The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands will receive nearly $17.3 million in federal funds from the U.S. Department of Commerce to expand high-speed internet access in Native Hawaiian communities, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz announced Monday in a news release.
The funds are the first part of a $90 million allocation to DHHL from the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program to expand broadband access on tribal lands, according to a separate news release.
“This funding will increase broadband internet access in Native Hawaiian communities across the state, helping families and small businesses get the high-speed internet they need and supporting the expansion of important services, including telehealth and remote learning,” Schatz wrote.
Oversight of the fund’s future initiatives was entrusted by Gov. Josh Green to Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, who expressed her strong support of the federal grant.
Native Hawaiian communities continue to be affected by gaps in meaningful access to the internet, while the pandemic highlighted the areas that were particularly lacking, she wrote in a news release.
“I am committed to working with the community, private industry and partners from all levels of government in ensuring access to high quality connectivity throughout Hawaii,” she wrote.
According to a DHHL spokesperson, a critical piece of these efforts will include a DHHL survey of Native Hawaiian households that will aid in developing a strategy for the expansion of broadband internet access, a DHHL spokesperson told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser via email.
Native Hawaiian-focused charter schools on or near Hawaiian home lands on Kauai, Oahu, Molokai and Hawaii can expect to see improved broadband facilities, they added. Funds also will go toward Nanakuli Public Library to make it a digital literacy and telehealth hub.
Overall, funds also will cover new broadband equipment and software, new computers and personal devices, digital inclusion programs and staff to ensure their successful implementation, according to Schatz’s news release.
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Linsey Dower covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.
