08.24.23

Quileute Tribe Gets $466K Grant for High-Speed Internet Deployment

45 homes, 10 businesses, plus the Tribe’s health clinic, police, and fire departments to be connected

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Dozens of homes on the Quileute Reservation -- and some vital community institutions -- will be connected to high-speed internet thanks to a $466K Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) grant. The grant was announced today by U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), chair of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.

“For far too long, our rural Tribal communities have lacked the broadband connectivity needed to drive economic growth, expand educational opportunities, and enhance critical community services," said Sen. Cantwell. "This award will help the Quileute Tribe bring high-speed internet—for the first time ever—to dozens of homes and businesses in the hardest-to-reach areas. It will also build out broadband infrastructure to vital community facilities, including the Quileute Health Clinic and the Tribe’s Police and Fire Departments.”

The Quileute Tribe of the Quileute Reservation will receive the $466,902.56 grant. The Tribe's Infrastructure Deployment project proposes to connect 45 unserved tribal households, 10 tribal businesses, and vital community services, including the Tribe’s Health Clinic, Police Department, Fire Department, Akalat Community Center, and Head Start/Early Childhood Education Center. The Tribe has been in the process of running fiber through its reservation and this award will help the Tribe ensure last-mile connectivity.

The TBCP is a $3 billion grant program administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), a U.S. Department of Commerce agency. The program offers grants to eligible Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian entities for high-speed internet deployment, digital inclusion, workforce development, telehealth, and distance learning. The funds are made available from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.

Sen. Cantwell is a longtime champion of expanding broadband access to communities nationwide. Last weekend, she visited Whidbey Island to celebrate a $11.78 million federal investment that will improve broadband access to about 70,000 residents of the island.

In 2021, she played a pivotal role in securing $1 billion for the NTIA’s Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program in the BIL.

In August 2022, she also introduced the bipartisan Grant to Rapidly Invest and Deploy Broadband, or GRID Broadband Act, which would spur investment in a nationwide middle-mile backbone along the nation’s existing electricity grid and help provide affordable high-speed Internet options to the millions of American households that lack fast connectivity.

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