UT-RGV fiber optic ring to serve as information backbone

Creating a robust fiber optic network that will transform the RGV economy

Steve Taylor

Dec. 28 2017

MCALLEN, RGV – The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ research on Texas border colonias found one of the largest digital divides in the country was along the border region.

The Dallas Fed argued that broadband access has become essential infrastructure because “lack of access presents a structural barrier to upward mobility for individuals.”

Without it communities simply cannot compete and succeed, the group argued.

In addition to its report on border colonias, the Dallas Fed issued a report titled Closing the Digital Divide: A Framework for Meeting CRA Obligations. The report said “access to broadband has become essential to make progress in all areas of community development – education and workforce development, health, housing, small business development and access to financial services.” It also stated: “Digital inclusion is economic inclusion.”

CRA stands for Community Reinvestment Act.

The report argued that low- and moderate-income people and rural communities are on the wrong side of the digital divide.

The author of both reports was Jordana Barton, a senior advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. In 2016, Barton and her colleagues at the Dallas Fed worked with the City of Pharr and Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD to form a collective impact group, Digital Opportunity for the Rio Grande Valley (DO4RGV), with the aim of closing digital divide on the border.

“The first step was a Memorandum of Understanding with key partners for a demonstration project that includes the Dallas Fed, the City of Pharr, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD, and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, to develop broadband infrastructure and digital inclusion for the predominantly low- and moderate-income residents of Pharr,” Barton said, in program notes for a stakeholders meeting held Dec. 1 at the Embassy Suites in McAllen.

The program pamphlet was titled “Closing the Digital Divide: An RGV Partnership.”

The pamphlet pointed out that the infrastructure will “additionally help Pharr provide for public safety and will create greater efficiencies for Pharr’s international bridge for trade and business development.”

Its noted that a demonstration project, Pharr LifeNet, “is designed to be replicated across the Rio Grande Valley to create a robust fiber optic network that will transform the economy of the region.”

The project design includes three legs of the stool internet adoption: 1) Infrastructure; 2) Affordability (computers/service); 3) Training and technical assistance (including digital skills training).

In May 2017, there was a public announcement of the project and fixed WiFi and devices for the first 50 families in Las Milpas.

In October 2017, the engineering firm, Colombia Technology Corporation completed the strategic engineering plan and financials for the fiber optic infrastructure in Pharr – an intergovernmental network to serve as the “back haul” for reaching residents in their homes and businesses.

City of Pharr’s efforts to close the Digital Divide

The City of Pharr’s efforts to close the digital divide are featured in the pamphlet.

“In an effort to bridge the digital divide and connect families with internet service directly in their homes, the City of Pharr launched PharrLIFE.net, a pilot project that will deploy free broadband internet service into the homes of selected recipient families in South Pharr,” the pamphlet noted.

“This project is several years in the making and stems from a larger initiative, the Digital Opportunity for the Rio Grande Valley, South Texas, that was formed after a 2015 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas about Texas colonias identified a common challenge – residents’ lack of access to the internet. The report found that the digital divide left residents at a disadvantage to access regional labor market opportunities, as well as identified challenges colonia students face in school because of their ‘inability to complete homework assignments due to lack of internet service and computers at home’.”

Pharr Mayor Ambrosio Hernandez said Pharr leaders are “committed to helping Pharr families succeed, and connectivity in their home will open the doors to numerous opportunities.”

Hernandez said the the pilot project is a specific investment by the city to bridge the digital divide for participating families, and is just the beginning of a larger plan to expand internet connectivity for Pharr residents.

“As mayor of Pharr, my colleagues on the Pharr City Commissioner and I, in coordination with the project partners, are addressing a serious need that many rural communities face – lack of access to internet service,” Hernandez said.

“Pharr took the lead to develop strategic solutions to connect residents and families with the critical infrastructure necessary to access, navigate and succeed in today’s online world. Through this pilot project, we are laying the technology, infrastructure, and network capabilities for make Pharr competitive and innovative, and we are confident that this pilot project will make a case for future funding and expansion to further serve and connect our community.”

The BBVA Compass Foundation was an early supporter of the plan to bridge the digital divide in the Rio Grande Valley, and became the largest corporate sponsor of the strategic plan/feasibility study that led to the PharrLIFE.Net pilot program. Onur Genç, the CEO of BBVA Compass said his bank would make its online financial education program available to the students and parents involved.

