about a year ago April 22, 2022. Proposed dates were June 15, 16, 22, 23 or 24. Based on the poll conducted at the meeting, the preferred date was June 15. Also, morning rather than AfterHours was preferred. Unfortunately June 15 is just a week away, which doesn't provide much lead time.
- Recap of AZBSN meeting with Lyle Ishida, Chief, Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau, Federal Communications Commission. Thanks to an introduction from Lisa Gustinelli, Innovator in Residence, ASU ShapingEDU, Arizona State University Broadband Access and Equity project, Cindy, Lisa and Steve met with Lyle to explore opportunities to partner with Lyle and the FCC to explore Arizona becoming a statewide Affordable Connectivity Program implementation demonstration project. Lisa provided a great overview of the lessons learned from her ACP "supermarket demonstration event" in Belle Glade Florida. The supermarket program is a grassroots effort to get local consumers in underserved communities connected to broadband through the Affordable Connectivity Program. Lyle was very interested in partnering with the Task Force, and suggested that we meet regularly to develop a plan. Lyle offered to come to Arizona, attend ACP sign -up sessions, train local people, and more. We agreed that we would convene a small group of people from the Task Force to draft a plan before meeting again with Lyle.
- We are tentatively planning an ASBSN Workshop to provide an overview of the complex NTIA Internet For All initiative for their Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program ($42.5 billion); Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program ($1 billion); State Digital Equity Act programs ($1.5 billion). See the https://www.internetforall.gov/ web site where you can access the three new NTIA Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs). Drew Garner, State Broadband Policy Fellow with Common Sense, Mala and Cindy are working on summary presentation of these complex programs. In the meantime see the National Digital Alliance webinar recording and slides here.
- Request for presenters: Stephanie Pierotti Director, ShapingEDU is looking for presenters for the June 21-23 ASU’s ShapingEDU Global Virtual Summer Space Camp. Education 2030 session is where we have the most availability for speakers. She also extended an invitation for everyone to join ShapingEDU. They meet virtually every Tue @ 1:00 Arizona time. Sign-up Here or contact Stephanie Pierotti Director, ShapingEDU, ASU Technology Office, Creative + Communications. 702-858-7200, [email protected] (See see details about Space Camp and Shaping EDU below)
- Discussion: What’s next for AZBSN & the Task Force? Name change, Subject/Action Teams, etc. There seemed to be consensus that we should maintain the AZBSN identity and work on creating Task Teams similar to the teams we had when we first started the Task Force. Task Teams may include Digital Inclusion, Cyber Security, etc. We also need to launch a major funding campaign.
- June 6, 2022 ZOOM Transcript: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- Steve's Vacation. Steve announced that he will be on vacation from July 11 - August 10. During that time I tentatively plan to coordinate the Task Force meetings, however, we may go to every other week. Will let you know.
- ATIC Award: Mark Goldstein provided a recap of the June 1 Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC, https://www.hlc.org/) annual Redefining American Healthcare Award presentation to
- ATIC, the Arizona Telecommunications & Information Council, is one of AZBSN’s lead organizations. View the ceremony here. You can see a photo of the award presentation in Janet Major’s LinkedIn post and stream the event recap (33 minutes) at https://swtrc.wistia.com/medias/jhcwtjs6m6
ASU ShapingEDU's Global Virtual Summer Space Camp. Stephanie Pierotti Director, ShapingEDU is looking for presenters for the June 21-23 ASU’s ShapingEDU Global Virtual Summer Space Camp. Education 2030 session is where we have the most availability for speakers.
About ASU ShapingEDU: Formed in 2018 by ASU CIO Lev Gonick, we are now a global community of over 4,000 passionate and insightful educators, students, researchers, storytellers, edtech creators and education futurists, all of whom are dedicated to creating change so that lifelong learners may thrive in the digital age. Learn More: https://shapingedu.asu.edu/. Stephanie invited everyone to join ShapingEDU. They meet virtually every Tue @ 1:00 Arizona time. Sign-up Here or contact Stephanie Pierotti Director, ShapingEDU, ASU Technology Office, Creative + Communications. 702-858-7200, [email protected]
About the Space Camp: At the first two half-day sessions of this year’s “Summer Camp”, we’ll explore the latest in edtech tools, advances in teaching and learning, our path to Education 2030 (Sustainable Development Goal 4) and we’ll hear about what’s working in education systems from around the globe. We’ll then take what we learned the first two days and – starting with a blank slate - work in teams to develop an education system for Mars. After developing this utopian system, we’ll consider ways to get a bit closer to that right here on Earth.
