Two Tribal communities in New Mexico — the Santa Clara Pueblo in Rio Arriba County and the Fort Sill Chiricahua Warm Springs Apache Tribe in Luna County — each received a maximum $100,000 planning grants from the state’s Grant Writing, Engineering and Planning Program (GWEP).
GWEP is funded and administered by The New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE), which has provided $5 million in funding. GWEP helps Tribes, local governments and cooperatives win grants to bring broadband to unserved areas.
The Santa Clara Pueblo will use the grant to develop a three-phase broadband project to build a fiber line from the intersection of state Routes 84 and 285 and state Route 399 to the end of state Route 399. It will provide services to homes and Wi-Fi service for safety and security along trails around the Pueblo-owned Black Mesa Golf Club.
Fort Sill Chiricahua Warm Springs Apache Tribe’s grant will help start design and engineering for a broadband network to bring internet to the homeland, which is in the southern part of the state. The funding will pay for detailed engineering plans to overcome physical barriers that have prevented connectivity. The Tribe has already secured $500,000 in infrastructure funding for fiber, equipment, and trenching.
“These awards signify another milestone that helps expand broadband in Tribal communities in New Mexico,” Andrew Wilder, OBAE’s policy and programs bureau chief, said in a press release about the grants. “This funding will kick-start important broadband projects to Tribal regions where high-speed internet is needed.”
OBAE has issued 36 GWEP awards totaling $3.5 million. So far, these New Mexico grants have been provided to 17 Tribal communities, 15 local governments, and four rural electric and telephone cooperatives. Almost $1.5 million in planning grants remains available.
In October, OBAE awarded grants through the GWEP — also of $100,000 each — to the Pueblo of Pojoaque and Kit Carson Electric Cooperative, Inc.
More information about New Mexico broadband, including links to state funding resources, grants made, BEAD news, state-specific Telecompetitor coverage, and more can be found on Telecompetitor’s Broadband Nation webpage for the state.