“The digital divide affects our communities in profound ways and we know it’s particularly pronounced in the Rio Grande Valley, which is an enormously important market for us,” Genç said. “We’re committed to finding ways to bridge that divide so that we can connect all of our communities to a brighter future.”

Editor’s Note: Rio Grande Guardian reporters Steve Taylor and Patricia Martinez conducted an in-depth interview with Jordana Barton about DO4RGV at the conclusion of the Dec. 1 stakeholders meeting. Click here, here, and here to read three stories based on the interview.

Fiber optics to link SpaceX, UT

By EMMA PEREZ-TREVIÑO Staff Writer | Posted Mar 12, 2015

The first infrastructure project that will link the University of Texas System to SpaceX’s rocket-launch complex at Boca Chica in Cameron County is on the horizon, public records show.

The project will tie UT buildings and Elon Musk’s complex, which will house the world’s first commercial, vertical and orbital rocket launch facility.

UT also owns land at Boca Chica that will house the STARGATE research facility.

UT has been requesting proposals for a fiber optic infrastructure project — which would provide a high-speed communication system — linking university facilities in Brownsville to its facility at Boca Chica and to the nearby site of SpaceX’s control center and to the rocket-launch pad.

This is gleaned from the request for proposals that UT issued March 4. The deadline to submit the proposals was initially today, but it was moved back. An evaluation team from the university will evaluate the proposals.

The UT System will pay for the fiber optic cable infrastructure that will provide two pathways along Highway 4 between university facilities in Brownsville and at Boca Chica and SpaceX’s control center and launch pad. Upon completion, the university system will own the entire cable system, the request for proposals state.

UT will be obtaining the easements while the contractor would obtain the required permits from the city of Brownsville, Cameron County and the Texas Department of Transportation. UT would provide installation oversight to insure compliance with UT, Cameron County and TxDOT requirements.

Earlier this year and in a collaborative research initiative with SpaceX, the Brownsville Economic Development Council donated property at Boca Chica to the UT system for the STARGATE Technology Park.

STARGATE, which stands for Spacecraft Tracking and Astronomical Research into Giga-Hertz Astrophysical Transient Emission, has been designated as the first research Center for Excellence at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, the new university formed by the merger of the University of Texas at Brownsville and the University of Texas–Pan American in Edinburg.

STARGATE’s aim is to develop, test and use radio frequency technologies for both scientific and commercial purposes and to track spacecraft. It will be housed in a 12,000-square-foot research facility that will be constructed near SpaceX’s command center. UTRGV has said that when not used for launches, STARGATE faculty and student researchers will use SpaceX facilities for training, scientific research and technology development.

The research center is being funded with $4.4 million from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, $4.6 million from the UT System, $500,000 from the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corp., and $1.2 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

UT has said that the facility would be completed by September this year.

EXCLUSIVE: Entities sign MOU, agree to bridge Valley’s digital divide

Patricia Fogarty

Oct. 30, 2016

PHARR, RGV – The City of Pharr, PSJA ISD, and UT-Rio Grande Valley have joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas to sign a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at reducing the Rio Grande Valley’s digital divide.

The MOU sets forth terms, understandings, and commitments between and among the Partners regarding the Digital Opportunity for the Rio Grande Valley (DO4RGV) Demonstration Project.

The primary purpose and goal of the MOU is to promote the development of a public-sector fiber network jointly owned and operated by the City of Pharr and the PSJA School District to meet the internal business needs of the Stakeholders, including the delivery of services to their constituents.

The Memo of Understanding covers the demonstration phase in a broadband technology project for the Rio Grande Valley. Building on investigative research and collaboration focused on the border region’s broadband capabilities, the demonstration project will bring attention to the Border Region. The purpose of the demonstration is to create a successful replicable community broadband model to roll out across the Rio Grande Valley.

To accomplish this requires a strategic plan and feasibility study. These will provide the groundwork for how money should be invested in the community, examining ways to attract broadband investment to the region. A project like this brings people to the table to share information and draws upon information to create a framework for meeting Community Reinvestment Obligations in a creative and cooperative manner.

“The work to be done will help bring people to the table. Education and broadband are critical to economic development. Innovation happens on the periphery not as it has been in the center of the web. This means people won’t be isolated,” said Theresa Maldonado, senior vice president for Research, Innovation, and Economic Development at UTRGV.

