Funding from Federal Partners
On September 6, 2023 Waimanalo Hawaiian Homestead Association, a native Hawaiian organization, was awarded over $300,000 from the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program (ACP Outreach Grant Program) Tribal Competitive Outreach Program (TCOP). This grant allows the Homestead Association to work with other native Hawaiian leaders on the homestead to promote enrollment in the ACP.19
The Federal Program Officer (FPO) for Hawaii, was invited to walk through the FCC’s ACP Outreach Grant Program Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) with native Hawaiian leaders on the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands in collaboration with the Digital Equity State Broadband Office (SBO) at the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. The FCC’s ACP Outreach Grant Program forms an integral component of the diverse range of measures used by the federal government to tackle the digital divide. These measures are part of OICG’s overall strategy to connect everyone in America to high-speed Internet.
2023 Broadband HōʻIke Kauai County Stakeholder Event
On October 1 through 3, 2023, the island of Kauaʻi hosted the first ever Broadband HōʻIke in coordination with the Kauaʻi Economic Development Board and the Hawaii Broadband and Digital Equity Office to celebrate the release of the state’s Digital Equity Plan draft, and to receive feedback from community members and organizations around Kauaʻi, other Hawaiian Islands, and the mainland. Groups visited new network deployments, resiliency hubs, and community organizations on the first day as well as presented several panels on the state of broadband in Hawaii and the plans for connecting all Hawaiians.
Hawaii’s Broadband Hui
The Broadband Hui is in its 178th weekly session and is an association of stakeholders who have used resources from the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth (OICG) to help shape the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) and Digital Equity initiatives and craft the organization of its stakeholder community networks. Specifically, OICG provided technical assistance and outreach training to the involved stakeholders. Hawaii is leveraging the Hui to move towards its Digital Equity goals by using community input from the Hui to help guide its Digital Equity plan statewide.
Information on Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) awards made in Hawaii can be found in the Tribal Regional Summaries.
19 While the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) stopped accepting applications in February 2024 and anticipates the end of the program in Spring 2024 due to lack of funding, OICG wanted to recognize the importance of the program’s impact in States and Territories in 2023.