{"id":26588,"date":"2024-07-19T12:02:20","date_gmt":"2024-07-19T18:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/how-boot-camps-help-to-address-internet-gap-on-tribal-lands\/"},"modified":"2024-07-19T18:02:20","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T18:02:20","slug":"how-boot-camps-help-to-address-internet-gap-on-tribal-lands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/how-boot-camps-help-to-address-internet-gap-on-tribal-lands\/","title":{"rendered":"How boot camps help to address internet gap on tribal lands"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Attendees
Attendees pull damaged fiber optic cables during the Tribal Broadband Bootcamp held on co-founder Matthew Rantanen's ranch in Aguanga, California, on June 19. More than one in five homes on tribal lands lack access to adequate broadband, compared to fewer than one in 10 on nontribal land in 2024, according to Federal Communications Commission data. (Jae C. Hong\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Jae C. Hong<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a home movie theater with orange walls and plush recliners at the top of a steep hill on Matthew Rantanen\u2019s ranch in Southern California. But on a recent afternoon, people weren\u2019t flocking to the room to watch a movie or to escape the scorching heat, they were shining a beam of light through more than 55,000 feet of fiber optic cable coiled up in the corner.<\/p>\n

The demonstration took place during a hands-on broadband training for tribal nations near rural Aguanga, about 53 miles north of San Diego. Participants handled fiber made up of strands of glass as thin as human hair that transmit energy through pulses of light.<\/p>\n

The session was part of an initiative founded in 2021 by Rantanen and his business partner, Christopher Mitchell, to help shore up historic disparities in connectivity in Indian Country.<\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially what it does is it brings together like-minded individuals that are building broadband communications for their community,\u201d said Rantanen, a descendant of the Cree Nation who has worked at the intersection of broadband and policy for two decades.<\/p>\n

\"Christopher
Christopher Mitchell, a co-founder of the Tribal Broadband Bootcamp, stands on a rail next to spools of cables during the Tribal Broadband Bootcamp in Aguanga, California, on June 19. (Jae C. Hong\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Jae C. Hong<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Attendees
Attendees listen to an instructor during the Tribal Broadband Bootcamp held on co-founder Matthew Rantanen's ranch in Aguanga, California, on June 19. (Jae C. Hong\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Jae C. Hong<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Attendees
Attendees learn how to splice fiber optic cables during the Tribal Broadband Bootcamp on co-founder Matthew Rantanen's ranch in Aguanga, California, on June 19. (Jae C. Hong\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Jae C. Hong<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Attendees
Attendees hold cables during the Tribal Broadband Bootcamp in Aguanga, California, on June 19. (Jae C. Hong\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Jae C. Hong<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Olga
Olga Armenta sits in a tent set up to host the Tribal Broadband Bootcamp in Aguanga, California, on June 19. (Jae C. Hong\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Jae C. Hong<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Broadband expansion has gotten a major boost from the Biden administration, which has invested $65 billion to develop internet infrastructure in places that need it. The money is fueling an unprecedented effort to connect every home and business in the country to high-speed internet, a lofty goal President Joe Biden has said he hopes to achieve by 2030.<\/p>\n

That effort suffered a recent setback when Congress let an internet subsidy program expire despite pleas from the administration and advocates about its positive impact.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, though, if broadband expansion is to succeed on tribal lands, it will happen because people understand how to make it work in their communities, and that\u2019s where nuts-and-bolts training sessions like this come into play.<\/p>\n

More than 1 in 5 homes on tribal lands lack access to adequate broadband, compared with fewer than one in 10 on nontribal land in 2024, according to Federal Communications Commission data. But experts say the disparity is likely greater.<\/p>\n

Tribal nations have struggled to connect to the web for a variety of reasons ranging from living in remote locations to lack of investment by internet service providers. The lack of service has hampered every aspect of 21st century life, from health care and education access to the ability to start a business and stay in touch with friends and family.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of tribal communities, they\u2019re probably decades behind a lot of urban areas in terms of internet connectivity,\u201d said E.J. John, a Navajo Nation member and policy analyst at the American Indian Policy Institute. \u201cConnectivity rates are very low.\u201d<\/p>\n

