When Pima Countyβs public facilities were forced to close to the public as a pandemic precaution, the parking lots of the countyβs libraries became full with people trying to access a Wi-Fi signal.
β(Thereβs) nothing like a pandemic and the closure of a public library to show how your community does not have access, for whatever reason, to the things that allow them to be productive citizens,β said Michelle Simon, the deputy director of support services for the countyβs libraries.
The library spent $200,000 to purchase 400 hot spots for students to take home to perform the remote school work the countyβs school districts pivoted to, but the effort highlighted a more significant problem regarding internet access in Pima County.
βIt was that conversation about the amount of money that we as a library system had to put forth to help this small contingent of our community members β and additionally, to highlight the fact of how many people were hanging out in our parking lots, trying to get a little bit of our Wi-Fi β really hammered home that our community needs our help,β Simon said.
The countyβs public library and information technology department partnered to assemble the βStrategic Planning Taskforce for Digital Access in Pima County,β which created a long-term plan to increase access to affordable and reliable broadband internet.
The task force plans to implement a part of that vision through an $800,000 contract with Cox Communications to activate 130 hot spots in rural or underserved locations that users can access for free.
The Board of Supervisors was set to vote on approving the contract at its March 15 meeting but continued the item to April 5 to receive more information on the locations of the hot spots.
Supervisor Steve Christy, whose district encompasses many of the countyβs rural areas with minimal internet access, said he wants his constituents to have access in their homes instead of relying on hot spots at community centers.
βItβs not the necessity, in my view, of placing additional or better service in the libraries and community centers,β he said. βItβs on the rooftops, itβs getting them into peopleβs homes. And the plan, even though it was preliminary, didnβt seem to address that at all.β
Dan Hunt, Pima Countyβs chief information officer, said providing internet access to every home is a βlofty goal,β but itβs one the task force is moving toward achieving.
βPeople donβt get that thatβs not a 12-month process. Itβs an eight- or 10-year process in a community the size of Tucson,β he said. βTucson is a large portion of Pima County, but thereβs a lot of Pima County thatβs not Tucson as well.β
New hot spots
Pima Countyβs digital access plan is comprised of short-, mid- and long-term goals running through fiscal year 2025.
But by the end of September this year, the goal is to increase the number of publicly accessible hot spots by 10 sites in each county district. By the end of the year, the task force hopes to create a plan to address gaps in digital literacy and perform a community needs assessment.
βAs a result of that plan and those goals that we have set, if youβre looking at the plan, the short-term goal, what the broadband infrastructure talks about, is getting more connectivity in households by a certain point,β Simon said. βThat is where this Cox contract comes into play.β
About 88% of county residents had a broadband internet subscription in 2020, according to U.S. Census data. But connectivity can be spotty in rural areas that internet service providers often overlook when building fiber-optic internet.
When assessing areas for hot spots under the Cox contact, the digital access task force looked βfor places that were community gathering points,β Hunt said, such as the Picture Rocks Community Center and the Three Points Veterans Memorial Neighborhood Park.
If the Board of Supervisors approves the contract, the county will set up 130 external hot spots in rural, underserved areas that residents can access with a log-in provided by the library.
There are 80 hot spots throughout metro Tucson that are already available to Cox customers away from home.
βNow the library is becoming a Cox customer on behalf of county residents, to be able to say, all of these hotspots are now available to you, hereβs the password,β Hunt said.
But the new hot spots are just the beginning of the task forceβs efforts. There are four subcommittees dedicated to different aspects of the digital access plan, including funding and procurement, digital literacy, digital access and broadband infrastructure.
βWeβre in the nascent stages,β Simon said. βWeβre trying to get the pieces in place so we turn it all on and let everybody know.β
At-home internet access
The libraryβs paying for the Cox contract through Emergency Connectivity Funds the federal government provided to schools and libraries, and Simon expects about $200,000 in reimbursement funds for the countyβs first year of digital expansion efforts.
But as with any one-time disbursement of federal money, the challenge is making sure the programs the money funds are sustainable.
βCan we pay for them forever? Weβll have to figure all of that out,β Hunt said. βWe have basically a three-year federal funding mechanism that we jumped on board because it was available to us and allowed us to meet short-term goals.β
But longer-term goals, which could include building fiber-optic networks so underserved areas can access the internet at home, might be more pricey.
Hunt said the county applied for a $12.5 million grant from the Arizona Commerce Authority to bring fiber networks to 1,300 to 1,500 households in the Avra Valley and Corona de Tucson areas.
βTheyβre in places where an internet provider could never afford to build it because their return on investment is way too long,β he said.
Simon said bringing internet to homes is also partially achieved by helping people gain their own internet subscriptions. Several government subsidies for internet access exist, such as the Federal Communications Commissionβs Affordable Connectivity Program, which provides discounted broadband to low-income households.
βIf thereβs an area of town that has low adoption rates, but the infrastructure is there, thatβs where the other piece of this is, where weβre able to help them understand how to access the internet with whatβs free, then show them the Affordable Connectivity Program,β Simon said. βNow theyβre participating autonomously. They donβt need our help to do it anymore.β
But those without internet access canβt take advantage of the countyβs programs if they donβt know about them.
βHereβs this funding mechanism to get people to be able to get their broadband at a much lesser cost than what theyβre paying right now. And what did we do as a federal government and all these companies? We posted it on the internet,β Hunt said. βThey donβt have laptops, they donβt have connectivity, they donβt have the wherewithal to even understand, how do I process this thing?β
The task force is waiting for the board to approve the Cox contract, then plans to set up an outreach campaign to inform residents lacking internet access of their options to get connected. If the contract is approved, Simon said her team hopes to have the hot spots in place by May.
βWe canβt just promote it online. If youβre trying to get people to connect to it who donβt get online, you got to have signs somewhere, you got to have pieces of paper somewhere. So you may see those kinds of things pop up in the community,β Simon said. βBut this is a robust plan, itβs is not just about the Cox contract.β