Arizona Rural Initiatives

From the beginning of the program, Digital Arizona elected to work through the four rural regional Councils of Government (COGs) and their associated counties to create effective business and technical plans for the expansion of broadband capacity in their territories.

 

Consultants have been engaged by four regional government coalitions to provide broadband gap assessment, strategic planning, technical assistance, grant identification, and other assistance funded with broadband grant monies and a twenty percent match provided by the regional organizations.

 

Regional broadband steering committees have been formed with broad participation among regional economic development, educational technology, transportation, government - IT, healthcare and public safety stakeholders.

 

In 2013 Round 1 activities were completed in all four rural regions of the state. Round 2 activities were completed in mid-2014. Round 2 reports focused on broadband deployment possibilities relative to transportation infrastructure and a number of potential projects have been identified. In the NACOG region the Verde Valley Broadband Coalition is developing an active project to place fiber conduit along a seven mile stretch SR260 during an ADOT road widening project. They have applied for and seem likely to receive a USDA grant to assist in funding this effort. Additionally, DAP will be providing planning funding to support the project. Another rural success was created in Nogales in which multiple schools were connected to each other with a fiber network and to high-speed internet capacity.