The proposed project will support closing the broadband availability GAP and support the development of a five-year action plan

The proposed project includes the following planning and pre-deployment activities: publications, outreach, and communications support; providing technical assistance to potential subgrantees, including through workshops and events; training for employees of broadband program or office of eligible entity or employees or political subdivisions of eligible entity, and related staffing capacity or consulting or contracted support to effectuate goals of bead program; establishing, operating, or increasing capacity of a broadband office that oversees broadband programs and broadband deployment in an eligible entity; and asset mapping across the eligible entity to catalogue broadband adoption, affordability, equity, access, and deployment activities occurring within the eligible entity. The activities will seek to increase staff capacity; determine the population of direct unserved/underserved, as well as those facing a range of hurdles to full adoption and realization of benefits available from robust, resilient, and affordable broadband services; maximize the participation by diverse members of the community thereby ensuring maximization of the effectiveness of all available broadband data; maximize the participation by diverse members of the community, build sustainable capacity internal to the range of community and state/county entities engaged with the statewide population; ensure that the administering entity has adequate capacity to meet all program requirements; and fully inform the statewide population of our broadband efforts and ensure that the project has broad and diverse community inputs that will inform the design and implementation of efforts supported by the public funds. The intended beneficiaries are the state of hawaii and principally unserved and underserved communities in the state. The recipient does not intend to subaward funds.