Digital Beat

How Effective Engagement with Tribal Nations
Can Shape the Success of the BEAD Program

As a member of a Tribe and a lifelong member of my Tribal community, I have long known I wanted to work with and for Tribal Nations. In graduate school, I discovered the specific issues I have been tangling with ever since. At a presentation by a national nonprofit focused on tax policy, I asked about work with Tribes in our state (we have 29). After some stammering and hesitation, the presenter admitted the organization had not really worked with Tribes because “they can be hard to engage with.”

This lack of what I’ll call “effective engagement” with Tribal communities is a persistent problem that impacts so many other issues in Indian country, particularly when it comes to broadband.

Tribal lands and the people who live there are among the most underconnected in the country. There are longstanding political, economic, and geographic reasons for this disparity.

However, a common misconception is that all Tribal communities have lacked connectivity, and this is not the case. The ingenuity, creativity, and self-determination practiced by longtime Tribal leaders have brought Internet companies and access to many Tribes around the country for decades. But this is still the exception to the stark disparity we’ve seen with Tribal broadband.

When COVID-19 necessitated a shift to virtual work, online school, and telehealth, millions of Americans for whom internet access was a mundane aspect of daily life, transitioned to this new world with relative ease. For people in many Tribal communities, however, it was a challenge and one that was magnified when the whole country suddenly transitioned to the virtual world.

In the wake of the pandemic that revealed how many people lacked reliable high-speed broadband connectivity across the country, the federal government invested billions into broadband infrastructure. Specifically for Tribes, the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) is a first-of-its-kind program to meet the broadband needs of Tribal communities, awarding funds directly to Tribal nations. To date, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has awarded $1.86 billion in awards to 226 Tribal entities—the largest ever investment in high-speed Internet service on Tribal Lands. TBCP has connected or lowered Internet costs for more than 4,500 Tribal homes to-date as the work in Tribal communities continues to unfold.

While TBCP focused on tribal lands, the even larger $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, has been called a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address the digital divide.

In the Infrastructure Law, Congress found what we all know through our daily experiences, that “high-speed internet access is not a luxury, but a necessity,” and that the “digital divide is particularly acute for communities of color, Tribal nations, and lower income areas.”

BEAD is also unique in that the funding is allocated through the states, and states are required to work with Tribes. This new dynamic has been guided by the NTIA and is clearly outlined in the program’s Notice of Funding Opportunity. Requirements such as “broad awareness and participation among…Tribal Governments” and “it is the responsibility of the [State]…to understand and address the broadband needs of Tribal and Native entities,” outlined in the Proposal Guidance for States, demonstrate how the program was established with the intention of adequate funding reaching Tribes as well as all other underconnected communities within a state’s boundaries.

NTIA Requirements for States Addressing Tribal Broadband

States are required to familiarize themselves with the current landscape of Tribal broadband within their territories. In the Initial Proposal, States were asked to:

Identify and outline steps to support tribal broadband planning processes or ongoing efforts to deploy broadband or close the digital divide and describe coordination with local tribal governments along with local tribal planning processes,
Identify existing efforts funded by federal or state governments on tribal lands,
Certify they have conducted coordination with Tribal Governments
Identify unserved and underserved locations on tribal lands under the jurisdiction of the State.

Volume 2 of the Initial Proposal, required:

Meaningful engagement and outreach to diverse stakeholder groups,
State coordination with Tribal Governments,
Each Tribe be given the opportunity to submit its own local broadband plan for consideration in the development of the State’s proposals,
States to describe how they intend to submit proof of Tribal consent to deployments on Tribal lands, and
States to demonstrate how they conducted outreach and engagement activities to encourage broad awareness, participation and feedback during the public comment period, particularly among Tribal governments.

In the Final proposal, states have to include:

Certification that effective engagement has been conducted, coordination with tribal governments, and the impact that coordination had on the final proposal,
A description of efforts undertaken by the State to ensure the participation of tribal governments including explication for awards to traditional providers when nontraditional providers applied, and
To the extent a State plans to deploy on tribal lands, the plan must include a resolution of consent from the tribal government.