Here’s how we’re positioning the tracks for the first two days: Teaching & Learning: Check out some of the latest and greatest discoveries from changemakers who are paving the way for the future of education.
EdTech Tools: Discover tips and tricks from both the ShapingEDU Community and the developers of new EdTech tools. Education 2030: What will learning look like less than 10 years from now? Stargaze into the EdTech universe to explore the possibilities and best prepare for 2030 and beyond. Learn More: https://shapingedu.asu.edu/event/shapingedu-global-virtual-summer-camp Contact: Stephanie Pierotti Director, ShapingEDU, ASU Technology Office, Creative + Communications. 702-858-7200, [email protected]
May 23, 2022
- May 23, 2022 meeting recording
- May 23, 2022 Attendance List
- May 23, 2022 Zoom Chat
- May 23 Digital Access Resource Highlight: ED2 Corp: Network Infrastructure Hardware for 5G telecommunications: Ricardo Platt, Vice President, Sales and Business Development;
Joe Schmelzer, Chief Marketing Officer, ED2 Corporation
Download Presentation
ED2 is an emerging technology company based in Tucson, serving both the commercial and defense sectors. In the commercial space, we focus primarily on developing network infrastructure hardware for 5G telecommunications. We are currently ramping up high-volume manufacturing of our mmW and C-Band repeaters with our go-to-market partner Wilson Electronics. Repeaters enable the extension of the network edge at significant savings in CAPEX and OPEX vis-à-vis the installation of additional small cells, reducing the overall costs of 5G deployments. They talked about how their technology can enable you to extend your Internet into the communities you serve. - Contact: Ricardo Platt, [email protected], 520-231-7276 ;
Joe Schmelzer, [email protected], 858-829-6751 - May 23, 2022 ZOOM Transcript: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
May 16, 2022
April 25, 2022
2021 and Prior
- May 16, 2022 meeting recording
- May 16, 2022 Attendance List
- May 16, 2022 Zoom Chat
- May 16 Digital Access Resource Highlight: Arizona Cyber Security Alliance For Digital Inclusion
Steve Peters, Coordinator, AZBSN Digital Access Task Force, and leader of
Arizona Cyber Security Alliance created in 2003
--- Download Presentation Here
--- azsecurity.org website
--- AZ Security Alliance Proposal May 2004
In the past few months the Task Force has recognized that as we provide connectivity, distribute devices, and provide training, Cyber Security needs to be an important part of our Digital Inclusion Strategy. On May 16 the Task Force continued our discussion about cyber security for digital inclusion. In 2003 Steve led the development of an Arizona Cyber Security Alliance that may provide a starting point to create an Arizona Cyber Security Alliance For Digital Inclusion. We knew that many individuals, businesses and community organizations do not have basic protection such as virus protection and firewalls, much less security, business continuity and disaster recovery plans and policies. The statewide Cyber Security Alliance was created to help the Arizona community understand the rising security threats and develop strategies to reduce personal, customer and business risks. The Alliance was particularly targeting IT professionals and executives of small business and nonprofit organizations. This broad-based public and private Alliance included large and small businesses, non-profits, law enforcement, government, and information technology and security professionals. We also coordinated with other Arizona business and security organizations. The Task Force developed a statewide Cyber Security plan and the azsecurity.org website. While the site is not live now, it is available on the “wayback machine” a website where you can find archived sites that are no longer live. See the azsecurity.org web site on the wayback machine here. I think we did a great job on that site if I do say so myself. - May 16, 2022 ZOOM Transcript: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- May 9, 2022 meeting recording
- May 9, 2022 Attendance List
- May 9, 2022 Zoom Chat
- May 9 Digital Access Resource Highlight: Ryan Murray, the Deputy Director/Deputy State Chief Information Officer from AZ Department of Homeland Security
As we provide connectivity and distribute devices, the Task Force has recognized that Cyber Security needs to be an important part of our Digital Inclusion Strategy. Ryan will provided an overview of Arizona’s new Cyber Command Center and we began a discussion on a strategy to address the cyber security needs associated with Digital Inclusion. The Cyber Command Center is Arizona's headquarters for coordinating statewide cybersecurity operations. The center will be a central location for cybersecurity professionals and local, state and federal agencies to prevent and respond to cyberattacks. It will provide an ideal location to enhance public-private partnerships to protect Arizonans against cyberthreats.
