- Details
- By Chez Oxendine
- Economic Development
Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians
Lincoln, Oregon
Award Amount: $500,000
Project Summary: This planning study intends to fund network planning activities in order to develop a solution for broadband infrastructure connection, construction and service deployment for currently unserved Native American households, businesses and community anchor institutions in and around reservation land located in Lincoln County, Oregon.
Update: The Confederate Tribes of the Siletz Indians have been gathering “crucial” data for future broadband plans through a feasibility study and other planning activities, according to Lisa Norton, chief administrative officer for the Tribes.
“We're mid-study right now,” Norton told Tribal Business News. “We had some delays, I think much like anybody who is doing anything in broadband. I've learned way more than I ever thought I would about broadband, and that's great. I think we anticipate being done in April.”
Norton said the study has helped outline the tribe’s future plans for broadband connectivity in the area. The main problem on the Siletz reservation isn’t connectivity — although 12 percent of the reservation said in a survey they did not have access — but affordability.
“One of the struggles with lots of people in Indian Country is just not knowing where to start,” Norton said. “It really grew out of just kind of very personal stories. When you think about a single mom with four kids who couldn't afford broadband to get her kids into their classes … This study and this funding offers us some hope, whether that's our own ISP, contracting with someone else, or so on.”
