New Mexico Connect:
ALBUQUERQUE — The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has announced that New Mexico’s Pueblo of Jemez has been awarded $5.7 million as part of the federal government’s $1.25 billion Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program.
The funding from the program is designed to promote digital equity to support inclusion projects and digital skills.
“As a rural tribal community, these funds will ensure that the Pueblo and its people continue to remain successful and ahead of the digital divide,” said George Shendo, Jr., governor of Jemez Pueblo. “All our people, especially our children, deserve to be technologically competitive, capable, and afforded at a minimum, the same opportunities as their counterparts in well-connected urban areas and other metropolitan centers.”
The Pueblo in Sandoval County will use the funds in these ways:
- Provide free broadband access for Jemez’s rural community to connect to its high-speed fiber network.
- Provide free digital devices including laptops and tablets accompanied by digital navigators and interns for technical support for set-up and troubleshooting.
- Implement comprehensive and tailored digital literacy and skills training.
- Conduct cybersecurity workshops and training about online threats such as phishing, identity theft and malware.
- Update and enhance existing public access computing centers.
Earlier this month the Pueblo of Jemez received $2.4 million from NTIA for broadband technical support, training, and awareness initiatives to boost participation in its tribal broadband program.
In 2024 OBAE awarded eleven tribes in New Mexico more than $35 million in state grants.
Digital Equity promotes the belief that everyone and all communities should have the technology, hardware, digital skills and capacity needed to benefit in the digital world.