Contact: Cell: (602) 625-8279 | Email: [email protected] - May 9, 2022 ZOOM Transcript: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- May 12, 2022 Ninth Annual Cybersecurity Summit presented by The Arizona Technology Council, Arizona Commerce Authority and Arizona Cyber Threat Response Alliance (ACTRA)
- May 2, 2022 meeting recording
- May 2, 2022 Attendance List
- May 2, 2022 Zoom Chat
- May 2 Digital Access Resource Highlight: Several members of the Task Force provide a 3-5 minute introduction about themselves and their organization. What they do? What they need? Partnering opportunities, more. See the meeting video to view these presentations.
- May 2, 2022 ZOOM Transcript: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- May 12, 2022 Ninth Annual Cybersecurity Summit presented by The Arizona Technology Council, Arizona Commerce Authority and Arizona Cyber Threat Response Alliance (ACTRA)
April 25, 2022
- April 25, 2022 meeting recording
- April 25, 2022 Attendance List
- April 25, 2022 Zoom Chat
- April 25 Digital Access Resource Highlight Presentation: Digital Equity Institute Erin Carr-Jordan, Ph.D. Executive Director. The Digital Equity Institute (DEI) is a non-profit, civic organization dedicated to improving quality of life for people around the globe through digital equity and inclusion. DEI, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization is structured to be your trusted government partner to help your city, region, state, or school district advance sustainable digital equity programs at scale. We are an alliance of dedicated public, private, and academic partners working collectively to ensure everyone is connected and participating and that greatest value and impact is reached. Contact [email protected], Phone: 480-884-1966 | Cell: 602-321-3304
- April 25, 2022 ZOOM Transcript: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- May 12, 2022 Ninth Annual Cybersecurity Summit presented by The Arizona Technology Council, Arizona Commerce Authority and Arizona Cyber Threat Response Alliance (ACTRA)
- The April 18, 2022 meeting recording
- The April 18, 2022 Attendance List
- April 18, 2022 Zoom Chat
- April 18 Digital Access Resource Highlight Presentation: T-Mobile Home Internet and more in AZ
T-Mobile USA: William Davin, Government Account Manager, David Perdichizzi, Sales Engineer and; Justin Ugalino: So, by now you have probably been hearing about T-Mobile’s Home Internet. Fast, reliable internet for only $50/month. No price hikes or hidden fees. $0 at sign-up with qualifying credit. Regulatory fees included in monthly price for qualified accounts. No annual service contracts. Simple setup in 15 minutes or less plus 24/7 support. Long-term commitment not required. You will hear more from Will about Home and Business Internet, how it works, speeds, where is it available, and more. You will also hear about other T-Mobile initiatives to address the Digital Divide. Contact: m 602-570-0810 [email protected] - April 18, 2022 ZOOM Transcript: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- May 12, 2022 Ninth Annual Cybersecurity Summit presented by The Arizona Technology Council, Arizona Commerce Authority and Arizona Cyber Threat Response Alliance (ACTRA)
- The April 11, 2022 meeting recording
- The April 11, 2022 Attendance List
- April 11, 2022 Zoom Chat
- April 11 Digital Access Resource Highlight Presentation: Mikhail Sundust, Executive Director
The Digital Connect Initiative, a nonprofit organization created by Gila River Telecommunications, is a Collaborative Work to help disenfranchised individuals and communities use digital communications technologies to CONNECT with each other, with creative expressions of language, history, and culture, and with greater vocational, economic, and social opportunities. DCI addresses many urgent needs within the Gila River Indian Community, and other indigenous, underserved, and disenfranchised communities to support: Bridging the Digital Divide; Digital Literacy; Digital Heritage Preservation; Diversity In High Tech Industries; Telehealth & Telemedicine; STEA⁴M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Architecture, Agriculture, Astronomy and Mathematics). Contact: Mikhail Sundust, Executive Director, Digital Connect Initiative, [email protected], Mobile (520) 610-1879 www.digitalconnect.org - April 11, 2022 ZOOM Transcript: (Note: Not edited-has many errors
- Announcement: From Mark Goldstein: 9:00 AM April 13 Drew Clark at Broadband Breakfast will interview NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson on “Preparing for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” as a live lunch event in DC with remote hybrid access Details and free registration here The fireside chat will be posted for streaming within a couple of days if you want to access it asynchronously later.