The cooperative enterprise is spearheaded by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. In a foreword to its recent publication, Closing the Digital Divide: A Framework for Meeting CRA Obligations, Robert S. Kaplan, President and CEO of the Bank, said that his organization is “seeking to bring digital opportunity to underserved, rural and tribal communities through access to high-speed broadband. Integrating bank investments with partnerships with local governments, nonprofits and educational groups can help ensure equitable access to the growing digital economy.”

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas has produced this digital divide “toolkit” publication for bankers. In addition to discussing how broadband is now an integral part of community development and meets the “primary purpose” definition of the CRA, the publication contains: a road map of best practices for closing the digital divide; a selection of references and examples to help identify opportunities to close the digital divide in their communities; a list of tips for preparing their case for digital opportunity investments and CRA reference guides to help ensure planned CRA activities meet regulatory requirements; a template to make their case, which highlights the types of lending, service and investments that are valuable to their institution and target communities, and Appendices of broadband resources for understanding the needs and opportunities in their assessment areas.

Changing the Region’s economy

The publication and the work it describes are designed to help “change the region’s economy,” according to Jordana Barton, Federal Bank Community Development Senior Advisor and the publication’s author. “In recent decades,” she points out, “broadband has transformed our personal lives, how we do business and the economy at large. Lack of broadband creates a structural barrier to upward mobility and causes people to be marginalized. Broadband changes everything.”

As basic services and tools that are fundamental to upward mobility become increasingly digitized, the digital divide creates a structural barrier to closing income and wealth gaps. It creates a barrier to LMI (low-to-middle income) individuals’ ability to move up the economic ladder through education, workforce development programs and employment, entrepreneurship and access to financial services. By working with nonprofit and other local partners to bring broadband access and adoption to LMI communities, this research and subsequent cooperation projects with banks can have a powerful impact on the very “infrastructure of opportunity” in this country.

The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) provides a significant opportunity to help close the digital divide across communities while simultaneously benefiting financial institutions and improving economic stability. CRA is a law that encourages banks to make loans and investments and provide services to LMI communities. The law was passed in 1977 to address redlining—the denial of credit to individuals based on where they live. Every year, the CRA helps bring more than $100 billion in capital to LMI communities across the country. The law is intended to be broad, flexible, and responsive to changes within communities.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has indicated that broadband, like electricity, is “a foundation for economic growth, job creation, global competitiveness, and a better way of life…enabling entire new industries and unlocking vast new possibilities for existing ones. It is changing how we educate children, deliver health care, manage energy, ensure public safety, engage government, and access, organize and disseminate knowledge. Access to broadband has become essential to make progress in all areas of community development—education and workforce development, health, housing, small-business development and access to financial services.”

As the digital economy grows, digital inclusion represents economic inclusion. Yet, broadband access and adoption continue to lag behind certain population segments, including low-income and rural communities. This is referred to as the digital divide, i.e., the gap between people who have access to broadband services and know how to use the internet and those who do not have such access or knowledge. The digital divide leads to further economic, social, and political disparities for low-income and underserved populations.

The FCC defines broadband as a download speed of 25 Mbps (megabits per second) and an upload speed of 3 Mbps. Some applications of broadband require connection speeds that exceed the FCC definition. Many experts in the broadband field seek to help communities develop next generation, i.e., gigabit fiber optic capacity to support current and future needs.

Under the CRA, infrastructure investment includes facilitating the construction, expansion, improvement, maintenance or operation of essential infrastructure or facilities for health services, education, public safety, public services, industrial parks or affordable housing. An investment or loan applied to broadband infrastructure would need to be purposed for serving LMI individuals and/or geographies, or revitalizing an LMI geography or nonmetro middle-income geography.

Colonias Report

In 2015, the Dallas Fed released a report about Texas colonias (Las Colonias in the 21st Century: Progress Along the Texas-Mexico Border). Colonias are low income peri-urban and rural informal settlements in the Texas border region –characterized by their lack of basic infrastructure and sub-standard, often self-built housing. The study involved focus groups with colonia residents. One theme that arose from the conversations was the lack of internet access. The report indicated that the digital divide was a factor preventing residents from accessing regional labor market opportunities. Additionally, the report described challenges colonia students face in school because of their inability to complete homework assignments, due to lack of internet service and computers at home. Education is critical to economic mobility.

The Federal Reserve’s investigation of colonias in Texas indicated that the digital divide is an impediment to quality of living of individuals. Of the 381 metropolitan areas in the U.S., those with the lowest rates of internet use by individuals include three Texas border metropolitan areas (MSAs): Brownsville, McAllen and Laredo.