With at least $3 billion specifically set aside for tribal nations, depending on how they fare competing for the biggest pot of federal money for broadband expansion, Rantanen said he has received a \u201cflood\u201d of interest in training and applying for grants.<\/p>\n

The solution Rantanen and Mitchell came up with was the Tribal Broadband Bootcamp, a hands-on way to help people understand the technology through three-day sessions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually want people to see a fiber optic network in the ground that they can use tools to manipulate and troubleshoot,\u201d said Mitchell, who runs broadband efforts for a nonprofit called the Institute of Local Self-Reliance.<\/p>\n

Most previous boot camps have taken place on tribal lands, but about a third of the sessions have been hosted on Rantanen\u2019s ranch, which the founders affectionately call a \u201cbroadband playground.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the group\u2019s 14th boot camp in June, participants roamed the ranch on foot and by utility vehicles trailed by clouds of dust. In the home movie theater, they played with a device called an optical time-domain reflectometer, which uses light to identify breakages and impurities in a run of fiber. Halfway down the hill, outside two large storage containers that make up Rantanen\u2019s workshop, attendees pulled cables through protective hollow tubes known as conduits. Later in the day, by a white tent decorated with retro sci-fi posters, they learned how to use a cable lasher to secure fiber to utility poles.<\/p>\n

Kyle Day, a technician, attended his third boot camp to learn how manage a fiber-to-home network for the Karuk tribe in Northern California, which currently lacks high-speed internet and cell service.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, being here, it\u2019s learning to maintain and upkeep if there is a broken fiber somewhere,\u201d Day said.<\/p>\n

Learning these skills will save the tribe money and time, since it can take up to four hours for outside contractors to arrive, Day said.<\/p>\n

As she spliced and repaired fiber for the first time, Erin Dayl marveled at how information is transmitted through fiber. She previously helped develop an internet company that provided high-speed internet access for pueblos in New Mexico and now works on broadband and renewable energy development with tribal nations across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cInformation is what we all depend on,\u201d Dayl said.<\/p>\n

Natural disasters are a big concern for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in southeastern Idaho, where some areas lack cellphone connections, said Amber Hastings, a tribe member.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t have an internet connection at all, there\u2019s no way to connect yourself with emergency services,\u201d Hastings said. \u201cIf there\u2019s a wildfire out there, there\u2019s no way to know about it unless you can physically see the smoke.\u201d<\/p>\n

Claudia Tarbell, of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation, said connectivity has cultural implications, too. Without internet, Tarbell said people would miss important moments in pop culture, like Lily Gladstone becoming the first Indigenous actress to win a Golden Globe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt inspires our youths to do more, to really think outside of what our normal roles and jobs are,\u201d said Tarbell, a tribal engagement manager for Calix, a broadband software company that has sponsored some of the boot camps.<\/p>\n

Seventy-two tribes have been represented at boot camps and nearly 400 people have attended at least once. Several have gone on to become instructors.<\/p>\n

Matthew Douglas started attending the boot camps as he was helping his community, the Hoopa Valley Tribe, transition from a wireless to wired network. He has been back a dozen times.<\/p>\n

In addition to learning about applications and planning, Douglas\u2019 team leaned on connections made at boot camps to help clinch a $65 million award, the second-largest sum of money won through the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program so far.<\/p>\n

A few months after winning the money in 2022, the Northern California tribe hosted its own boot camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt it necessary for us to try and give back, because of the success we were seeing from partnerships,\u201d Douglas said, \u201cand knowledge that was gained at the boot camps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fostering connections that people can rely on is exactly what Rantanen and Mitchell hope to continue seeing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t know other tribes were doing this much building and had this much experience,\u201d Rantanen said. \u201cThe coolest byproduct of the boot camps is this people-network that then uses each other as resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was evident during a barbecue dinner at the end of a long day on the ranch.<\/p>\n

People talked and laughed and shared stories, building just the sort of camaraderie that the founders worked to create. Near the end of the meal, one participant interrupted the chatter to announce some in the group were going bowling later that night in nearby Temecula.<\/p>\n

She said everyone was invited.<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Arushi Gupta contributed from Los Angeles.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 in 5 homes on tribal lands lack access to adequate broadband<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26588"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}