This specification was an important step. Not only have States and Tribes not been required to work together at this capacity before, but the relationships among States and the Tribal Nations within their borders vary widely across the country There are a number of factors that will play a role in the way effective engagement will happen. We are getting a clearer picture of how each state is approaching these requirements through the plans and proposals they have submitted and made public.

Some States are going to be more prepared for this moment than others, meaning some will have better, more longstanding relationships with Tribes than others. Some States are going to embrace their opportunity to learn more about the Tribes within their footprint, while others will check the boxes and get back to business as usual. Some states will see this as a new opportunity to reach their most underconnected residents, while others will see this as an added step they simply have to get through. Some States will consider the complex challenges of Tribal broadband alongside their neighbors and tackle them together, and others will see those challenges as not being their problem.

Researching Effective Engagement

Whether this historic investment successfully meets the needs of communities lacking sufficient connectivity, particularly Tribal communities, will only be clear once the dust has settled on infrastructure construction projects. In the meantime, we can track, measure and advocate for the kind of effective engagement that I argue will be critical in addressing Tribal broadband needs.

As a Marjorie and Charles Benton Opportunity Fund Fellow, I have been reviewing state digital equity plans, 5-Year Action Plans, Initial Proposals, and Final Proposals with the goal of understanding how states are working with Tribes on addressing broadband needs.

I use the term “effective engagement” over the more widely used “meaningful engagement” as “effectiveness” can be more accurately measured, and the ability to measure makes all the difference when it comes to broadband. I developed a scale of effective engagement with four advancing levels of engagement (see below). This is a new approach, one developed after hearing feedback that traditional governmental methods of consultation and engagement are not effective for Tribes.

Notification: Reaching out to a Tribal Nation to inform it of the funding and the process.
Consultation: Interaction with a Tribal Nation, allowing feedback by the Tribe into the process.
Representation: A Tribal Nation’s feedback is systemically incorporated into decision-making processes.
Collaboration: Continual consultation with and representation of a Tribal Nation into the State’s award process and subsequent program supports.

I hypothesize that the higher a State scores on this effective engagement scale, the better an outcome we can expect to see for Tribal broadband through the BEAD program.

In addition to examining the various planning documents states have released, I also took into consideration the various elements that would impact how a State would fare in effective engagement, including:

Number of Tribal Nations within State lines,
Tribal member/Native American identifying population,
Landmass of Tribal lands within State lines,
Age of State Broadband Office, and
State Broadband Office capacity.

States have been given a template to be successful in effective engagement. However, having a template or being set up for success doesn’t always result in the hoped for outcome. As we continue to pour over submitted State documents to measure how they’ve fared and conduct interviews with both State and Tribal practitioners, we are getting a better quantitative and qualitative picture of how the program is unfolding. I look forward to sharing these findings in the upcoming report: Getting to Impact: How Effective Engagement Can Determine Tribal Broadband Success.

A wise Oneida advisor of mine once shared that in order to properly engage with Indigenous communities, you must practice the three Rs: respect, relationship, and reciprocity.

When it comes to the work on Tribal broadband in the U.S., these three essential practices can mean the success or failure of the landmark investments made in recent years to ensure that Tribal communities, some of the most underconnected areas in our nation, finally achieve true digital equity. Effective engagement with Tribes has been a key issue in many previous broadband programs and, if done earnestly, can make all the difference.

Sharayah Lane is a Marjorie & Charles Benton Opportunity Fund Fellow. A member of the Lummi Nation, she is a nationally recognized leader in the push toward establishing tribal broadband for Indigenous communities throughout the country. She has a background in philanthropy, policy, and governance and have spent most of my life in my tribal community, the Lummi Nation located in Washington State.

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, High-Performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy - rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity - has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.

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