- The April 4, 2022 meeting recording
- The April 4, 2022 Attendance List
- April 4, 2022 Zoom Chat
- Download April 4 Digital Access Resource Highlight Presentation: Kelly Krusee, Program Manager, Office of Digital Teaching and Learning, Arizona Department of Education; The Arizona Department of Education Office of Digital Teaching and Learning has officially released the Digital Teaching & Learning Strategy and the 2021 Opportunity Assessment Analysis! The findings from this assessment inform their 2023-2024 strategic plan. The strategy includes three areas: community, data and solutions. Kelly will provided an overview and requested input from the Task Force on the Strategy and Assessment Analysis. The Office of Digital Teaching and Learning serves Local Education Agencies in a consultative role by building a community of educators and solution experts dedicated to supporting the vision of achieving digital equity for all students to achieve their full potential. ADE. Contact: [email protected], Office Phone: 602.364.2212, www.azed.gov/odtl
- Introduction: Sandip Bhowmick, Assistant Broadband Director, Arizona Commerce Authority, 602-806-1776, M 310-923-5524
[email protected] - April 4, 2022 ZOOM Transcript: (Note: Not edited-has many errors
- The March 28 meeting recording
- The March 28 Attendance List
- Big Data Southwest’s April 6, 2022 DataCenter & SmartCity IoT Infrastructure Summit. Kirk Busch, CEO of BigData Southwest. Kirk is coordinating the April 6 Summit. Join Business & Government Leaders from some of the MOST Innovative Companies & Organizations in the World! Learn, Engage & Network in a Collaborative Environment to Maximize the Creation of STEM Jobs & Promote Global Sustainability! Kirk is collaborating with Mark Goldstein to create an ATIC Broadband a Provider Working Group with the launch in a special breakout session at the April 6 Summit.Contact: [email protected] 480-334-4997
- Mala Muralidharan’s State Library Erate Update Report
- March 28 Zoom Chat
- ADE Office of Digital Teaching and Learning Digital Teaching & Learning Strategy and the 2021 Opportunity Assessment Analysis! Kelly Krusee, Program Manager, Office of Digital Teaching and Learning, Arizona Department of Education [email protected], Office Phone: 602.364.2212, www.azed.gov/odtl
- March 28 ZOOM Transcript: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- The March 21 meeting recording
- The March 21 Attendance List
- Update: Drew Garner Common Sense Media State Broadband Policy Fellow: As Arizona stakeholders navigate the use of federal broadband funds, Common Sense is here to help. We have a long and established track record of working to close the digital divide and the Homework Gap and; we are excited by this opportunity to finally ensure that every home and business in Arizona have access to affordable high-speed internet. We’ve created tools to support state policy strategies, boost statewide enrollment in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), and equip teachers and parents with proven digital inclusion materials. We’re also in close contact with federal policymakers at the FCC and NTIA and are able to raise your concerns about program rules, guidance, and implementation. We’d also like your input as we prepare to conduct additional polling and research on states and the digital divide. If you’d like to explore ways to tailor these resources to your state, please connect with us at [email protected].
Here are a few examples of our recent initiatives and recommendations: (1) Promote the ACP at scale with a text-based program: We promoted the EBB and the transition to the ACP on our website, GetMyACP.org, and through our texting service, Tech Balance. Tech Balance is a free service designed for English- and Spanish-speaking parents. It’s easy to sign up — simply text “kids” to 21555 — and subscribers receive weekly tips about healthy tech habits and government benefits, like the ACP. We’ve found that texting is a good way to reach people in the digital divide because it doesn’t require the internet, it is a familiar and accessible form of communication, and it provides information that can be accessed at the receiver’s leisure (good for busy parents). If you would like to discuss how Tech Balance can be used in your communities, please let me know; We also recommend promoting the ACP through existing government texting programs. If your state’s WIC, SNAP, SSI, and Medicaid programs have the ability to text their participants, consider using these channels to promote the ACP. Not only are these participants already eligible for the ACP, but better connectivity will improve their access to the programs’ online resources. Consider using federal funds to pay for texting expenses, and direct participants to enrollment support so that the enrollment burden does not fall on the program that issued the texts. If you are interested in this approach, we would be happy to share the successful language and techniques developed by Tech Balance; (2) Use U.S. Department of Treasury’s flexibility to your state’s advantage: State plans for Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund are due by Sept. 24 2022, and Recovery Funds are available now. We recommend that states use Treasury funds in underserved areas and reserve their BEAD funds for unserved areas. We make this recommendation for two reasons: Treasury's funds are more flexible than BEAD funds. Treasury encourages (but does not require) infrastructure projects to target areas with less than 100/20Mbps, whereas BEAD requires projects to first target areas that lack 25/3Mbps. If you want to address redlining and reach the majority of the households in the digital divide (which are in underserved areas), Treasury programs are your best option; States that use Treasury funding in unserved areas may get less BEAD funding. BEAD’s formula is based on the number of unserved households in a state. If you use Treasury funds to connect these unserved households, then BEAD’s formula may result in a smaller allocation for your state.
