by Bob Stovall
Merit Network
A great deal of Indian Country often lacks internet access, and often, connectivity solutions fall on the shoulders of Tribal community members.
For the past two years, Tribal Broadband Bootcamps (TBB), co-founded by Matt Rantanen and Christopher Mitchell and now hosted at the Indigenous Connectivity Institute at Connect Humanity, have worked with 35 Tribes and more than 200 participants to date. I’ve been fortunate enough to connect and learn from this group that supports experiential opportunities for Tribal members to build, maintain, and troubleshoot nontraditional networks and wireless networks in Indian Country.
I hold more than 30 years of experience in network building and engineering in the education and nonprofit space. I’ve been intricately involved in the design and building out of more than 3,500 miles of fiber optic infrastructure. The success of our network has also relied on decades of leasing and negotiating IRUs for dark fiber from carriers and other infrastructure providers. Matt and Chris, who I know through their contributions to Merit’s broadband educational events, asked if I would participate in training sessions on network building, testing, and fiber splicing at the second convening of the TTBs.
As a non-Tribal engineer from Michigan, I had apprehensions due to potential unfamiliarity with group communication style and the unique needs and challenges of Tribal communities. Understanding my position as an outsider helped. Most of the homes and businesses in my community are connected, and we didn’t have to construct the networks ourselves. The implications of the digital divide aren’t within the scope of my lived experience in my community, my school system, and my home. That said, I have extensively supported Merit’s Michigan Moonshot initiative to alleviate some of these challenges within rural and urban communities in my home state. This provided me with a deeper empathy for those who share this struggle.
I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved with four Bootcamps since then. Participants’ commitment to their communities and devotion to helping each other is one of many rewarding components of the events. TBBs orchestrate relationship building and foster a sense of collaboration that extends long beyond the week-long training sessions. It is this ongoing sense of mutual support that is energizing, and something I plan to echo within my work at Merit in Michigan.
Tribal Broadband Bootcamps have been held across the U.S., with locations including New York, Alaska, and Oklahoma in the works. Matt, Chris, and ICI have discussed the potential of hosting a TBB in Michigan, and have asked me to help connect them to interested participants. If you’d like to attend or learn more about the events, feel free to send me a message or go to their website at https://www.tribalbroadbandbootcamp.com/ .
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