ABSTRACT
Indigenous communities face especially deep challenges due to low income, low density, and difficult geography. The cases in this chapter demonstrate how leadership by Tribal Governments enables a collective approach, which helps expand both technological and financing options. While the Wrangell, Alaska case shows the potential of broadcast technology for connecting villages across islands, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma showcases an effort in broadband adoption to extend Internet into affordable housing communities in a rural ten-county area of the reservation. This chapter emphasizes the importance of collective action in Indigenous communities, and the need to address affordability and adoption, not just infrastructure access. It also profiles the role of the US Housing and Urban Development’s ConnectHomeUSA program, designed to facilitate cross-community learning.