Additional Resources: We offer a suite of digital literacy resources for kids and parents. Tell us how we can use these to support your goals or tailor them to your community; We have recently published a blog for state broadband administrators, and we also have a guide for federal funding programs and a primer on policies to close the homework gap.
Our Requests: We’d like your input on two upcoming research projects Common Sense is conducting: (1) An examination of the technical requirements for essential services like education and telehealth, and; (2) Interviews with ECF administrators about the program’s importance and the ongoing need to support student connectivity; If you can participate in these projects, please contact us. Ilana Lowery, Director | Common Sense – Arizona M: 623-341-0177 e: [email protected]. Drew Garner [email protected] 314-803-7187 - Big Data Southwest’s April 6, 2022 DataCenter & SmartCity IoT Infrastructure Summit. Kirk Busch, CEO of BigData Southwest. Kirk is coordinating the April 6 Summit. Join Business & Government Leaders from some of the MOST Innovative Companies & Organizations in the World! Learn, Engage & Network in a Collaborative Environment to Maximize the Creation of STEM Jobs & Promote Global Sustainability! Kirk is collaborating with Mark Goldstein to create an ATIC Broadband a Provider Working Group with the launch in a special breakout session at the April 6 Summit.Contact: [email protected] 480-334-4997
- Mala Muralidharan’s State Library Erate Update Report
- March 21 Zoom Chat
- March 21 ZOOM Transcript: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- The March 14 meeting recording
- The March 14 Attendance List
- View Kirk Bush LinkedIn for March 14 Digital Access Resource presentation:
Kirk Busch, CEO of BigData Southwest.
Kirk Busch is the CEO of BigData Southwest and Chairman of Az4Solar. Org. BigData Southwest is a Consulting/Media Group Advocating for the adoption of IoT & Cloud Technologies. Kirk has over 30 years of experience in the Global Semiconductor & Aerospace Industries. For the last decade, Kirk has focused on Economic Development in the Energy and Data Center Industries. In addition to being an active participant in the Task Force, Kirk currently serves on the Board of AzSTEM, Co Chairs the IoT Committee of the Arizona Technology Council & Chairs the Data Center Advisory Board of the Arizona Energy Consortium.
Kirk is coordinating the April 6, 2022: Big Data Southwest’s DataCenter & SmartCity IoT Infrastructure Summit Join Business & Government Leaders from some of the MOST Innovative Companies & Organizations in the World! Learn, Engage & Network in a Collaborative Environment to Maximize the Creation of STEM Jobs & Promote Global Sustainability!
Kirk is collaborating with Mark Goldstein to create an ATIC Broadband a Provider Working Group with the launch in a special breakout session at the April 6 Summit. Kirk also facilitated discussion about this Working Group at the March 14 Task Force meeting. Contact: [email protected] 480-334-4997 - Mala Muralidharan’s State Library Erate Update Report
- March 7 Zoom Chat
- March 7 ZOOM Transcript: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- Download Flyer: April 23, 2022 Future Stars 7th Annual Hands On STEM Fair; Shereka Jackson, Task Force member is looking for volunteers, sponsors, and stem activity vendors for the April 23, 2022 7th Annual Hands On STEM Fair. Sponsorships available ranging from $150 - $5,000. Shereka is an IT professional for the City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation and founder and CEO of Future Stars that provides stem workshops in college readiness and the hands on stem program. Contact: Shereka [email protected]
- From Mala Muralidharan: ArcGis Maps EBB Enrollment by Eligibility, US Map
- ACP Household Enrollments by county: Apache County 11,032; Cochise 3,449; Coconino 3,999; Gila 859; Graham 475; Greenlee 36; La Paz 167; Maricopa 90,063; Mohave 4,550; Navajo 11,563; Pima 14,216; Pinal 8, 094; Santa Cruz 2,028; Yavapai 2,516; Yuma 8,912
- From Andy Sinclair: The updated ACP Enrollment and Claims Tracker
- From Nicole Umayam: Current offers and ACP-qualifying plans in Arizona: https://connect-arizona.com/internet-offers
- From: Cindy Hogan: Notes from National Digital Inclusion Alliance Net Inclusion Conference Cindy attended in Portland Feb 15-17
- From Cindy: NDIA's Net Inclusion Conference Notes from Workshop: Partners Bridging the Digital Divide
- Mark Goldstein: FCC Broadband Map is available. Their legacy mapping tool based on biannual Form 477 data. Still useful for baseline analysis of regional broadband availability at different speed thresholds.