Children of wealthy parents already have much more access to opportunities to succeed than children of poor families, and this is likely to be increasingly the case in the future unless steps are taken to ensure that all children have access to quality education, health care, a safe environment and other opportunities that are necessary to have a fair shot at economic success. The greater the distance in a country between rich and poor, the harder it is to go from poor to rich and vice versa. “This is a type of Gatsby Curve,” said UTRGV’s Maldonado. (The Great Gatsby Curve illustrates the connection between the concentration of wealth in one generation and the ability of children in the next generation to move up the economic ladder compared to their parents.)

Income and wealth inequality in the United States are at the highest levels since the Great Depression, reported the Federal Reserve. Its 2014 Survey of Consumer Finances found that the top 3 percent account for 30.5 percent of all income and hold 54.4 percent of all the net worth. America’s upper-income families have a median net worth 70 times that of the country’s lower income families, according to the Pew Research Center, with the widest wealth gap between these families in 30 years.

A variable affecting all is broadband technology,” said Joana Barton. “The digital divide makes all the difference.”

The serious concern about the digital divide in the border region led the Dallas Fed to convene a collective impact group of committed Rio Grande Valley community members to discuss the issue and determine possible approaches to solving the problem. The Dallas Fed Bank’s goal was to gather knowledge to add to the current local knowledge and in order to bring people into the knowledge loop.

In addition to the Dallas Fed, members of the group included: UTRGV, PSJA ISD, the City of Pharr, Region One ESC, La Joya ISD, Texas Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (TATOA), ACT, Health and Human Services Commission, the cities of Pharr, McAllen, and Brownsville, the Deep South Texas Financial Literacy Alliance, Doctors’ Hospital at Renaissance and others.

Out of the initial meeting, the DO4RGV was formed, and the quest to find the solution began. The colonias report had revealed that policy approaches to address issues in silos don’t solve the biggest challenges in the region. Rather they led to piecemeal or “band-aid” projects that did not get the desired results. The group learned that what was needed was a comprehensive, holistic approach for the region.

Broadband is now a basic infrastructure needed in all communities. Yet, according to the FCC’s Broadband Progress Report, 34 million Americans lack access to fixed broadband at speeds of at least 25 Mbps for downloads and 3 Mbps for uploads. When addressing the nature of a community’s digital divide, there are “three legs of a stool” of broadband adoption that should always be considered: 1) broadband access; 2) computer access, and 3) training and technical assistance. These legs are not equal.

Using TATOA expertise, the group was able to articulate the ultimate goal: The creation of a robust fiber-optic regional network that connects the major anchor institutions, and provides the infrastructure for companies or co-ops to cost-effectively provide last-mile, fiber-to-home or Wi-Fi service to LMI residents. The group began to understand how it could transform the economy of the region.

Demonstration Project

To start building the network, the group decided to implement a demonstration middle-mile project with the City of Pharr and PSJA ISD focusing on:

Infrastructure: DO4RGV is mobilizing resources and working with PSJA ISD and the City of Pharr to build and own its own broadband network that will be used as a springboard to incentivize the last mile. The goal is for internet service providers to lease from the municipal network to provide the last mile services to residents.

Education: In Fall 2016, more than 100 PSJA students and their families will be provided with computers, broadband access and bilingual training and technical support as evidence of the impact DO4RGV can achieve for the region. In addition, a partnership with UTRGV’s College of Business and Entrepreneurship will provide trained IT students to work with the PSJA students and families. Together, the college students and the K-12 students will comprise the “Digital Opportunity Corps” to serve as experts in their communities. The regional anchor institution, UTRGV, has been involved throughout the project and will be an important player in taking the project to scale across the region.

Financial: Local banks are supporting the project. BBVA Compass, the bank with the most branches along the US-Mexico border, has provided a grant for the strategic plan/feasibility study, BBVA has also offered to make its online financial education program a part of the digital inclusion training for PSJA students and families. Additionally, Capital One provided seed money for the demonstration.

Objectives of the Rio Grande Valley project include:

-Improve educational opportunity and results for pre-K-12 students and across the region-–closing the homework divide;

-Improve access to workforce opportunities, including training and job opportunities

-Improve access to healthcare providers and telemedicine

-Improve access to the internet and online marketing for microentrepreneurs in the region

-Improve access to financial services and online banking

-Improve financial literacy through access to online training platforms

Editor’s Note: Reporter Steve Taylor contributed to this feature from McAllen, Texas.