Nebraska tribe uses federal infrastructure funds to hire workers, build fiber network
The Middle Mile program was created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2021.
The Omaha Tribe of Nebraska is using funding from the 2021 federal infrastructure law to hire local community members to install hundreds of miles of high-speed fiber in the state. The federally recognized Native American tribe’s reservation is headquartered in Macy, Nebraska.
Ruben Zendejas, the general manager of Quick Current Nebraska, which is owned by the tribe, appeared in a Department of Commerce webinar on May 15 and discussed how infrastructure grants are being used.
“Through Quick Current Nebraska, we have been able to hire 10 employees and provide them training to become a fiber technician, to know how to lay cable in the ground,” Zendejas said. (49:21)
In 2023, the Department of Commerce announced that the Omaha Tribe would receive $36 million from the agency’s Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program. According to the plan submitted to the federal government by the tribe and Quick Current , the project will connect tribal communities in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa to larger high-speed internet networks using fiber-optic connections. The goal of the project is to assist unserved and underserved communities.
Zendejas noted in his presentation that the COVID-19 pandemic was a wake-up call for the tribe.
“We realized that not only did we not have this essential infrastructure in place, of the internet, we realized how important it is in the modern world,” Zendejas said. He went on to describe problems that residents experienced attempting to access medical services and education after closures brought on by the viral outbreak. (45:40)
Zendejas said Quick Current intends to install over 380 miles of new fiber in the region to connect the tribe to the cities of Omaha and Logan in Nebraska, and to the cities of Sioux City, Yankton and Vermillion in South Dakota. (48:00)
The Middle Mile program was created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2021.
Along with funding allocated to the Omaha Tribe, the Commerce Department said that more than $980 million had been sent to projects in 370 counties in 40 states and Puerto Rico. The stated goal of the program is to expand the nationwide broadband network as part of Biden’s “Investing in America” agenda.
According to data released by the White House, over $2.6 billion in infrastructure law funding has been announced for over 320 projects in Nebraska since the law’s passage. In total, the state has received $495 million for broadband projects to expand the availability of high-speed internet or to subsidize access costs.