- Mark Goldstein: NTIA Indicators of Broadband Need (IBN) Map Integrating demographics, crowd sources results, and various data sets with the FCC collected coverage information making it the go to public tool for first stage evaluation of broadband gaps and needs.
- From John Kelly: OMAHA, Neb., Feb. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- eX² Technology, a single source solution for those seeking to build, scale or future proof their communications infrastructure, announces its partnership with Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) to provide commercialization services for communications infrastructure along APS's right of way. During the three-year term, eX² Technology will exclusively market and offer dark fiber, conduit, regeneration and colocation space, laterals and access points and other wireline and wireless assets to those seeking to expand their services within the APS service territory. APS's communications infrastructure follows a secure 2,700-mile fiber optic network backbone that links to Flagstaff, Phoenix, Scottsdale and Yuma, Ariz., while passing numerous rural unserved and underserved communities along the route. "We are excited about this partnership and the potential benefits for the broadband industry," said Jay Jorgensen, COO, eX² Tec. Additional information about APS's dark fiber assets is available online at www.ex2technology.com/network-expansion-opportunities
- The March 7 meeting recording
- The March 7 Attendance List (Maybe soon - Zoom lost it)
- Download March 7 Digital Access Resource presentation: Alan Smith, Manager of Community Leadership at Consumer Reports. Alan provided an overview about the work that Consumer Reports is doing to make Broadband more accessible, affordable, and equitable around the country. CR's work at the national level in support of Broadband-friendly bills like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has served to connect us with organizers, activists, and other broadband-interested people. In trying to figure out how to best support these folks in their local work, we're piloting a new "hub" model, where we attempt to bring activists together to first educate and then engage with local policy. To this end, we're working with ShapingEDU to use a four-part class to educate a cohort of interested folks, and then working over the next few weeks to see how they can plug in to the complex tableau of action around Broadband already taking place in Arizona. Contact: [email protected] (914) 378-2000 (ext 2662) || Mobile: 347 786-0371
- Mala Muralidharan’s State Library Erate Update Report
- March 7 Zoom Chat
- March 7 ZOOM Transcript: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- Janet Major: Download Arizona Telemedicine Program/ Southwest Telehealth Resource Center
Events Calendar January-November 2022 - Download Flyer: April 23, 2022 Future Stars 7th Annual Hands On STEM Fair; Shereka Jackson, Task Force member is looking for volunteers, sponsors, and stem activity vendors for the April 23, 2022 7th Annual Hands On STEM Fair. Sponsorships available ranging from $150 - $5,000. Shereka is an IT professional for the City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation and founder and CEO of Future Stars that provides stem workshops in college readiness and the hands on stem program. Contact: [email protected]
- Summary U.S. Federal Broadband Infrastructure Funding Opportunities: Mark Goldstein: Updated summary of all the current & pending U.S. Federal Broadband Infrastructure Funding Opportunities, with a graphic timeline and a bullet for each that hopefully helps folks more readily understand the broadband infrastructure $ flowing these next few years. Several of those will flow through to the states for regionally-designed and managed project and grant opportunities.
- The February 28 meeting recording
- The February 28 Attendance List
- Download February 28 Digital Access Resource presentation: EJ John, Research & Policy Analyst,
American Indian Policy Institute, Arizona State University. AIPI is a non-teaching research institute at ASU with a primary focus on public policy analysis and research. We are working at the intersection of Tribal policy, advocacy, and research. Our expertise is in Tribal telecommunications, communications, broadband, digital inclusion, technology for language retention, and technology as the backbone for community and economic development, and communications technology. Contact: [email protected] - February 28 Zoom Chat
- February 28 ZOOM Transcript: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- Summary U.S. Federal Broadband Infrastructure Funding Opportunities: Mark Goldstein: Updated summary of all the current & pending U.S. Federal Broadband Infrastructure Funding Opportunities, with a graphic timeline and a bullet for each that hopefully helps folks more readily understand the broadband infrastructure $ flowing these next few years. Several of those will flow through to the states for regionally-designed and managed project and grant opportunities.
- The February 14 meeting recording
- The February 14 Attendance List
- Download February 14 Digital Access Resource presentation: Rory Conaway CEO and Katrina Parker Business Account Manager, Triad Wireless Triad Wireless, LLC, is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona is a Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) and a RF/Network engineering firm. Contacts: Rory Conaway CEO, 602-426-0542, [email protected], and Katrina Parker Business Account Manager [email protected] 602-426-0542, m 773-470-9368
- Mala Muralidharan’s State Library Erate Update Report
- February 14 Zoom Chat
- February 14 ZOOM Transcript: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- The February 7 meeting recording
- The February 7 Attendance List
- View February 7 Digital Access Resource presentations:
- Arizona Statewide Broadband Middle-Mile Strategic Plan - Jeff Sobotka State Broadband Manager, Arizona Commerce Authority presented/discussed the
Arizona Statewide Broadband Middle-Mile Strategic Plan Contact: [email protected] - Arizona Education Funding - Aggregate Expenditure Spending Limit : John Kelly, Principal, Triadvocates Lobbying, Policy and Advocacy; Government Marketing; and Economic Development Consultants; Sophia Braham (Mayberry), Arizona Department Of Education; Joy Whiting, Apache County Superintendent presented and lead a discussion regarding the Arizona Legislature allowing schools to exceed the Aggregate Expenditure Limit. Contacts: [email protected] 602-761-2767 mobile 602-639-0852; [email protected] 602-542-5423;
[email protected] 928-337-7539
- Mala Muralidharan’s State Library Erate Update Report
- February 7 Zoom Chat
- February 7 ZOOM Transcript: Note: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- The January 31 meeting recording
- The January 31 Attendance List
- Download January 31 Digital Access Resource presentation: Common Sense Media representatives Amina Fazlullah, Senior Director, Equity Policy Common Sense; Ilana Lowery, Arizona Director, Common Sense Media; Drew Garner Common Sense State Broadband Policy Fellow provided an overview of their work in Arizona and discussed their research into the K-12 digital divide and how current federal funding can be used to address this issue. They also will discuss their recently released state policy primer and federal funding guide, which are designed to help state administrators maximize this once-in-a-generation opportunity.
Contact: [email protected], 650.814.8003; [email protected] 623-341-0177 and Drew Garner, [email protected] 314-803-7187 - Mala Muralidharan’s State Library Erate Update Report
- January 31 Zoom Chat
- January 31 ZOOM Transcript: Note: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- The January 24 meeting recording
- The January 24 Attendance List
- January 24 Digital Access Resource presentation: Affordable Connectivity Program
FCC Supermarket Program Lisa Gustinelli, Innovator in Residence, ASU ShapingEDU, Arizona State University Broadband Access and Equity Initiative - Mala Muralidharan’s State Library Erate Update Report
- January 24 Zoom Chat
- January 24 ZOOM Transcript: Note: (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- The January 10, 2022 meeting recording
- The January 10 Registration list
- Brian Daly’s 5G, 6G Digital Access Resource presentation
- Mala Muralidharan’s State Library Erate Update Report
- January 10 Zoom Chat
- Zoom Meeting Transcript (Note: Not edited-has many errors)
- Download January 3, 2022 Meeting Report
- View January 3, 2022 Meeting Recording
- Link to Draft Task Force Plan Discussed at January 3 meeting
2021 and Prior
- Download December 13, 2021 Task Force Meeting Report
- View December 13, Task Force Meeting Recording
- Download December 6, 2021 Task Force Meeting Report
- View December 6, 2021 Meeting Recording
- Download December 6, 2021 Digital Inclusion Resource Presentation: Andy Sinclair, Community Action Programs Capacity Development Coordinator, Arizona Department of Economic Security, Division of Aging and Adult Services Contact: Andy Sinclair, [email protected], 480-263-2271
- Download November 29, 2021 Task Force Report
- View November 29, Task Force Meeting Recording
- Download November 22, 2021 Task Force Meeting Report
- View November 22, 2021 Task Force Meeting Recording
- Download November 22, 2021 Digital Access Resource Highlight: Digital Equity Act of 2021 (DEA), Cindy Hogan, Literacy Connects, Digital Inclusion Ambassador, [email protected], 520-891-1285
- Download November 15, 2021 Task Force Report
- View November 15, 2021 Task Force Meeting Recording
- Download November 15 Digital Access Resource Highlight presentation: Valley TeleCom Group
Heather Floyd, Public Relations Specialist: [email protected]
Office: 520-384-8912, Cell: 520-349-6658 - Download November 8, Task Force Report
- Download November 8 Digital Access Resource Highlight presentation: Center for the Future of Arizona Career Pathways, Aaron Ball, Director of College and Career Pathways & Southern Arizona Liaison. [email protected] 520-271-4497
- View November 8 Task Force Meeting Recording
- Download November 1, 2021 Task Force Report
- View November 1 Task Force Meeting Recording
- Download October 25, 2021 Task Force Report
- View October 25, 2021 Task Force Meeting Recording
- Download October 25 Air Comm Wireless Communications and Solutions Provider Presentation
Presented by Camille Butler, Solutions Specialist - Download October 18, 2021 Task Force Report
- View October 18, 2021 Meeting Recording
- Download October 4, 2021 Task Force Meeting Report
- View October 4, 2021 Meeting Recording
- Download October 4 Presentation: Chris Richardson CIO, Arizona Department Of Education
Office OF Teaching And Learning - Download September 27, 2021 Task Force Meeting Report
- View September 27, 2021 Task Force Meeting Recording
- Download ALLO Communications September 27, 2021 Task Force Presentation
- Download September 20 Task Force Report
- View September 20 Task Force Meeting Recording
- Download September 13 Task Force Report
- View September 13 Task Force Meeting Recording
- Download September 13 Digital Access Presentation: Featuring Katie Boddy, Manager, Local First Economic Recovery Center: Funding, technical assistance and planning resources for your broadband and digital access initiatives
- Download August 30 Task Force Report
- View August 30 Task Force Meeting Recording
- Download August 30 Digital Access Resource Presentation: Featuring: Gila Local Exchange Carrier, Inc. (GLEC), DBA Alluvion Communications, and Alluvion’s nonprofit Digital Connect subsidiary: David Ackerman | General Manager , Alluvion Communications and Amanda MacDonald, M.Ed. | Program Manager, Digital Connect Initiative
- Download August 23 Task Force Report
- View August 23 Task Force Meeting Recording
- The Arizona Technology Council (https://www.aztechcouncil.org/) is actively working to draft their 2022 Public Policy Guide and will refine and lock down the content in late August. At the August 23 meeting Mark Goldstein provided an overview, and solicited input regarding the draft State & Federal Broadband Policy Issues & Recommendations. See the following 2 documents: The original document, and a revised document, with suggested additions and changes. If you have additional input, please contact Mark ASAP: 602-470-0389, Mobile: 602-670-6407, [email protected]
- Download August 16 Task Force Report
- View August 16 Task Force Meeting Recording
- Download Cindi Ptak, Arizona EDA Economic Development Representative presentation Investing in America’s Communities U.S. Department of Commerce EDA Economic Development Administration 3 Billion Grants Program
- Download August 9 Task Force Report
- View August 9 Task Force Meeting Recording
- Download Janet Major's August 9 Arizona Telemedicine Program (ATP) Presentation
- Download July 26 Task Force Report
- View July 26 Task Force Meeting Recording
- Download July 26 Municipal Networks Presentation: Karen Ziegler, Principal, Karen Ziegler Consulting Services; John Lucas, President, Community Broadband Advocates; Paul Ross, Associate Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Phoenix College
- Download July 19 Task Force Report
- View July 19 Task Force Meeting Recording
- Download July 12 Task Force Report
- View July 12 Task Force Meeting Recording
- Download June 28 Task Force Report
- View June 28 Task Meeting Recording
- Download June 21 Task Force Report
- View June 21 Task Meeting Recording
- Download June 14 Task Force Report
- View June 14 Task Meeting Recording
- Download June 7 Task Force Report
- Download Mala, Muralidharan June 7 Digital Access Resource Emergency Connectivity Fund Presentation
- View June 7 Task Meeting Recording
- Download May 24 Task Force Report
- View May 24 Task Meeting Recording
- Download May 17, Task Force Meeting Report
- View May 17 Meeting Recording
- Download May 10, Task Force Meeting Report
- Download May 3 Task Force Meeting Report
- View May 3 Meeting Recording
- Download April 26 Task Force Report
- View April 26, Meeting Recording
- Download April 19 Task Force Report
- April 19, 2021 Task Force Meeting Recording
- Download April 12 Task Force Report
- April 12 Task Force Meeting Recording
- April 5, 2021 COVID Task Force Report
- April 5 Milan Eaton Presentation - eRate, Arizona Department Of Education
- April 5, 2021 COVID Task Force Report
- April 5 Milan Eaton Presentation - eRate, Arizona Department Of Education
- March 29, 2021 COVID Task Force Report
- March 22 AZ Student Opportunity Collaborative Glen Linebery AZBSN Presentation
- Recording: March 22, 2021Glen Lineberry AZ Student Opportunity Collaborative Presentation March 22, 2021 Recording
- March 29, 2021 Senior2Senior Presentation-Bill Gerski
- Recording of February 1 Task Force conversation with Congressman Tom O'Halleran re: federal legislation and funding
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